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Biographical 




OUVENIR 



OF THE COUNTIES OF 



Buffalo, Kearney, Phelps, Harlan 
AND Franklin, 



NEBRASKA. 



CONTAINING PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL THE PRESIDENTS OF THE 
UNITED STATES, AND OF THE GOVERNORS OF THE STATE. 



OF MANY OF THE I'ROMIXEXT AND REPRFSENTATIVE CITIZENS AND 

SKETCHES OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES 

OF THESE COUNTIES. 



CHICAGO: 
F. A. BATTEV & COMPANY, 

1890. 



kloicS 






PREFACE. 



~l TNTIL quite recently, but little attention has been given to the preservation of biography except in so 
v_y far as it pertained to the preferred classes — persons who had been prominent in governmental aft'airs, 
or distinguished in their profession or calling, or in some way made conspicuous before the public, requiring 
that more than usual should be known of the subject. Wiiliin the past decade, however, there has been a grow- 
ing demand for the preservation of not only biography but»for family genealogy, not altogether for its imme- 
diate worth, but for its future value and a laudable pride in its perpetuation for coming generations. The 
expediency of placing in book form biograpliical history and genealogy of the representative public is 
beyond question, and not many years shall have elapsed before the person who has not taken some steps to 
preserve his record will be considered as not worth the effort. 

That the representative public is entitled to the privileges alforded by a work of this kind needs no 
assertion at our hands, for one of our greatest Americans has said that the history of any country' resolves 
itself into the biographies of its stout, earnest, progressive and representative citizens. This medium, then, 
serves more than a single purpose; while it preserves biography and family genealogy it records history that 
probably would not be preserved in any otlier way. This will, perhaps, be illustrated most strikingly by 
reference in these sketches to the period of the war of the rebellion. 

Of the necessity of preserving family records in permanent form, one only needs the experience of a 
collector of material for a work of this character, as in a majority of cases it is found that nearly all trace 
of ancestry is lost back of the grandfather and grandmother — even in families where prominence and intelli- 
gence would seem to guarantee better things. 

In nearly every instance the material composing tlie sketches in tlii.s volume has Ijeen gathered from 
those immediately interested, and been submitted through the mails in type-written form for correction and 
revision. 

The mechanical part of the book speaks for itself, the material and workmanship being of standard 
excellence. The Publishkrs. 






»s^ 



FIRST PRESIDENT. 



19 





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HE Father of our Country was 
|1 born in Westmorland Co., Va., 
''Feb. 22, 1732. His parents 
were Augustine and Mary 
(Ball) Washington. The fainily 
to which he belonged has not 
been satisfactorily traced in 
England. His great-grand- 
father, John Washington, em- 
igrated to Virginia about 1657, 
and became a prosperous 
planter. He had two sons, 
Lawrence and John. The 
former married Mildred Warner 
and had three children, John, 
Augustine and Mildred. Augus- 
tine, the father of George, first 
married Jane Butler, who bore 
him four children, two of whom, 
Lawrence and Augustine, reached 
maturity. Of six children by his 
second marriage, George was the 
eldest, the others being Betty, 
Samuel, John Augustine, Charles 
and Mildred. 
Augustine Washington, the father of George, died 
in 1743, leaving a large landed property. To his 
eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an estate on 
the Patomac, afterwards known as Mount Vernon, 
and to George he left the parental residence. George 
received only such education as the neighborhood 
schools afforded, save for a short time after he left 
scliool, when he received private instruction in 
mathemat'cs. Hig spelling was rather defective. 



Remarkable stories are told of his great physica. 
strength and development at an early age. He was 
an acknowledged leader among his companions, and 
was early noted for that nobleness of character, fair- 
ness and veracity which characterized his whole life. 
When George was 1 4 years old lie had a desire to go to 
sea, and a midshipman's warrant was secured for him, 
but through the opposition of his mother the idea was 
abandoned. Two years later he was appointed 
surveyor to the immense estate of Lord Fairfax. I u 
this business he spent three years in a rough frontier 
life, gaining experience which afterwards proved very 
essential to him. In 175 t, though only ig years of 
age, he was apjxiinted adjutant with the rank of 
major in the Virginia militia, then being trained for 
active service against the French and Indians. Soon 
after this he sailed to the West Indies with his brother 
Lawrence, who went there to restore his health They 
soon returned, and in the summer of 1752 Lawrence 
died, leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter 
who did not long survive him. On her demise the 
estate of Mount Vernon was given to George, 

Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie, as Lieuten- 
ant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia was- 
reorganized, and the province divided into four mili- 
tary districts, of which the northern was assigned to 
Washington as adjutant general. Shortly after this 
a very perilous mission was assigned him and ac- 
cepted, which others had refused. This was to pro- 
ceed to the French post near Lake Erie in North- 
western Pennsylvania. The distance to be traversed 
was between 500 and 600 miles. Winter was at hand, 
and the journey was to be made without military 
escort, through a territory occupied by Indians. The 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



trip was a perilous one, and several limes he came near 
losing his life, yet he returned in safety and furnished 
a full and useful report of his expedition. A regiment 
of 300 men was raised in Virginia and put in com- 
mand of Col. Joshua Fry, and Major Washington was 
commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Active war was 
then begun against the French and Indians, in which 
Washington took a most important part. In the 
memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as Brad- 
dock's defeat, Washington was almost the only officer 
of distinction who escaped from the calamities of the 
day with life and honor. The other aids of Braddock 
were disabled early in the action, and Washington 
alone was left in that capacity on the field. In a letter 
to his brother he says : " I had four bullets through 
my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped 
unhurt, though death was levelin" my companions 
on every side." An Indian sharpshooter said he was 
not born to be killed by a bullet, for he had taken 
direct aim at him seventeen times, and failed to hit 
him. 

After having been five years in the military service, 
and vainly sought promotion in the royal army, he 
took advantage of the fall of Fort Duquesne and the 
expulsion of the French from the valley of the Ohio, 
to resign his commission. Soon after he entered the 
Legislature, where, although not a leader, he took an 
active and important part. January 17, 1759, he 
married Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis, the wealthy 
widow of John Parke Custis. 

When the British Parliament had closed the port 
~>i Boston, the cry went up throughout the provinces 
that "The cause of Boston is the cause of us all." 
It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a Con- 
gress of all the colonies was called to m«et at Phila- 
delphia,Sept. 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, 
peaceably if possible. To this Congress Col. Wash- 
ington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the 
Congress re-assembled, when the hostile intentions of 
England were plainly apparent. The battles of Con- 
cord and Lexington had been fought. Among the 
first acts of this Congress was the election of a com- 
mander-in-chief of the colonial forces. This high and 
responsible office was conferred upon Washington, 
who was still a memberof the Congress. He accepted 
it on June 19, but upon the express condition that he 
receive no salary. He would keep an exact account 
of expenses and expect Congress to pay them and 
nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to 
trace the military acts of Washington, to whom the 
fortunes and liberties of the people of this country 
were so long confided. The war was conducted by 
him under ever)' possible disadvantage, and wliilehis 
forces often met with reverses, yet he overcame every 
obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion 
and matchless skill he gained liberty for the greatest 
nation of earth. On Dec. 23, 17S3, Washington, in 
a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned his 



commission as commander-in-chief of the army to 
to the Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. He 
retired immediately to Mount Vernon and resumed 
his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning all 
connection with public lite. 

In February, 1 7 89, Washington was unanimously 
elected President. In his presidential career he was 
subject to the peculiar trials incidental to a new 
government ; trials from lack of confidence on the part 
of other governments; trials from want of harmony 
between the different sections of our own country; 
trials from the impoverished condition of the country, 
owing to the war and want of credit; trials from the 
beginnings of party strife. He was no partisan. His 
clear judgment could discern the golden mean; and 
while perhaps this alone kept our government from 
sinking at the veiy outset, it left him exposed to 
attacks from both sides, which were often bitter and 
very annoying. 

At the expiration of his first term he was unani- 
mously re-elected. At the end of this term many 
were anxious that he be re-elected, but he absolutely 
refused a third nomination. On the fourth of March, 
1797, at the expiraton of his second term as Presi- 
dent, he returned to his home, hoping to pass there 
his few remaining yeais free from the annoyances of 
public life. Later in the year, however, his repose 
seemed likely to be interrupted by war with France 
At the prospect of such a war he was again urged to 
take command of the armies. He chose his sub- 
ordinate officers and left to them the charge of mat- 
ters in the field, which he superintended from his 
home. In accepting the command he made the 
reservation that he was not to be in the field until 
it was necessary. In the midst of these preparations 
his life was suddenly cut off. December 12, he took 
a severe cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling 
in his throat, produced inflammation, and terminated 
fatally on the night of the fourteenth. On the eigh- 
teenth his body was borne wi'h military honors to its 
final resting place, and interred in the family vault at 
Mount Vernon. 

Of the character of Washington it is impossible to 
speak but in terms of the highest respect and ad- 
miration. The more we see of the operations of 
our government, and the more deeply we feel the 
difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common interest, 
the more highly we must estimate the force of his tal- 
ent and character, which have been able to challenge 
the reverence of all parties, and principles, and na- 
tions, and to win a fame as extended as the limits 
of the globe, and which we cannot but believe will 
be as lasting as the existence of man. 

The person of Washington was unusally tan, erect 
and well proportioned. His muscular strength was 
great. His features were of a beautiful symmetry. 
He commanded respect without any appearance of 
haughtiness, and ever serious without Wing dull. 




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~»H\ ADAMS, the second 
President and the first Vice- 
President of the United States, 
was bom in Braintree ( now 
Quincy),Mass., and about ten 
"^^ miles from Boston, Oct, 19, 
1735. His great-grandfather, Henry 
Adams, emigrated from England 
about 1 640, with a family of eight 
* '-- sons, and settled at Braintree. The 
parents of John were John and 
Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His 
father was a fanner of limited 
means, to which he added the bus- 
iness of shoemakdng. He gave his 
eldest son, John, a classical educa- 
tion at Harvard College. John 
graduated in 1755. and at once took charge of the 
school in Worcester. Mass. This he found hut a 
'school of affliction," from which he endeavored to 
gain relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the 
study of law. For this purpose he placed himself 
under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He 
had thought seriously of the clerical profession 
but seems to have been turned from this by what he 
cermed " the frightful engines of ecclesiastical coun- 
cils, of diabolical malice, and Calvanistic good nature,'" 
of the operations of which he had been a witness in 
his native town. He was well fitted for the legal 
profession, possessing a clear, sonorous voice, being 
ready and fluent of speech, and having quick percejv 
tive jKiwers. He gradually gained practice, and in 
1764 married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, 
and a lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his 
marriage, (1765), the attempt of Parliamentarj- taxa- 
*ion turned him from law to politics. He took initial 
steps toward holdin^, a town meeting, and the resolu- 



tions he offered on the subject became tcit populai 
throughout the Province, and were adopted word for 
word by over fortj- different towns. He nwved to Bos- 
ton in 176S, and became one of the most courageous 
and prominent ad\-ocatesof the popular cause, and 
was chosen a member of the Gener.il Court ^ihe Leg- 
lislature) in 1770. 

Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first delegates 
from Massachusetts to the first Continental Congress, 
which met in 1774. Here he distinguished hiraseh 
by his capacity for business and for del-ate, and ad- 
\-ocated the movement for indejiendence against th* 
: majority of the members. In May, 1776, he rocved 
and carried a resolution in Congress that the Colonies 
should assume the duties of self-goveniment. He 
was a prominent member of the committee of iive 
appointed June 11, to prej^re a declaration of inde- 
pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, but 
I on Adams devolved the task of battling it throug i 
Congress in a three days debate. 

On the day after the Declaration of Independence 
was passed, while his soul was yet warm with th; 
glow of excited feeling, he wane .\ letter to his wife 
which, as we read it now, seems to h.tve been dictated 
by the spirit of prophecy. "Yesterday,"* he says, "the 
\ greatest question was decided that ever was debated 
i in -America; and greater, jierhaps, never w.is or wil 
be decided among men. A resolution was jxissed 
I without one dissenting colony, ' that these United 
: States are, and of right ought to be, free and inde- 
pendent states' The day is passed. The fourth of 
July, 1776, will be a memorable e;>och in the history 
of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated 
by succeeding generations, as the great anniverearj' 
festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of 
deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty 
Crod. It ought to be solemnired with pomp, shows. 



24 



JOHN ADAMS. 



games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations 
from one end of the continent to the other, from this 
lime forward for ever. You will think me transported 
with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of 
tiro toil, and blood and treasure, that it will cost to 
maintain this declaration, and support and defend 
these States; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the 
rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is 
worth more than all the means; and that posterity 
will tri\imph, although you and I may rue, which I 
hojje we shall not." 

In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a 
delegate to France and to co-operate with Bemjamin 
Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in 
the endeavor to obtain assistance in arms and money 
from the French Government. This was a severe trial 
to his patriotism, as it separated him from his home, 
compelled liim to cross the ocean in winter, and ex- 
posed him to great peril of capture by the British cruis- 
ers, who were seeking him. He left France June 17, 
1779. In September of the same year he was again 
chosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readi- 
ness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce 
with Great Britian, as soon as the British Cabinet 
might be found willing to listen to such pioposels. He 
sailed for France in NovemVier, from there he went to 
Holland, where he negotiated important loans and 
formed important commercial treaties 

Finally a treaty of peace with England was signed 
Jan. 21, 1783. The re-action from the excitement, 
toil and anxiety through which Mr. Adams had passed 
threw him into a fever. After suffering from a con- 
tinued fever and becoming feeble and emaciated he 
was advised to go to England to drink the waters of 
Bath. While in England, still drooping anddesixjnd- 
ing, he received dispatches from his own government 
urging the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to 
negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health was 
delicate, yet he immediately set out, and through 
storm, on sea, on horseback and foot, he made the trip. 

February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. Adams 
envoy to the Court of St. James. Here he met face 
to face the King 0/ England, who had so long re- 
garded him as a traitor. As England did not 
condescend to appoint a minister to the United 
States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accom- 
plishing but little, he sought permission to return to 
.■lis own country, where he arrived in June, 1788. 

When Washington was first chosen President, John 
Adams, rendered illustiious by his signal services at 
home and abroad, was chosen Vice President. Again 
at the second election of Washington as President, 
Adams was chosen Vice President. In 1796, Wash- 
ington retired from public life, and Mr. Adams was 
elected President, though not without much opposition. 
Serving in this office four years, he was succeeded by 
Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics. 

■JVhile Mr. Adams was Vice President the great 



French Revolution shook the continent of Europe, 
and it was u[X)n this point which he was at issue with 
the majority of his countrymen led by Mr. Jefferson. 
Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French people 
in their struggle, for he had no confidence in their 
power of self-government, and he utterly abhored the 
classof atheist philosophers who he claimed caused it. 
On the other hand Jefferson's sympathies were strongly 
enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence or- 
iginated the alienation between these distinguished 
men, and two powerful parties were thus soon organ- 
ized, Adams at the head of the one whose sympathies 
were with England and Jefferson led the other in 
sympathy with France. 

The world has seldom seen a spectacle of more 
moral beauty and grandeur, than was presented by the 
old age of Mr. Adams. The violence of party feeling 
had died away, and he had begun to receive that just 
appreciation which, to most men, is not accorded till 
after death. No one could look upon his venerable 
form, and think of what he had done and suffered, 
and how he had given up all the prime and strenj,th 
of his life to the public good, without the deepest 
emotion of gratitude and respect. It was his peculiar 
good fortune to witness the complete success of the 
institution which he had been so active in creating and 
sup]X)rting. In 1824, his cup of happiness was filled 
to the brim, by seeing his son elevated to the highest 
station in the gift of the people. 

The fourth of July, 1826, which completed the half 
century since the signing of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, arrived, and there were but three of the 
signers of that immortal instrument left upon the 
earth to hail its morning light. And, as it is 
well known, on that day two of these finished their 
earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence so remarkable as 
to seem miraculous. For a few days before Mr. 
Adams had been rapidly failing, and on the morning 
of the fourth he found hmiself too weak to rise from 
his bed. On being requested to name a toast for the 
customary celebration of the day, he exclaimed " In- 
dependence FOREVER." When the day was ushered 
in, by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons, 
he was asked by one of his attendants if he knew 
what day it was.-" He replied, "O yes; it is the glor- 
ious fourth of July — God bless it — God bless you all." 
In the course of the day he said, "It is a great and 
glorious day." The last words he uttered were, 
"Jefferson survives." But he had, at one o'clock, re- 
signed his spirit into the hands of his God. 

The personal appearance and manners of Mr. 
Adams were not particularly prepossessing. His face, 
as his portrait manifests.was intellectual ard expres- 
sive, but his figure was low and ungraceful, and his 
manners were frequently abrupt and uncourteous. 
He had neither the lofty dignity of Washington, nor 
the engaging elegance and gracefulness which marked 
the manners and address of Jefferson. 



iJ^ 





^£j%^/y''t77Z, 



THIRD PRESIDENT. 



»7 




HOMAS JEFFERSON was 

born April 2, 1743, at Shad- 

S*well, Albermarle county, Va. 

His parents were Peter and 
Jane ( Randolph) Jefferson, 
the former a native of Wales, 
and the latter born in Lon- 
don. To them were born six 
daughters and two sons, of 
whom Thomas was the elder. 
When 14 years of age his 
father died. He received a 
most liberal education, hav- 
ing been kept diligently at school 
from the time he was five years of 
age. In 1760 he entered William 
end Mary College. Williamsburg was then the seat 
of the Colonial Court, and it was the obode of fashion 
a.id splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then 17 
years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine 
horses, and much caressed by gay society, yet he 
was earnestly devoted to his studies, and irreproacha- 
able in his morals. It is strange, however, under 
such influences, that he was not ruined. In the sec- 
ond year of his college course, moved by some un- 
explained inward impulse, he discarded his horses, 
society, and even his favorite violin, to which he had 
previously given much time. He often devoted fifteen 
hours a day to hard study, allowing himself for ex- 
ercise only a run in the evening twilight of a mile out 
of the city and back again. He thus attained very 
high intellectual culture, alike excellence in philoso- 
])hy and the languages. The most difficult Latin and 
Greek authors he read with facility. A more finished 
scholar has seldom gone forth from college halls; and 



there was not to be found, perhaps, in all Virginia, a 
more pureminded, upright, gentlemanly young man. 

Immediately upon leaving college he began the 
study of law. For the short time he continued in the 
practice of his profession he rose rapidly and distin- 
guished himself by his energy and accuteness as a 
lawyer. But the times called for greater action. 
The policy of England had awakened the spirit of 
resistance of the American Colonies, and the enlarged 
views which Jefferson had ever entertained, soon led 
him into active political life. In 1769 he was chosen 
a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 
1772 he married Mrs. Martha .Skelton, a very beauti- 
ful, wealthy and highly accomplished young widow 

Upon Mr. Jefferson's large estate at .Shadwell, thjre 
was a majestic swell of land, called MoiUicello, which 
commanded a prospect of wonderful extent and 
beauty. This spot Mr. Jefferson selected for his new 
home; and here he reared a mansion of modest ye*^ 
elegant architecture, which, next to Mount Vernon 
became the most distinguished resort in our land. 

In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, 
where, though a silent member, his abilities as a 
writer and a reasoner soon become known, and he 
was placed ujwn a number of important committees, 
and was chairman of the one appointed for the draw- 
ing up of a declaration of independence. This com- 
mittee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, 
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. 
Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was apjx)inted 
to draw up the paper. Franklin and Adams suggested 
a few verbal changes before it was submitted to Con- 
gress. On June 28, a few slight changes were made 
in it by Congress, and it was passed and signed July 
4, 1776 What must have been the feelings of that 



28 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



man — what the emotions that swelled his breast — 
who was charged with the preparation of that Dec- 
laration, which, while it made known the wrongs of 
America, was also to publish her to tiie world, free, 
Koverign and independent. It is one of the most re- 
markable papers ever written ; and did no other effort 
uf the mind of its author exist, that alone would be 
sufficient to stamp his name with immortality. 

In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to 
Patrick Henry, :,s Governor of Virginia. At one time 
the British officer, Tarleton, sept a secret expedition to 
Monticello, to capture the Governor. Scarcely five 
minutes ela[ised after the hurried escape of Mr. Jef- 
ferson and his family, ere his mansion was in posses- 
sion of the British troops. His wife's health, never 
very good, was much injured by this excitement, and 
in the summer of 1783 she died. 

Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. 
Two years later he was appointed Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary to France. Returning to the United States 
in September, 1789, he became Secretary of State 
in Washington's cabinet. This position he resigned 
Jan. I, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen Vice Presi- 
dent, and four years later was elected President over 
Mr. Adams, with Aaron Burr as Vice President. In 
1804 he was re-elected with wonderful unanimity, 
and George Clinton, Vice President. 

The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second adminstra- 
tion was disturbed by an event which threatened the 
tranquility and peace of the Union; this was the con- 
spiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election 
to the Vice Presidency, and led on by an imprincipled 
ambition, this extraordinary man formed the plan of a 
military expedition into the Spanish territories on our 
southwestern frontier, for the purpose of forming there 
a new republic. This has been generally supposed 
was a mere pretext ; and although it has not been 
generally known what his real plans were, there is no 
doubt that they were of a far more dangerous 
character. 

In 1809, at the expiration of the second term for 
which Mr. Jefferson had l>een elected, he determined 
to retire from political life. For a period of nearly 
forty years, he had been continually before the j)ub- 
,ic, and all that time had been employed in offices of 
the greatest trust and responsibility. Having tluis de- 
voted the best part of his life to the service of his 
country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his 
declining years required, and n\ion the organization of 
the new administration, in March, 1809, he bid fare- 
well forever to public life, and retired to Monticello. 

Mr. Jefferson was profuse in his hospitality. Whole 
families came in their coaches with their horses, — 
fathers and mothers, boys and girls, babies and 
nurses, — and remained three and even six months. 
Life at Monticello, for years, resembled that at a 
fishionable watering-place. 

The fourth of July, 1826, being the fifneth anniver- 



sary of the Declaration of American Independence. 
great preparations were made in every part of thd 
Union for its celebration, as tlie nation's jubilee, and 
the citizens of Washington, to add to the solemnity 
of the occasion, invited Mr. Jefferson, as the framer. 
and one of the few surviving signers of the Declara- 
tion, to participate in their testivities. Btit an ill- 
ness, which had been of several weeks duration, and 
had been continually increasing, compelled him to 
decline the invitation. 

On the second of July, the disease under which 
he was laboring left him, but in such a reduced 
state that his medical attendants, entertained nc 
hojie of his recovery. From this time he was perfectly 
sensible that his last hour was at hand. On the next 
dny, which was Monday, he asked of those around 
him, the day of the month, and on being told it was 
the third of July, he expressed the earnest wish tha'; 
he might be permitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth 
anniversary. His prayer was heard — that day, whose 
dawn was hailed with such rapture through our land, 
burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed for- 
ever. And what a noble consummation of a noble 
life ! To die on that day, — the birthday of a nation,- - 
the day which his own name and his own act had 
rendered glorious; to die amidst the rejoicings and 
festivities of a whole nation, who looked up to him, 
as the author, under God, of their greatest blessings, 
was all that was wanting to fill up the record his life. 

Almost at the same hour of his death, the kin- 
dred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear 
him company, left the scene of his earthly honors. 
Hand in hand they had stood forth, the champions of 
freedom; hand in hand, during the dark and desper- 
ate struggle of the Revolution, they had cheered and 
animated their desponding countrymen; for half a 
century they had labored together for tne good of 
the country; and now hand in hand they depart. 
In their lives they had been united in tlie same great 
cause of liberty, and in their deaths they were not 
divided. 

In person Mr. Jeff'erson was tall and thin, rather 
above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes 
were light, his hair originally red, in after life became 
white and silvery; his complexion was fair, his fore- 
head broad, and his whole countenance intelligent and 
thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude of mind as 
well as personal courage; and his command of tem- 
per was such that his oldest and most intimate friends 
never recollected to have seen him in a passion. 
His manners, though dignified, were simple and un- 
affected, and his hospitality was so unbounded that 
all found at his house a ready welcome. In conver- 
sation he was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic ; and 
his language was remarkably pure and correct. He 
was a finished classical scholar, and in his writings is 
discernable the care with which he formed his style 
upon the best models of antiquity. 




*34 



'tCJ''" 



/■ (2yo<-^^-^^ ■'i^^ A<-^^^^-^ ^"V 



FOURTH PRESIDENT. 



3^ 




n^EQES npDISOI]. 





AMES MADISON, "Father 
of the Constitution," and fourth 
President of the United States, 
was born March i6, 1757, and 
died at his home in Virginia, 
June 28, 1836. The name of 
James Madison is inseparably con- 
nected with most of the important 
events in that heroic period of our 
country during which the founda- 
tions of this great repubUc were 
laid. He was the last of the founders 
of the Constitution of the United 
States to be called to his eternal 
reward. 

The Madison family were among 
the early emigrants to the New World, 
landing upon the shores of the Chesa- 
peake but 15 years after the settle- 
ment of Jamestown. The father of 
James Madison was an opulent 
planter, residing upon a very fine es- 
tate called "Montpelier," Orange Co., 
Va. The mansion was situated in 
the midst of scenery highly pictur- 
esque and romantic, on the west side 
of South-west Mountain, at the foot of 
Blue Ridge. It was but 25 miles from the home of 
Jefferson at Monticello. The closest personal and 
political attachment existed between these illustrious 
men, from their early youth until death. 

The early education of Mr. Madison was conducted 
mostly at home under a private tutor. At the age of 
18 he was sent to Princeton College, in New Jersey. 
Here he applied himself to study with the most im- 



prudent zeal ; allowing himself, for months, but three 
hours' sleep out of the 24. His health thus became so 
seriously impaired that he never recovered any vigor 
of constitution. He graduated in 177 i, with a feeble 
body, witli a character of utmost purity, and with a 
mind highly disciplined and richly stored with learning 
which embellished and gave proficiency to his subsf ' 
quent career. 

Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study of 
law and a course of extensive and systematic reading. 
This educational course, the spirit of the times in 
which he lived, and the society with which he asso- 
ciated, all combined to inspire \\\m with a strong 
love of liberty, and to train him for his life-work of 
a statesman. Being naturally of a religious turn of 
mind, and his frail health leading him to think that 
his life was not to be long, he directed especial atten- 
tion to theological studies. Endowed with a mmd 
singularly free from passion and jjrejudice, and with 
almost unequalled powers of reasoning, he weighed 
all the arguments for and against revealed religion, 
until his faith became so established as never to 
be shaken. 

In the spring of 1776, when 26 years of age, he 
was elected a member of the Virginia Convention, to 
frame the constitution of the State. The next year 
(1777), he was a candidate for the General Assembly. 
He refused to treat the whisky-loving voters, and 
consequently lost his election ; but those who had 
witnessed the talent, energy and public spirit of the 
modest young man, enlisted themselves in his behalf, 
and he was appointed to the EACculive Council. 

Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were 
Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison remained 
member of tlie Council ; and tlieir appreciation of his 



32 



JAMES MADISON. 



intellectual, social and moral worth, contributed not 
a little to his subsequent eminence. In the year 
1780, he was elected a member of the Continental 
Congress. Here he met the most illustrious men in 
our land, and he was immediately assigned to one of 
the most conspicuous positions among them. 

For three years Mr. Madison continued in Con- 
gress, one of its most active and influential members. 
In the year 1784, his term having e.xpired, he was 
elected a member of the Virginia Legislature. 

No man t"elt more deeply than Mr. Madison the 
utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no na- 
tional government, with no power to form treaties 
which would be binding, or to enforce law. There 
was not any State more prominent than Virginia in 
the declaration, that an efficient national government 
must be formed. In January, 1786, Mr. Madison 
carried a resolution through the General Assembly of 
Virginia, inviting the other States to appoint commis- 
sioners to meet in convention at Annapolis to discuss 
this subject. Five States only were re[)resentcd. The 
convention, however, issued another call, drawn up 
by Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their 
delegates to Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to draft 
a Constitution for the United States, to take the place 
of that Confederate League. The delegates met at 
the time appointed. F,very State but Rhode Island 
was represented. George Washington was chosen 
president of the convention; and the present Consti- 
tution of the United States was then and there formed. 
There was, perhaps, no mind and no pen more ac- 
tive in framing this immortal document than the mind 
and the pen of James Madison. 

The Constitution, adopted by a vote 81 to 79, was 
to be presented to the several States for acceptance. 
But grave solicitude was felt. Should it be rejected 
we should be left but a conglomeration of independent 
States, with but little power at home and little respect 
abroad. Mr. Madison was selected by the conven- 
tion to draw up an address to the people of the United 
States, expounding the principles of the Constitution, 
and urging its adoption. There was great opposition 
to it at first, but it at length triumphed over all, and 
went into effect in 1789. 

Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Repre- 
sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became the 
avowed leader of the Republican party. While in 
New York attending Congress, he met Mrs. Todd, a 
young widow of remarkable power of fascination, 
whom he married. She was in person and character 
queenly, and probably no lady has thus far occupied 
so prominent a position in the very peculiar society 
which has constituted our republican court as Mrs. 
.Madison. 

Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under 
Jefferson, and at the close of his administration 
was chosen President. At this time the encroach- 
ments of England had brought us to the verge of war. , 



British orders in council destioyed our commerce, and 
our flag was exposed to constant insult. Mr. Madison 
was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring 
in his disposition, war had no charms for him. But the 
meekest spirit can be roused. It makes one's blood 
boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought 
to, upon the ocean, by the guns of an English cruiser. 
A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the 
crew to be paraded before him. With great nonchal- 
ance he selects any number whom he may please to 
designate as British subjects ; orders them down the 
ship's side into his boat; and places them on the gun- 
deck of his man-of-war, to fight, by compulsion, the 
battles of England. This right of search and im- 
pressment, no efforts of our Government could induce 
the British cabinet to relinquish. I 

On the iSthof June, 1812, President Madison gave 
his approval to an act of Congress declaring war 
against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the bitter 
hostility of the Federal party to tlie war, the country 
in general approved; and Mr. Madison, on the 4th 
of March, 18 13, was re-elected by a large majority, 
and entered upon his second term of office. This is 
not the place to describe the various adventurss of 
this war on the land and on the water. Our infan'- 
navy then laid the foundations of its renown in grap- 
pling with the most formidable power which ever 
swept the seas. The contest commenced in earnest 
by the appearance of a British fleet, early in February, 
1813, in Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole 
coast of the United States under blockade. 

The Emperor of Russia offered his services as me 
ditator. America accepted ; England refused. A Brit- 
ish force of five thousand men landed on the banks 
of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into Chesa- 
peake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladens- 
burg, upon Washington. 

The straggling little city of Washington was thrown 
into consternation. The cannon of the brief conflict 
at Bladensburg echoed through the streets of the 
metropolis. The whole population fled from the city. 
The President, leaving Mrs. Madison in the White 
House, with her carriage drawn up at the doer to 
await his speedy return, hurried to meet the officers 
in a council of war He met our troops utterly routed, 
and he could not go back without danger of being 
captured. But few hours elapsed ere the Presidential 
Mansion, the Capitol, and all the public buildings in 
Washington were in flames. 

The war closed after two years of fighting, and on 
Feb. T3, i8t5, the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. 

On the 4th of March, 1817, his second term of 
office expired, and he resigned the Presidential chair 
to his friend, James Monroe. He retired to his beau- 
tiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the re- 
mainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, then at the 
age of 85 years, he fell asleep in death. Mrs. Madi- 
son died July 12, 1849. 




A' 



7 



-?-Cr^_ 



FIFTH PRESIDENT. 



35 





PEQES n]0]]ROE. 






AMES MONROE, the fifth 
.Presidentof The United States, 
was born in Westmoreland Co., 
Va., April 28, 1758. His early 
life was passed at the place of 
nativity. His ancestors had for 
many years resided in the prov- 
ince in which he was born. When, 
at 17 years of age, in the process 
* of completing his education at 
William and Mary College, the Co- 
lonial Congress assembled at Phila- 
deljilnia to deliberate upon the un- 
just and manifold oppressions of 
Great Britian, declared the separa- 
tion of the Colonies, and promul- 
gated the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. Had he been born ten years before it is highly 
probable that he would have been one of the signers 
of that celebrated instrument. At this time he left 
school and enlisted among the patriots. 

He joined the army when everything looked hope- 
less and gloomy. The number of deserters increased 
from day to day. The invading armies came pouring 
in ; and the tories not only favored the cause of the 
mother country, but disheartened the new recruits, 
who were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of con- 
tending with an enemy whom they had been taught 
to deem invincible. To such brave spirits as James 
Monroe, who went right onward, undismayed through 
difficulty and danger, the United States owe their 
political emancipation. The young cadet joined the 
ranks, and espoused the cause of his injured country, 
with a firm determination to live or die with her strife 



for liberty. Firmly yet sadly he shared in the mel- 
ancholy retreat from Harleam Heights and White 
Plains, and accompanied the dispirited army as it fled 
before its foes through New Jersey. In four months 
after the Declaration of Independence, the patriots 
had been beaten in seven battles. At the battle of 
Trenton he led the vanguard, and, in the act of charg- 
ing upon the enemy he received a wound in the left 
shoulder. 

As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was pro- 
moted a captain of infantry ; and, having recovered 
from his wound, he rejoined the army. He, however, 
receded from the line of promotion, by becoming an 
officer in the staff of Lord Sterling. During the cam- 
paigns of 1777 and 1778, in the actions of Brandy 
wine, Germantown and Monmouth, he continued 
aid-de-camp; but becoming desirous to regain his 
position in the army, he exerted himself to collect a 
regiment for the Virginia line. This scheme failed 
owing to the exhausted condition of the State. Upon 
this failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at 
that period Governor, and pursued, with considerable 
ardor, the study of common law. He did not, however, 
entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag; 
but on the invasions of the enemy, served as a volun 
teer, during the two years of his legal pursuits. 

In 1782, he was elected from King George county, 
a member of the Leglislature of Virginia, and by that 
body he was elevated to a seat in the Executive 
Council. He was thus honored with the confidence 
of his fellow citizens at 23 years of age ; and having 
at this early period displayed some of that ability 
and aptitude for legislation, which were afterwards 
employed with unremitting energy for the public good, 



36 



JAMES MONROE. 



he was in the succeeding year chosen a member of 
ihe Congress of the United States. 

Deeplyas Mr. Monroefelt the imperfettionsof theold 
Confederacy, he was opposed to the new Constitution, 
thinking, with many others of ^he Republican party, 
diat it gave too much power to the Central Government, 
and not enough to the individual States. Still he re- 
tained the esteem of his friends who were its warm 
supporters, and who, notwithstanding his opposition 
secured its adoption. In 1789, he became a member 
of the United States Senate ; which office he held for 
four years. Every month the line of distinction be- 
tween the two great parties wiiich divided the nation, 
the Federal and the Republican, was growing more 
distinct. The two prominent iaeas which now sep- 
arated them were, that the Republican party was in 
sympathy with France, and also in favor of such a 
strict construction of the Constitution as to give the 
Central Government as little power, and the State 
Governments as much ixjwer, as the Constitution would 
warrant. The Federalists sym[)athized with England, 
and were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con- 
stitution, which would give as much power to the 
Central Government as that document could possibly 
authorize. 

The leading Federalists and Republicans were 
alike noble men, consecrating all their energies to the 
good of the nation. Two more honest men or more 
pure patriots than John Adams the Federalist, and 
James Monroe the Republican, never breathed. In 
building up this majestic nation, which is destined 
to eclipse all Grecian and Assyrian greatness, the com- 
bination of their antagonism was needed to create the 
light equilibrium. And yet each in his day was de- 
nounced as almost a demon. 

Washington was then President. England had es- 
poused the cause of the Bourbons against the princi- 
ples of the French Revolution. All Europe was drawn 
into the conflict. We were feeble and far away. 
Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality be- 
tween these contending powers. France had helped 
us in the struggle for our liberties. All the despotisms 
of Europe were now combined to prevent the French 
from escaping from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse 
than that wliich we had endured. Col. Monroe, more 
magnanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at 
whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in 
their extremity. It was the impulse of a generous 
and noble nature. He violently opposed the Pres- 
ident's proclamation as ungrateful and wanting in 
magnanimity. 

Washington, who could appreciate such a character, 
developed his calm, serene, almost divine greatness, 
by appointing that very James Monroe, who was de- 
nouncing the policy of the Government, as the minister 
of that Government to the Republic of France. Mr. 
Monroe was welcomed by the National Convention 
in France with the most enthusiastic demonstrations. 



Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. Mon- 
roe was elected Governor of Virginia, and held the 
office for three yeais. He was again sent to France to 
co-operate with Chancellor Livingston in obtaining 
the vast territory then known as the Province of 
Louisiana, which France had but shortly before ob- 
tained from Si)ain. Their united efforts were suc- 
cessful. For the comparatively small sum of fifteen 
millions of dollars, the entire territory of Orleans and 
district of Louisiana were added to the United States. 
This was probably the largest transfer of real estate 
which was ever made in all the history of the world. 

From France Mr. Monroe went to England to ob- 
tain from that country some recognition of our 
rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against those 
odious impressments of our seamen. but Eng- 
land was unrelenting. He agam returned to Eng- 
land on the same mission, but could receive no 
redress. He returned to his home and was again 
chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon resigned 
to accept the position of Secretary of State under 
Madison. While in this office war with England was 
declared, the Secretary of War resigned, and during 
these trying times, the duties of the War Department 
were also put upon him. He was truly the armor- 
bearer of President Madison, and the most efficient 
business man in his cabinet. Upon the return of 
peace he resigned the Department of War, but con- 
tinued in the office of Secretary of State until the ex- 
piration of Mr. Madison's adminstration. At the elec 
tion held the previous autumn Mr. Monroe himself had 
been chosen President with but little opposition, and 
upon March 4, 18 £7, was inaugurated. Four years 
later he was elected for a second term. 

Among the important measures of his Presidency 
were the cession of Florida to the United States; the 
Missouri Compromise, and the " Monroe doctrine.'' 

This famous doctrine, since known as the " Monroe 
doctrine," was enunciated by him in 1823. At that 
time the United States had recognized the independ- 
ence of the .South American states, and did not wish 
to have European powers longer attempting to sub- 
due portions of the American Continent. The doctrine 
is as follows: "That we should consider any attempt 
on the part of European powers to extend their sys- 
tem to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous 
to our peace and safety," and "that we could not 
view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing 
or controlling American governments or provinces in 
any other light than as a manifestation by European 
|)Owers of an unfriendly disposition toward the United 
States." This doctrine immediately affected the course 
of foreign governments, and has become the approved 
sentiment of the United States. 

At the end of his second term Mr. Monroe retired 
to his home in Virginia, where he lived unlil 1830, 
when he went to New York to live with his son-in- 
law. In that city he died, on the 4th of July, 1S31 




J. $, At 



Oyrt^ 



SIX TH PRESIDENT. 



39 




>eg-^^ 




IF '/^ "(9 





OHN QUINCY ADAMS, the 

sixth President of the United 
^States, was born in the rural 
home of his honored father, 
John Adams, in Quincy, Mass., 
on the I ith cf July, 1767. His 
mother, a woman of exalted 
worth, watched over his childhood 
during the almost constant ab- 
sence of his father. When but 
eight years of age, he stood with 
his mother on an eminence, listen- 
ing to the booming of the great bat- 
tle on Bunker's Hill, and gazing on 
upon the smoke and flames billow- 
ing up from the conflagration of 
Charlestown. 

When but eleven years old he 
took a tearful adieu of his mother, 
to sail with his fattier for Europe, 
through a fleet ot hostile British cruisers. The bright, 
animated boy spent a year and a half in Paris, where 
his father was associated with Franklin and Lee as 
minister plenipotentiary. His intelligence attracted 
the notice of these distinguished men, and he received 
from them flattering marks of attention. 

Mr. John Adams had scarcely returned to this 
cour.try, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. Again 
John Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he 
applied himself with great diligence, for six months, 
to Jtudy; then accompained his father to Holland, 
where he entered, first a school in .Amsterdam, then 
the University at Leyden. About a year from this 
time, in i7Si,when the manly boy was but fourteen 
yea's of age, he was selected liy Mr. Dana, our min- 
ister to the Russian court, as his private secretary. 

In this school of incessant labor .ind of enobling 
culture he spent fourteen months, and then returned 
to Holland through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and 
Bremen. This long journey he took alone, in the 
winter, when in his sixteenth year. Aeain he resumed 
his studies, under a private tutor, at Hague. Thence 



in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father t: 
Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintance 
with the most distinguished men on the Continent- 
examining arclfitectural remains, galleries of paintings 
and all renowned works of art. At Paris he again 
became associated with the most illustrious men of 
all lands in the contemplations of the loftiest temporal 
themes which can engross the human mind. Afte- 
a short visit to England he returned to Paris, ana 
consecrated all his energies to study until May, 1785, 
when he returned to America. To a brilliant young 
man of eighteen, who had seen much of the world, 
and who was familiar with the etiquette of courts, a 
residence with his father in London, under such cir- 
cumstances, must have been extremely attractive 
but with judgment very rare in one of his age, he pre- 
ferred to return to America to complete his education 
in an American college. He wished then to study 
law, that with an honorable profession, he might be 
able to obtain an independent support. 

Upon leaving Harvard College, at the age of twenty 
he studied law for three years. In June, ^794, be- 
ing then but twenty-seven years of age, he was ap- 
pointed by Washington, resident minister at the 
Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached 
London in October, where he was immediately admit- 
ted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay and Pinckney, 
assisting them in negotiating a commercial treaty with 
Great Brilian. After thus spending a fortnight ir, 
London, he proceeded to the Hague. 

In July, 1797, he left the Hague to go to Portugal as 
minister plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal 
upon arriving in London, he met with despatches 
directing him to the court of Berlin, but requesting 
him to remain in London until he should receive his 
instructions. M'hile waiting he was mairied to ar. 
American lady to whom he had been previously en- 
gaged, — Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughte" 
of Mr. Joshua Johnson, American consul in I ondon ; 
a lady endownd with that beauty and those accom- 
plishment which eminently fitted her to move in t'ui 
elevated sphere for whii h she wjvs destined. 



40 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



He reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797 ; 
where he remained until July, 1799, when, having ful- 
filled all the purposes of his mission, he solicited his 
recall. 

Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to 
the Senate of Massachusetts, from Boston, and then 
was elected Senator of the United States for six years, 
from the 4th of March, 1804. His reputation, his 
ability and his experience, placed him immediately 
among the most prominent and influential members 
of that body. Especially did he sustain the Govern- 
ment in its measures of resistance to the encroach- 
ments of England, destroying our commerce and in- 
sulting our flag. There was no man in America more 
familiar with the arrogance of the British court upon 
these points, and no one more resolved to present 
a firm resistance. 

In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the Pres- 
idential chair, and he immediately nominated John 
Quincy Adams minister to St. Petersourg. Resign- 
ing his professorship in Harvard College, he embarked 
at Boston, in August, 1809. 

While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense stu- 
dent. He devoted his attention to the language and 
history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; to -the 
European system of weights, measures, and coins; to 
the climate and astronomical observations ; while he 
Kept up a familiar acquaintance with the Greek and 
Latin classics. In all the universities of Europe, a 
more accomplished scholar could scarcely be found. 
All through life the Bible constituted an important 
part of his studies. It was his rule to read five 
chapters every day. 

On the 4th of March, t8i7, Mr. Monroe took the 
Presidential chair, and immediately appointed Mr. 
Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of his num- 
erous friends in public and private life in Europe, he 
sailed in June, 18 19, for the United States. On the 
1 8th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his 
home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Mon- 
roe's administration, Mr. Adams continued Secretary 
of State. 

Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's second 
term of office, new candidates began to be presented 
for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. Adams brought 
forward his name. It was an exciting campaign. 
Party spirit was never more bitter. Two hundred and 
sixty electoral votes were cast. Andrew Jackson re- 
ceived ninety-nine; John Quincy Adams, eighty-four; 
William H. Crawford, forty-one; Henry Clay, thirty- 
seven. As there was no choice by the people, the 
question went to the House of Representatives. Mr. 
Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. Adams, and 
he was elected. 

The friends of all the disappointed candidates now 
combined in a venomous and persistent assault upon 
Mr. Adams. There is nothing more disgraceful in 
•he past history of our country than the abuse which 



was poured in one uninterrupted stream, upon this 
high-minded, upright, patriotic man. There never was 
an administration more pure in principles, more con- 
scientiously devoted to the best interests of the coun- 
try, than that of John Quincy Adams ; and never, per- 
haps, was there an administration more unscrupu- 
lously and outrageously assailed. 

Mr. Adams was, to a very renrarkable degree, ab- 
stemious and temperate in his habits; always rising 
early, and taking much exercise. When at his home in 
Quincy, he has been known to walk, before breakfast, 
seven miles to Boston. In Washington, it was said 
that he was the first man up in the city, lighting his 
own fire and applying himself to work in his library 
often long before dawn. 

On the 4th of March, t829, Mr. Adams retired 
from the Presidency, and was succeeded by Andrew 
Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected Vice Presi- 
dent. The slavery question now began to assume 
portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams returned to 
Quincy and to his studies, which he pursued with un- 
abated zeal. But he was not long permitted to re- 
main in retirement. In November, 1830, he was 
elected representative to Congress. For seventeen 
years, until his death, he occupied the post as repre- 
sentative, towering above all his peers, ever ready to 
do brave battle' for freedom, and winning the title of 
" the old man eloquent." Upon taking his seat in 
the House, he announced that he should hold him- 
self bound to no party. Probably there never was a 
member more devoted to his duties. He was usually 
the first in his place in the morning, and the last to 
leave his seat in the evening. Not a measure could 
be brought forward and escape his scrutiny. The 
battle which Mr. Adams fought, almost singly, against 
the proslavery party in the Government, was sublime 
in Its moral daring and heroism. For persisting in 
presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery, he 
was threatened with indictment by the grand jury, 
with expulsion from the House, with assassination ; 
but no threats could intimidate him, and his final 
triumph was complete. 

It has been said of President Adams, that when his 
body was bent and his hair silvered by the lapse of 
fourscore years, yielding to the simple faith of a little 
child, he was accustomed to repeat every night, before 
he slept, the prajer which his mother taught him in 
his infant years. 

On the 2rst of February, 1848, he rose on the floor 
of Congress, with a paper in his hand, to address the 
speaker. Suddenly he fell, again stricken by paraly- 
sis, and was caught in the arms of those around liim. 
For a time he was senseless, as he was conveyed to 
the sofa in the rotunda. With reviving conscious- 
ness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly around and 
said " This is the end of earth ;"then after a moment's 
pause he added, "/am content" These were the 
last words of the grand "Old Man Eloquent." 




(S^^.^-Z.^^^^^^c^rr^^^L^^^^^-z^-^- 



SEVENTH PRESIDENT. 



4.3 





»M>i>«, c o'-Sj'Si^OTyg*^ ? 












NDREW JACKSON, the 
seventh President of the 
United States, was born in 
Waxhaw settlement, N. C, 
March 15, 1767, a few days 
after his father's death. His 
parents were poor emigrants 
from Ireland, and took up 
their abode in Waxhaw set- 
tlement, where they lived in 
deepest poverty. 
Andrew, or Andy, as he was 
universally called, grew up a very 
rough, rude, turbulent boy. His 
features were coarse, his form un- 
gainly; and there was but very 
Kttle in his character, made visible, which was at- 
tractive. 

When only thirteen years old he joined the volun- 
teers of Carolina against the British invasion. In 
1781, he and his brother Robert were captured and 
imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British officer 
ordered him to brush his mud-spattered boots. " I am 
a prisoner of war, not your servant," was the reply of 
the dauntless boy. 

The brute drew his sword, and aimed a desperate 
Dlow at the head of the helpless young prisoner. 
Andrew raised his hand, and thus received two fear- 
ful gashes, — one on tlje hand and the other upon the 
head. The officer then turned to his brother Robert 
with the same demand. He also refused, and re- 
ceived a blow from the keen-edged sabre, which quite 
disabled him, and which probably soon after caused 
his death. They suffered much other ill-treatment, and 
were finally stricken with the small-pox. Their 
mother was successful '.n obtaining their exchanjje. 



and took her sick boys home. After a long illness 
Andrew recovered, and the death of his mother soon 
left him entirely friendless. 

Andrew supported himself in various ways, sichas 
working at the saddler's trade, teaching school and 
clerking in a general store, until 1784, when he 
entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He, however, 
gave more attention to the wild amusements of the 
times than to his studies. In 1788, he was appointed 
solicitor for the western district of North Carolina, of 
which Tennessee was then a part. This involved 
many long and tedious journeys amid dangers of 
every kind, but Andrew Jackson never knew fear, 
and the Indians had no desire to repeat a skirmish 
with the Sharp Knife. 

In 1791, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman who 
supposed herself divorced from her former husband. 
Great was the surprise of both parties, two years later, 
to find that the conditionsof the divorce had just been 
definitely settled by the first husband. The marriage 
ceremony was performed a second time, but the occur- 
rence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr. 
Jackson into disfavor. 

During these years he worked hard at his profes- 
sion, and frequently had one or more duels on hand, 
one of which, when he killed Dickenson, was espec- 
ially disgraceful. 

In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then 
containing neariy eighty thousand inhabitants, the 
people met in convention at Knoxville to frame a con- 
stitution. Five were sent from each of the eleven 
counties. Andrew Jackson was one of the delegates. 
The new State was entitled to but one member ii\ 
the National House of Representatives. Andre»v Jack-' 
son was chosen that memlier. Mounting his horse he 
rode to PhiJedelphiii. where Congress then 1 eld its 



44 



ANDRE IV JACKSON. 



sessions, — a distance of about eight hundred miles. 

Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- 
cratic party. Jefferson was his idol. He admired 
Bonaparte, loved France and hated England. As Mr. 
Jackson took his seat. Gen. Washington, whose 
second term of office was then expiring, delivered his 
last speech to Congress. A committee drew up a 
complimentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson 
did not approve of the address, and was one of the 
twelve who voted against it. He was not willing to 
say that Gen. Washington's adminstration had been 
" wise, firm and patriotic." 

Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States 
Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned home. 
Soon after he was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court 
of his State, which position he held for si.x years. 

When the war of 181 2 witli Great Britian com- 
menced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair. 
Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there was 
an unknown man in the West, Andrew Jackson, who 
would do credit to a commission if one were con- 
ferred uixin him. Just at that time Gen. Jackson 
offeied his services and those of twenty-five hundred 
volunteers. His offer was accepted, and the troops 
were assembled at Nashville. 

As the British were hourly expected to make an at- 
tack upon New Orleans, where Gen. Wilkinson was 
in command, he was ordered to descend the river 
with fifteen hundred troops to aid Wilkinson. The 
expedition reached Natchez ; and after a delay of sev- 
eral weeks there, without accomplishing anything, 
the men were ordered back to their homes. But the 
energy Gen. Jackson had displayed, and his entire 
devotion to the comrfort of his soldiers, won him 
golden opinions; and he became the most popular 
man in the State. It was in this expedition that his 
toughness gave him the nickname of " Old Hickory." 

Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip Col. 
Thomas H. Benton, for a remark that gentleman 
made about his taking a part as second in a duel, in 
which a younger l)rother of Benton's was engaged, 
he received two severe pistol wounds. While he was 
lingering niKin a bed of suffering news came that the 
Indians, who had combined under Tecumseh from 
Florida to the Lakes, to exterminate the white set- 
tlers, were committing the most awful ravages. De- 
cisive action became necessary. Gen. Jackson, with 
his fractured bone just beginning to heal, his arm in 
a sling, and unable to mount his horse without assis- 
tance, gave his amazing energies to the raising of an 
army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Alabama. 

The Creek Indians had established a strong fort on 
one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River, near the cen- 
ter of Alabama, about fifty miles below Fort Strother. 
With an army of two thousand men, Gen. Jackson 
traversed the pathless wilderness in a march of eleven 
days. He reached their fort, called Tohopeka or 
Horse-shoe, on the 27th of March. 1814. The bend 



of the river enclosed nearly one hundred acres of 
tangled forest and wild ravine. Across the narrow 
neck the Indians had constructed a formidable breast- 
work of logs and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, 
with an ample suply of arms were assembled. 

The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly des- 
perate. Not an Indian would accept of quarter. When 
bleeding and dying, they would fight those who en- 
deavored to spare their lives. From ten in the morn- 
ing until dark, the battle raged. The carnage was 
awful and revolting. Some threw themselves into the 
river; but the unerring bullet struck their heads as 
they swam. Nearly everj'one of the nine hundred war- 
rios were killed A few probably, in the night, swam 
the river and escaped. This ended the war. The 
power of the Creeks was broken forever. This bold 
•plunge into the wilderness, with its terriffic slaughter, 
so appalled the savages, that the haggard remnants 
of the bands caiue to the camp, begging for peace. 

This closing of the Creek war enabled us to con- 
centrate all our militia upon the British, who were the 
allies of the Indians No man of less resolute will 
than Gen. Jackson could have conducted this Indian 
campaign to so successful an issue Immediately he 
was appointed major-general. 

Late in August, with an army of two thousand 
men, on a rushing march. Gen. Jackson came to 
Mobile. A British fleet came from Pensacola, landed 
a force upon the beach, anchored near the little fort, 
and from both ship and shore commenced a furious 
assault The battle was long and doubtful. At length 
one of the ships was blown up and the rest retired. 

Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his little 
army, he moved his troops to New Orleans, 
And the battle of New Orleans which soon ensued, 
was in reality a very arduous campaign. This won 
for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name. Here his 
troops, which numbered about four thousand men, 
won a signal victory over the British army of about 
nine thousand. His loss was but thirteen, while the 
loss of the British was two thousand six hundred. 

The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be men- 
tioned in connection with the Presidency, but, in 1824, 
he was defeated by Mr. Adams. He was, however, 
successful in the election of 1828, and was re-elected 
for a second term in 1832. In 1829, just before he 
assumed the reins of the government, he met witli 
the most terrible affliction of his life in the death of 
his wife, whom he had loved with a devotion which has 
perhaps never been surpassed. From the shock of 
her death he never recovered. 

His administration was one of the most memorable 
in the annals of our country; applauded by one party, 
condemned by the other. No man had more bitter 
enemies or warmer friends. At the expiration of his 
two terms of office he retired to the Hermitage, where 
he died June 8, 1845. The last years of Mr. Jack- 
son's life were that of a devoted Christian man. 




^ 7 //^^^^ ^t 



EIGHTH PRESIDENT. 



47 











^^^ 

m^^ 




ARTIN VAN BUREN, the 
eighth President of the 
United States, was born at 
Kinderhook, N. Y., Dec. 5, 
1782. He died at the same 
place, July 24, 1862. His 
body rests in the cemetery 
at Kinderhook. Above it is 
a plain granite shaft fifteen feet 
high, liearing a simple inscription 
about halt way up on one face. 
The lot is unfenced, unbordered 
or unbounded by shrub or flower. 

There is but little in the life of Martin Van Buren 
of romantic interest. He fought no battles, engaged 
in no wild adventures. Though his life was stormy in 
[Xjlitical and intellectual conflicts, and he gained many 
signal victories, his days passed uneventful in tiiose 
incidents which give zest to biograjihy. His an- 
cestors, as his name indicates, were of Dutch origin, 
and were among the earliest emigrants from Holland 
to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a farmer, 
residing in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, 
also of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel- 
ligence and e.xemplary piety. 

Aq was decidedly a precocious boy, developing un- 
usual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At the 
age of fourteen, he had finished his academic studies 
in his native village, and commenced the study of 
law. As he bad not a collegiate education, seven 
years of study in a law-office were re(niired of him 
k)efore he could be admitted to the bar. Inspired with 
Ji lofty ambition, and conscious of his powers, he pur- 
sued his studies with indefatigable industry. After 
spending six years in an ofifice in his native village. 



he went to the city of New York, and prosecuted his 

studies for the seventh year. 

In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty-one years of 
age, commenced the practice of law in his native vil- 
lage. The great conflict between the Federal and 
Republican party was then at its height. Mr. Van 
Buren was from the beginning a politician. He had, 
perhaps, imbibed that spirit while listening to the 
many discussions which had been carried on in his 
father's hotel. He was in cordial sympathy with 
Jefferson, and earnestly and eloquently espoused the 
cause of State Rights; though aUthat time the Fed- 
eral party held the supremacy both in his town 
and State. 

His success and increasing ruputation led him 
after six years of practice, to remove to Hudson, tht 
county seat of his county. Here he spent seven years, 
constantly gaining strength by contending in the. 
courts with some of the ablest men who have adorned 
the bar of his State. 

Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mi. 
Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for 
beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short 
years she sank into the grave, the victim of consump- 
tion, leaving her husband and four sons to weep ovei 
her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. V^an Buren was 
an earnest, successful, assiduous lawyer. The record 
of those years is barren in items of public interest. 
In t8i 2, when thirty years of age, he was chosen to 
the State Senate, and gave his strenuous support to 
Mr. Madison's adminstration. In 1815, he was ap- 
pointed Attorney-General, and the next year moved 
to Albany, the capital of the State. 

While he was acknowledged as one of the most 
piominent leaders of the Democratic party, he had 



48 



MARTIN VAN BL'REN'. 



the moral courage to avow that true democracy did 
not require that " universal suffrage " which admits 
the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the right of 
governing the State. In true consistency with his 
democratic principles, he contended that, while the 
]uth leading to the privilege of voting should be open 
to every man without distinction, no one should be 
invested with that sacred prerogative, unless he were 
in some degree qualified for it by intelligence, virtue 
and some property interests in the welfare of the 
State. 

In 182 I he was elected a member of the United 
States Senate; and in the same year, he took a seat 
in the convention to revise the constitution of his 
native State. His course in this convention secured 
the approval of men of all parties. No one could 
doubt the singleness of his endeavors to promote the 
interests of all classes in the community. In the 
Senate of the United States, he rose at once to a 
conspicuous position as an active and useful legislator. 

In 1827, John Quincy Adams being then in the 
Presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected to 
Jie Senate. He had been from the beginning a de- 
.ermined opposer of the Administration, adopting the 
'State Rights" view in opposition to what was 
deemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams. 

Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen Governorof 
the State of New York, and accordingly resigned his 
seat in tlie Senate. Probably no one in the United 
States contributed so much towards ejecting John Q. 
Adams from the Presidential chair, and placing in it 
Andrew Jdckson, as did Martin Van Buren. Whether 
entitled to the reputation or not, he certainly was re- 
garded throughout the United States as one of the 
most skillful, sagacious and cunning of politicians. 
It was supposed that no one knew so well as he how 
.0 touch the secret sptings of action; how to pull all 
;he wires to put his machinery in motion ; and how to 
organize a political army which would, secretly and 
ste.''Uhily accomplish the most gigantic results. By 
these powers it is said that he outv/itted Mr. Adams; 
Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and secured results which 
few thought then could be accomplished. 

When Andrew Jackson was elected President he 
apix.inted Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. This 
position he resigned in 183 1, and was immediately 
appointed Minister to England, where he went the 
same autumn. The Senate, however, when it met, 
refused to ratify the nomination, and he returned 



home, apparently untroubled; was nominated Vice 
President in the place of Calhoun, at the re-election 
of President Jackson; and with smiles for all and 
frowns for none, he took his place at the head of that 
Senate which had refused to confirm his nomination 
as ambassador. 

His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal of 
President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated favor- 
ite; and this, probably more than any other cause, 
secured his elevation to the chair of the Chief Execu 
tive. On the 20th of May, 1836, Mr. Van Buren re- 
ceived the Democratic nomination to succeed Gen. 
Jackson as President of the United States. He was 
elected by a handsome majority, to the delight of the 
retiring President. " Leaving New York out of the 
canvass," says Mr. Parton, "the election of Mr. Van 
Buren to the Presidency was as much the act of Gen. 
Jackson as though tlie Constitution had conferred 
upon him the power to appoint a successor." 

His administration was filled with exciting events. 
The insurrection in Canada, which threatened to in- 
volve this country in war with England, the agitation 
of the slavery question, and finally the great commer- 
cial panic which spread over the country, all were 
trials to his wisdom. The financial distress was at- 
tributed to the management of the Democratic party, 
and brought the President into such disfavor that he 
failed of re-election. 

With the exception of being nominated for the 
Presidency by the "Free Soil" Democrats, in 1848, 
Mr. Van Buren lived quietlv upon his estate until 
his death. 

He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal habits, 
and living within his income, had now fortunately a 
competence for his declining years. His unblemished 
character, his commanding abilities, his unquestioned 
patriotism, and the distinguished positions which he 
had occupied in the government of our country, se- 
cured to him not only the homage of his party, but 
the respect ot the whole community. It was on the 
4th of March, 1841, that Mr. Van Buren retired from 
the presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwald, 
he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics 
of the country. From this time until his death, on 
the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty years, he 
resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of leisure, of 
culture and of wealth; enjoying in a healthy old 
age, probably far more liapj)iness than he had before 
experienced amid the stormy scenes of his active life. 




^/5f/fe>x-^^ 



>v.^ 



NINTH PRESIDENT. 



5' 





Wm^MM ifiilll m411^§l. 





If 



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i 



£ 



ILLIAM HENRY HARRI- 
SON, the ninth President of 
the United States, was born 
at Berkeley, Va., Feb. 9, 1773. 
His lather, Benjamin Harri- 
son, was in comparatively op- 
ulent circumstances, and was 
one of the most distinguished 
men of his day. He was an 
intimate friend of George 
Washington, w as early elected 
a member of the Continental 
Congress, and was conspicuous 
among the patriots of Virginia in 
resisting the encroachments of the 
British crown. In the celebrated 
Congress of 1775, Benjamin Har- 
rison and John Hancock were 
both candidates for the office of 
speaker. 

Mr Harrison was subsequently 
chosen Governor of Virginia, and 
was twice re-elected. His son, 
i William Henry, of course enjoyed 

in childhood all the advantages which wealth and 
intellectual and cultivated society could give. Hav- 
ing received a thorough common-school education, he 
entered Hampden Sidney College, where he graduated 
with honor soon after the death of his father. He 
then repaired to Philadelphia to study medicine under 
the instructions of Dr. Rush and the guardianship of 
»obert Morris, both of whom were, with his father, 
ligners of the Declaration of Independence. 

Jpon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and not- 
withstanding the 'emonstrances of his friends, he 
abandoned his medical studies and entered the army, 
slaving obtained a commission of Ensign from Presi- 



dent Washington. He was then but ig years old. 
From that time he passed gradually upward in rank 
until he became aid to General Wayne, after whose 
death he resigned his commission. He was then ap- 
pointed Secretary of the North-western Territory. This 
Territory was then entitled to but one member in 
Congress and Capt. Harrison was chosen to fill that 
position. 

In the spring of 1 800 the North-western Territory 
was divided by Congress into two portions. The 
eastern portion, comprising the region now embraced 
in the State of Ohio, was called " The Territory 
north-west of the Ohio." The western portion, which 
included what is now called Indiana, Illinois and 
Wisconsin, was called the "Indiana Territory." Wil. 
liam Henry Harrison, then 27 years of age, was ap 
pointed by John Adams, Governor of the Indiana 
Territory, and immediately after, also Governor of 
Upper Louisiana. He was thus ruler over almost as 
extensive a realm as any sovereign u]x>n the globe. He 
was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and was in- 
vested with powers neady dictatorial over the now 
rapidly increasing white population. The ability and 
fidelity with which he discharged these responsible 
duties may be inferred from the fact that he was four 
times appointed to this office — first by John Adams, 
twice by Thomas Jefferson and afterwards by Presi- 
dent Madison. 

When he began his adminstration there were but 
three white settlements in that almost boundless region, 
now crowded with cities and resounding with all the 
tumult of wealth and traffic. Oneof these settlements 
was on the Ohio, nearly opposite Louisville; one at 
Vincennes, on the Wabash, and the third a French 
settlement. 

The vast wilderness over which Gov. Harrisou 
reigned was filled with many tribes of Indians. Abou* 



s- 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



the year 1806, two extraordinary men, twin brothers, 
of the Shawnese tribe, rose among them. One ot 
these was called Tecumseh, or " The Crouching 
Panther;" the other, Olliwacheca, or "The Prophet." 
Tecumseh was not only an Indian warrior, but a man 
of great sagacity, far-reaching foresight and indomit- 
able perseverance in any enterprise m which he might 
engage. He was inspired with the highest enthusiasm, 
and had long regarded with dread and with hatred 
the encroachment of the whites upon the hunting- 
grounds of his fathers. His brother, the Prophet, was 
an orator, who could sway the feelings of the untutored 
Indian as the gale tossed the tree-tops beneath which 
they dwelt. 

But the Prophet was not merely an orator: he was, 
in the superstitious minds of the Indians, invested 
with the superhuman dignity of a medicine-man or a 
magician. With an enthusiasm unsurpassed by Peter 
the Hermit rousing Europe to the crusades, he went 
from tribe to tribe, assuming that hewas specially sent 
by the Great Spirit. 

Gov. Harrison made many attempts to conciliate 
the Indians, but at last the war came, and at Tippe- 
canoe the Indians were routed with great slaughter. 
October 28, 181 2, his army began its march. When 
near the Prophet's town three Indians of rank made 
their appearance and inquired why Gov. Harrison was 
approaching them in so hostile an attitude. After a 
short conference, arrangements were made for a meet- 
ing the next day, to agree upon terms of peace. 

But Gov. Harrison was too well acquainted with 
the Indian character to be deceived by such protes- 
tations. Selecting a favorable spot for his night's en- 
campment, he took every precaution against surprise. 
His troops were posted in a hollow square, and slept 
upon their arms. 

The troops threw themselves upon the ground for 
rest; but every man had his accourtrements on, his 
loaded musket by his side, and his ba)onet fixed. The 
wakeful Governor, between three and four o'clock in 
the morning, had risen, and was sitting in conversa- 
tion with his aids by the embers of a waning fire. It 
was a chill, cloudy morning with a drizzling rain. In 
the darkness, the Indians had crept as near as possi- 
ble, and just then, with a savage yell, rushed, with all 
the desperation which superstition and passion most 
highly inflamed could give, upon the left flank of the 
little army. The savages had been amply provided 
with guns and ammunition by the English. Their 
war-whoop was acconipained by a shower of bullets. 

The camp-fires were instantly extinguished, as the 
light aided the Indians in their aim. With hide- 
jus yells, the Indian bands rushed on, not doubting a 
speedy and an entire victory. But Gen. Harrison's 
troops stood as immovable as the rocks around them 
until day dawned : they then made a simultaneous 
charge with the bayonet, and swept every thing be- 
fore them, and completely routing tlip foe. 



Gov. Harrison now had all his energies tasked 
to the utmost. The British descending from theCan- 
adas, were of themselves a very formidable force ; but 
with their savage allies, rushing like wolves I'rom the 
forest, searching out every remote farm-house, burn- 
ing, plundering, scalping, torturing, the wide frontier 
was plunged into a state of consternation which even 
the most vivid imagination can but faintly conceive. 
The war-whoop was resounding everywhere in the 
forest. The horizon was illuminated with the conflagra- 
tion of the cabins of the settlers. Gen Hull had made 
the ignominious surrender of his forces at Detroit. 
Under these desijairing circumstances, Gov. Harrison 
was appointed by President Madison commander-in- 
chief of the North-western army, with orders to retake 
Detroit, and to protect the frontiers. 

It would be difficult to place a man in a situation 
demanding more energy, sagacity and courage; bul 
General Harrison was found equal to the position, 
and nobly and triumphantly did he meet all the re- 
sponsibilities. 

He won the love of his soldiers by always sharinp 
with them their fatigue. His whole baggage, while 
pursuing the foe up the Thames, was carried in a 
valise; and his bedding consisted of a single blanket 
lashed over his saddle. Thirty-five British officers, 
his prisoners of war, supped with him after the battle. 
The only fare he could give them was beef roasted 
before the fire, without bread or salt. 

In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member ot 
the National House of Representatives, to represent 
the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved an 
active member; and whenever he spoke, it was with 
force of reason and power of eloquence, which arrested 
the attention of all the members. 

In 1819, Harrison was elected to the Senate oi 
Ohio; and in 1824, as one of the presidential electors 
of that State, he gave his vote for Henry Clay. The 
same year he was chosen to the United States Senate, 

In 1836, the friends of Gen. Harrison brought him 
forward as a candidate for the Presidency against 
Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the close of 
Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nominated by his 
party, and Mr. Harrison was unanimously nominated 
by the Whigs, with John Tyler lorthe Vice Presidency. 
The contest was very animated. Gen Jackson gave 
all his influence to prevent Harrison's election ; but 
his triumph was signal. 

The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel Webster 
at its head as Secretary of State, was one of the most 
brilliant with which any President had ever been 
surrounded. Never were the prospects of an admin- 
istration more flattering, or the hopes of the country 
more sanguine. In the midst of these bright and 
joyous prospects. Gen. Harrison was seized by a 
pleurisy-fever and after a few days of violent sick- 
ness, died on the 4th of k\)X\\ ; just one month after 
his inauguration as President of the United States. 



TENTH PRESIDENT. 



SS 





I OHN TYLER, the tenth 
; Presidentof the United States. 
He was born in Churles-city 
Co., Va., March 29, 1790. He 
was the favored child of af- 
fluence and high social po- 
sition. At the early age of 
twelve, John entered William 
and Mary College and grad- 
uated with much honor when 
but seventeen years old. After 
graduating, he devoted him- 
self with great assiduity to the 
study of law, partly with his 
father and partly with Edmund 
Randolph, one of the most distin- 
guished lawyers of Virginia. 

At nineteen years of age, ne 
commenced the practice of law. 
His success was rapid and aston- 
ishing. It is said that three 
months had not elapsed ere there 
was scarcely a case on the dock- 
et of the court in which he was 
not retained. When but twenty-one years of age, he 
was almost unanimously elected to a seat in the State 
Legislature. He connected himself with the Demo- 
cratic party, and warmly advocated the measures of 
Jefferson and Madison. For five successive years he 
was elected to the Legislature, receiving nearly the 
unanimous vote or his county. 

When but twenty-six years of age, he was elected 
a member of Congress. Here he acted earnestly and 
ably with the Democratic party, opposing a national 
bank, internal imjirovements by the General <^»<n'e'-n- 



ment, a protective tariff, and advocating a strict con- 
struction of the Constitution, and the most careful 
vigilance (jver State rights. His labors in Congress 
were so arduous that before the close of his second 
term he found it necessary to resign and retire to his 
estate in Charles-city Co., to recruit his health. He, 
however, soon after consented to take his seat in the 
State Legislature, where his influence was powerful 
in promoting public works of great utility. With a 
reputation thus canstantly increasing, he was chosen 
by a very large majority of votes. Governor of his 
native State. His administration was signally a suc- 
cessful one. His popularity secured his re-election. 

John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed 
man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of the 
United States. A jwrtion of tlie Democratic party 
was displeased with Mr. Randolph's wayward course, 
and brought forward John Tyler as his opponent, 
considering him the only man in Virginia of sufficient 
popularity to succeed against the renowned orator of 
Roanoke. Mr. Tyler was the victor. 

\\\ accordance with his professions, upon taking his 
seat in the Senate, he joined the ranks of the opposi- 
tion. He opposed the tariff; he sjwke against and 
voted against the bank as unconstitutional; he stren- 
uously opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resist- 
ing all projects of internal improvements by the Gen- 
eral Government, and avowed his sympathy with Mr. 
Calhoun's view of nullification ; he declared that Gen. 
Jackson, by his opposition to the nullifiers, had 
abandoned the piinciples of the Democratic party. 
Such was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress, — a record 
in perfect accordance with the principles which he 
had always avowed. 

Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice of 
his profession. There was a rplit in the Democratic 



JOHN TYLER. 



party. His friends still regarded him as a true Jef- 
fersonian, gave him a dinner, and showered compli- 
ments upon him. He had now attained the age of 
forty-six. His career had been very brilliant. In con- 
sequence of his devotion to public business, his pri- 
vate affairs had fallen into some disorder; and it was 
not without satisfaction that he resumed the practice 
of law, and devoted himself to the culture of his plan- 
tation. Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, 
for the better education of his children ; and he again 
took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia. 

By the Southern Whigs, he was sent to the national 
convention at Harrisburg to nominate a President in 
t83g. The majority of votes were given to Gen. Har- 
rison, a genuine Whig, much to the disappointment of 
the South, who wished for Henry Clay. To concili- 
ate the Southern Whigs and to secure their vote, the 
convention then nominated John Tyler for Vice Pres- 
ident. It was well known that he was not in sympa- 
thy with the Whig party in the North : but the Vice 
President has but very little power in the Govern- 
ment, his main and almost only duty being to pre- 
side over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it hap- 
pened that a Whig President, and, in reality, a 
Democratic Vice President were chosen. 

In 1 84 1, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice Presi- 
dent of the United States. In one short month from 
that time. President Harrison died, and Mr. Tyler 
thu3 -cund himself, to his own surprise and that of 
the whole Nation, an occupant of the Presidential 
chair. This was a new test of the stability of our 
institutions, as it was the first time in the history of our 
country that such an event had occured. Mr. Tyler 
was at home in Williamsburg when he received the 
unexpected tidings of the death of President Harri- 
son. He hastened to Washington, and on the 6th of 
April was inaugurated to the high and responsible 
office. He was placed in a position of exceeding 
delicacy and difficulty. All his long life he had been 
opposed to the main principles of the party which had 
brought him into power. He had ever been a con- 
sistent, hont3t man, with an unblemi.sh«d record. 
Gen. Harrison had selected a Whig cabinet. Should 
he retain them, and thus surround himself with coun- 
sellors whose views were antagonistic to his own.' or, 
on the other hand, should he turn against the party 
which had elected him and select a cabinet in har- 
mony with himself, and which would oppose all those 
views which the Whigs deemed essential to the pub- 
lic welfare ? This was his fearful dilemma. He in- 
vited the cabinet which President Harrison had 
selected to retain their seats. He reccommended a 
day of fasting and prayer, that God would guide and 
bless us. 

The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for the 
incorporation of a fiscal bank of the United States. 
The President, after ten days' delay, returned it with 
his veto. He «uegested, however, that he would 



approve of a bill drawn up upon such a plan as he 
pro[X)sed. Such a bill was accordingly prepared, and 
privately submitted to him. He gave it his approval. 
It was passed without alteration, and he sent it back 
with his veto. Here commenced the open rupture. 
It is said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this meas- 
ure by a pubhshed letter from the Hon. John M. 
Botts, a distinguished Virginia Whig, who severely 
touched the pride of the President. 

The opposition now exultingly received the Presi- 
dent into their arms. The party which elected him 
denounced him bitterly. AH the members of his 
cabinet, excepting Mr. Webster, resigned. The Whigs 
of Congress, both the Senate and the House, held a 
meeting and issued an address to the people of the 
United States, proclaiming that all political alliance 
between the Whigs and President Tyler were at 
an end. 

Still the President attempted to conciliate. He 
appointed a new cabmet of distinguished Whigs and 
Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong party 
men. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary to resign, 
forced out by the pressure of his Whig friends. Thus 
the four years of Mr. Tyler's unfortunate administra- 
tion passed sadly away. No one was satisfied. The 
land was filled with murmurs and vituperation. Whigs 
and Democrats alike assailed him. More and more, 
however, he brought himself into sympathy with his 
old friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his term, 
he gave his whole influence to the support of Mr. 
Polk, the Democratic candidate for his successor. 

On the 4th of March, 1845, he retired from the 
harassments of office, tothe regret of neither party, and 
probably to his own unspeakable relief. His first wife, 
Miss Letitia Christian, died in Washington, in r842; 
and in June, 1844, President Tyler was again married, 
at New York, to Miss Julia Gardiner, a young lady of 
many personal and intellectual accomplishments. 

The remainder of his days Mr. Tyler passed mainly 
in retirement at his beautiful home, — Sherwood For- 
est, Charles-city Co., Va. A polished gentleman in 
his manners, richly furnished with information from 
books and experience in the world, and possessing 
brilliant powers of conversation, his family circle was 
the scene of unosual attractions. With sufficient 
means for the exercise of a generous hospitality, he 
might have enjoyed a serene old age with the few 
friends who gathered around him, were it not for the 
storms of civil war which his own principles and 
policy had helped to introduce. 

When the great Rebellion rose, which the State- 
rights and nullifying doctrines of Mr. John C. Cal- 
houn had inaugurated. President Tyler renounced his 
allegiance to the United States, and joined the Confed- 
erates. He was chosen a member of their Congress; 
and while engaged in active measures to destroy, by 
force of arms, the Government over which he had 
once presided, he was taken sick and soon died. 






iti,; 




ELEVENTH PRESIDENT. 



59 





AMES K. POLK, the eleventh 
kPresident of the United States, 
was born in Mecklenburg Co., 
N. C.,Nov. 2, 1795. His par- 
ents were Samuel and Jane 
(Knox) Polk; the former a son 
of Col. Thomas Polk, who located 
at the above place, as one of the 
first pioneers, in 1735. 

In the year 1S06, with his wife 
and children, and soon after fol- 
lowed by most of the members of 
the Polk famly, Samuel Polk emi- 
grated some two or three hundred 
miles farther west, to the rich valley 
of the Duck River. Here in the 
midst of the wilderness, in a region 
which was subsequently called Mau- 
ry Co., they reared their log huts, 
and established their homes. In the 
hard toil of a new farm in the wil- 
derness, James K. Polk spent the 
early years of his childhood and 
youth. His father, adding the pur- 
suit of a surveyor to that of a farmer, 
gradually increased in wealth until 
he became one of the leading men of the region. His 
mother was a superior woman, of strong comnum 
sense and earnest piety. 

Very early in life, James developed a taste for 
reading and ex[)ressed the strongest desire to obtain 
a liberal education. His mother's training had made 
him methodical in his habits, had taught him punct- 
uality and industry, and had inspired him with lofty 
principles of morality. His health was frail ; and his 
father, fearing that he might not be able to endure a 



sedentary life, got a situation for him behind the 
counter, hoping to fit him for commercial pursuits. 

This was to James a bitter disappointment. He 
had no taste for these duties, and his daily tasks 
were irksome in the extreme. He remained in this 
uncongenial occupation but a few weeks, when at his 
earnest solicitation his father removed him, and made 
arrangements for him to prosecute his studies. Soon 
after he sent him to Murfreesboro Academy. With 
ardor which could scarcely be surpassed, he pressed 
forward in his studies, and in less than two and a half 
years, in the autumn of 1815, entered the sophomore 
class in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel 
Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplary of 
scholars, punctual in every exercise, never allowing 
himself to be absent from a recitation or a religious 
service. 

He graduated in 1818, with the highest honors, be- 
ing deemed the best scholar of his class, both in 
mathematics and the classics. He was then twenty- 
three years of age. Mr. Polk's health was at this 
time much impaired by the assiduity' with which he 
had prosecuted his studies. After a short season of 
relaxation he went to Nashville, and entered the 
office of Felix Grundy, to study law. Here Mr. Polk 
renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Jackson, who 
resided on his plantation, the Hermitage, but a few 
miles from Nashville. They had probably been 
slightly acquainted before. 

Mr. Polk's father was a Jeffersonian Republican, 
and James K. Polk ever adhered to the same politi- 
cal faith. He was a popular public speaker, and was 
constantly called upon to address the meetings of his 
party friends. His skill as a speaker was such that 
he was popularly called the Napoleon of the stump. 
He was a man of unblemished morals, genial and 



f iMES K. POLK. 



:o!irterus in his bearing, and with that sympathetic 
nature in the jo}s and griefs of others which ever gave 
him troops of friends. In 1823, Mr. Polk was elected 
to the Legislature of Tennessee. Here he gave his 
strong influence towards the election of his friend, 
Mr. Jackso:i, to the Presidency of the United States. 

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah 
Childress, of Rutherford Co., Tenn. His bride was 
altogether worthy of him, — -a lady of beauty and cul- 
ture. In the fall of 1825, Mr. Polk was chosen a 
member of Congress. The satisfaction which he gave 
to his constituents may be inferred from the fact, that 
for fourteen successive years, until 1839, he was con- 
tinuec^ in that office. He then voluntarily withdrew, 
only that he might accept the Gubernatorial chair 
of T'^nnessee. In Congress he was a laborious 
member, a frequent and a popular speaker. He was 
always in his seat, always courteous ; and whenever 
he spoke it was always to the point, and without any 
ambitious rhetorical display. 

During five sessions of Congress, Mr. Polk was 
Speaker of the House Strong passions were roused, 
and stormy scenes were witnessed ; but Mr. Polk i)er- 
formed his arduous duties to a very general satisfac- 
tion, and a unanimous vote of thanks to him was 
passed by the House as he withdrew on the 4th of 
March, 1839. 

In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk, as a 
candidate for Governor, canvassed the State. He was 
elected by a large majority, and on the 14th of Octo- 
ber, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. In 1841, 
his term of office expired, and he was again the can- 
didate of the Democratic party, but was defeated. 

On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugur- 
ated President of the United States. The verdict of 
the country in favor of the annexation of Texas, exerted 
its influence upon Congress ; and the last act of the 
administration of President Tyler was to affix his sig- 
nature to a joint resolution of Congress, passed on the 
3d of March, approving of the annexation of Texas to 
the American Union. As Mexico still claimed Texas 
as one of her provinces, the Mexican minister, 
Almonte, immediately demanded his passports and 
left the country, declaring the act of the annexation 
to be an act hostile to Mexico. 

In his first message. President Polk urged that 
Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be re- 
ceived into the Union on the same footing with the 
other States. In the meantime. Gen. Taylor was sent 



with an army into Texas to hold the countiy He was 
sent first to Nueces, which the Mexicans said was the 
western boundary of Texas. Then he was sent nearly 
two hundred miles iurlher west, to the Rio Grande, 
where he erected batteries which commanded the 
Me-xican city of Matamoras, which was situated 01: 
the western banks. 

The anticipated collision soon took place, and wai 
was declared against Mexico by President Polk. The 
war was pushed forward by Mr. Polk's administration 
with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, whose army was first 
called one of "observation," then of "occupation,' 
then of " invasion, "was sent forward to Monterey. The 
feeble Mexicans, in every encounter, were hopelessly 
and awfully slaughtered. The day of judgement 
alone can reveal the misery which this war caused. 
It v/as by the ingenuity of Mr. Polk's administration 
that the war was brought on. 

' To the victors belong the spoils." Mexico was 
prostrate before us. Her capital was in our hands. 
We now consented to peace upon the condition that 
Mexico should surrender to us, in addition to Texas, 
all of New Mexico, and all of Up[)erand Lower Cal- 
ifornia. This new demand embraced, exclusive of 
Texas, eight hundred thousand square miles. This 
was an extent of territory equal to nine States of the 
size of New York. Thus slavery was securing eighteen 
majestic States to be added to the Union. There were 
some Americans who thought it all right : there were 
others who thought it all wrong. In the prosecution 
of this war, we expended twenty thousand lives and 
more than a hundred million of dollars. Of this 
money fifteen millions were paid to Mexico. 

On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk retired from 
office, having served one term. The next day was 
Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated 
as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to the Capitol in the 
same carriage with Gen. Taylor; and the same even- 
ing, with Mrs. Polk, he commenced his return to 
Tennessee. He was then but fifty-four years of age. 
He had ever been strictly temperate in all his habits, 
and his health was good. With an ample fortune, 
a choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic ties 
of the dearest nature, it seemed as though long years 
of tranquility and happiness were before him. But the 
cholera — that fearful scourge — was then sweeping up 
the Valley of the Mississippi. This he contracted, 
and died on the 15th of June, 1S49, in the fifty-fourth 
year of his age, greatly mourned by his countrymen. 



TIVELFTH PHES/BEA-T. 



63 





ak«K«Ma«i<bx(tii,oi,<k'<ii«iikUTJkXKi'taMi\t.vj.^ ,,_ 






ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth 
President of the United States, 
was born on the 24th of Nov., 
1784, in Orange Co., Va. His 
3i> father, Colonel Taylor, was 
^^^J^ a Virginian of note, and a dis- 
"* ° '^ tinguished patriot and soldier of 
the Revolution. When Zachary 
was an infant, his father with his 
wife and two children, emigrated 
to Kentucky, where he settled in 
the pathless wilderness, a few 
miles from Louisville. In this front- 
ier home, away from civilization and 
all its refinements, young Zachary 
could enjoy but few social and educational advan- 
tages. When six years of age he attended a common 
school, and was then regarded as a bright, active boy, 
father remarkable for bluntness and decision of char- 
acter He was strong, feailess and self-reliant, and 
manifested a strong desire to enter the army to fight 
the Indians who were ravaging the frontiers. There 
is little to be recorded of the uneventful years of his 
childhood on his father's large but lonely plantation. 
In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining for him 
the commission of lieutenant in the United States 
army ; and he joined the troops which were stationed 
at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. Soon after 
this he married Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady 
from one of the first families of Maryland. 

Immediately after the declaration of war with Eng- 
land, in r8i2, Capt. Taylor (for he had then been 
promoted to that rank) was put in command of Fort 
Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles above 
Vincennes. This fort had been built in the wilder- 
ness by Gen. Harrison,on his march to Tippecanoe. 
It was one of the first points of attack by the Indians, 
".ed by Tecumseh. Its garrison consisted of a broken 



company of infantry numbering fifty men, many of 
whom were sick. 

Early in the autumn of 1812, the Indians, stealthily, 
and in large numbers, moved upon the fort. Their 
approach was first indicated by the murder of two 
soldiers just outside of the stockade. Capt. Taylor 
made every possible preparation to meet the antici- 
pated assault. On the 4th of September, a band of 
forty painted and plumed savages came to the fort, 
waving a white flag, and informed CajJt. Taylor that 
in the morning their chief would come to have a talk 
with him. It was evident that their object was merely 
to ascertain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. 
Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, kept 
them at a distance. 

The sun went down; the savages disappeared, the 
garrison slept upon their arms. One hour before 
midnight the war whoop burst from a thousand lips 
in the forest around, followed by the discharge of 
musketry, and the rush of the foe. Every man, sick 
and well, sprang to his post. Every man knew that 
defeat was not merely death, but in the case of cap- 
ture, death by the most agonizing and prolonged tor- 
ture. No pen can describe, no immagination can 
conceive the scenes which ensued. The savages suc- 
ceeded in setting fire to one of the block-houses- 
Until six o'clock in the morning, this awful conflict 
continued. The savages then, baffled at every point, 
and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired. Capt. 
Taylor, for this gallant defence, was promoted to the 
rank of major by brevet. 

Until the close of the war. Major Taylor was placed 
in such situations that he saw but litdc more of active 
service. He was sent far away into the depths of the 
wilderness, to Fort Crawford, on Fox River, which 
empries into Green Bay. Here there was but little 
to be done but to wear away the tedious hours as one 
best could. There were no books, no society, no in- 



64 



ZACHARY TAYLOR 



tellectual stimulus. Thus with him the uneventful 
years rolled on Gradually he rose to the rank of 
colonel. In the Black-Hawk war, which resulted in 
the capture of that renowned chieftain, Col Taylor 
took a subordinate but a brave and efficient part. 

For twenty-four years Col. Taylor was engaged in 
the defence of the frontiers, in scenes so remote, and in 
employments so obscure, that his name was unknown 
beyond the limits of his own immediate acquaintance. 
In the year 1836, he was sent to Florida to compel 
the Seminole Indians to vacate that region and re- 
tire beyond the Mississippi, as their chiefs by treaty, 
iiac' promised they should do. The services rendered 
heie secured for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of 
the Government; and as a reward, he was elevated 
tc .he rank of brigadier-general by brevet ; and soon 
after, in May, 1838, was appointed to the chief com- 
mand of the United States troops in Florida. 

After two years of such wearisome employment 
amidst the everglades of the peninsula. Gen. Taylor 
obtained, at his own request, a change of command, 
and was stationed over the Department of the South- 
west. This field embraced Louisiana, Mississippi, 
Alabama and Georgia. Establishing his headquarters 
at Fort Jessup, in Louisiana, he removed his family 
to a plantation which he purchased, near Baton Rogue. 
Here he remained for five years, buried, as it were, 
*"rom the world, but faithfully discharging every duty 
imposed upon him. 

In 1846, Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the land 
between the Nueces and Rio Grande, the latter river 
being the boundary of Texas, which was then claimed 
by the United States. Soon the war with Me.xico 
was brought ou, and at Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
Palma, Gen. Taylor won brilliant victories over the 
Mexicans. The rank of major-general by brevet 
was then conferred upon Gen. Taylor, and his name 
was received with enthusiasm almost everywhere in 
the Nation. Then came the battles of Monterey and 
Buena Vista in which he won signal victories over 
forces much larger than he commanded. 

His careless habits of dress and his unaffected 
(simplicity, secured for Gen. Taylor among his troops, 
\\\e. sobriquet of "Old Rough and Ready.' 

The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena Vista 
;-pread the wildest enthusiasm over the country. 'I'he 
name of Gen. Taylor was on every one's lips. The 
Whig party decided to take advantage of this wonder- 
ful popularity in bringing forward the unpolished, un- 
lettered, honest soldier as their candidate for the 
Presidency. Gen. Taylor was astonished at the an- 
nouncement, and for a time would not listen to it; de- 
claring that he was not at all qualified for such an 
office. So little interest had he taken in politics that, 
for forty years, he had not cast a vote. It was not 
without chagrin that several distinguished statesmen 
who had been long years in the public service found 
M.^ir claims set aside in behalf of one whose name 



had never been heard of, save in connection with Palo 
Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena 
Vista. It is said that Daniel Webster, in his haste re- 
marked, " It is a nomination not fit to be made." 

Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a fine 
writer His friends took possession of him, and pre- 
pared such few communications as it was needful 
should be presented to the public. The popularity of 
the successful warrior swept the land. He was tri- 
umphantly elected over two opposing candidates, — 
Gen. Cass and Ex-President Martin Van Buren. 
Though he selected an excellent cabinet, the good 
old man found himself in a very uncongenial jwsition, 
and was, at times, sorely perplexed and harassed. 
His mental sufferings were very severe, and probably 
tended to hasten his death. The pro-slavery party 
was pushing its claims with tireless energy , expedi- 
tions were fitting out to capture Cuba ; California was 
pleading for admission to the Union, while slavery 
stood at the door to bar her out. Gen. Taylor found 
the political conflicts in Washington to be far more 
trying to the nerves than battles with Mexicans or 
Indians. 

In the midst of all these troubles. Gen. Taylor, 
after he had occupied the Presidential chair but little 
over a year, took cold, and after a brief sickness of 
but little over five days, died on the 9th of July, 1850. 
His last woids were, "I am not afraid to die. I am 
ready. I have endeavored to do my duty." He died 
universally respected and beloved. An honest, un- 
pretending man, he had been steadily growing in the 
affections of the people; and the Nation bitterly la- 
mented his death. 

Gen. Scott, who was thoroughly acquainted with 
Gen. Taylor, gave the following graphic and truthful 
description of his character: — " With a good store of 
common sense. Gen. Taylor's mind had not been en- 
larged and refreshed by reading, or much converse 
with the world. Rigidity of ideas was the conse- 
quence. The frontiers and small military posts had 
been his home. Hence he was quite ignorant for his 
rank, and quite bigoted in his ignorance. His sim- 
plicity was child-like, and with innumerable preju- 
dices, amusing and incorrigible, well suited to the 
tender age. Thus, if a man, however respectable, 
chanced to wear a coat of an unusual color, or his hat 
a little on one side of his head; or an officer to leave 
a corner of his handkerchief dangling from an out- 
side pocket, — in any such case, this critic held the 
offender to be a coxcomb (perhaps something worse), 
whom he \vould not, to use his oft repeated phrase, 
' touch with a pair of tongs.' 

"Any allusion to literature beyond good old Dil- 
worth's spelling-book, on the part of one wearing a 
sword, was evidence, with the same judge, of utter 
unfitness for heavy marchings and combats. In shorf 
few men have ever had a more comfortan'le, laooi- 
saving contempt for learning of every kind." 




z/^x^c^r^ J C^^^^{!U^^ocru) 



THIRTEENTH PRESIDENT. 



67 





^■ffllLLflHn FILLMnRE."^ ' ' 






ILLARD FILLMORE, thir- 
teenth President of the United 
States, was born at Summer 
Hill, Cayuga Co., N. Y ., on 
the 7th of Januar)', 1800. His 
'^^ father was a farmer, and ow- 
ing to misfortune, in humble cir- 
cumstances. Of his mother, the 
daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, 
of Pittsfield, Mass., it has been 
said that she [wssessed an intellect 
of very high order, united with much 
personal loveliness, sweetness of dis- 
position, graceful manners and ex- 
quisite sensibilities. She died in 
1 83 1 ; having lived to see her son a 
young man of distinguished prom- 
ise, though she was not permitted to witness the high 
dignity which he finally attained. 

In consequence of the secluded home and limited 
means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender ad- 
vantages for education in his early years. The com- 
mon schools, which he occasionally attended were 
very imperfect institutions; and books were scarce 
and expensive. There was nothing then in his char- 
acter to indicate the brilliant career upon which he 
was about to enter. He was a plain farmer's boy ; 
intelligent, good-looking, kind-hearted. The sacred 
influences of home had taught him to revere the Bible, 
and had laid the foundations of an upright character. 
When fourteen years of age, his father sent him 
some hundred miles from home, to the then wilds of 
Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier. 
Near the mill there was a small villiage, where some 



enterprising man had commenced the collection of a 
village library. This proved an inestimable blessing 
to young Fillmore. His evenings were spent in read- 
ing. Soon every leisure moment was occupied with 
books. His thirst for knowledge became insatiate 
and the selections which he made were continually 
more elevating and instructive. He read history, 
biography, oratory, and thus gradually there was en- 
kindled in his heart a desire to be something more 
than a mere worker with his hands; and he was be- 
coming, almost unknown to himself, a well-informed, 
educated man. 

The young clothier had now attained the age of 
nineteen years, and was of fine personal appearance 
and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so happened that 
there was a gentleman in the neighborhood of ample 
pecuniary means and of benevolence, — Judge Walter 
Wood, — who was struck with the prepossessing an- 
pearance of young Fillmore. He made his acquaint- 
ance, and was so much impressed with his ability and 
attainments that he advised him to abandon his 
trade and devote himself to the study of the law. The 
young man replied, that he had no means of hfs own, 
r.o friends to help him and that his previous educa- 
tion had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood had 
so much confidence in him that he kindly offered to 
take him into his own office, and to loan him such 
money as he needed. Most gratefully the generous 
offer was accepted. 

There is in many minds a strange delusion about 
a collegiate education. A young man is supposed to 
be liberally educated if he has graduated at some col- 
lege. But many a boy loiters through university halls 
*nd then enters a law office, who is by no means as 



06 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 



well prepared to prosecute his legal studies as was 
Millard Fillmore when he graduated at the clothing- 
mill at the end of four years of manual labor, during 
which every leisure moment had been devoted to in- 
tense mental culture. 

Ill 1S23, when twenty-three years of age, he v/as 
admitted to the Court of Common Pleas. He then 
went to the village of Aurora, and commenced the 
practice of law. In this secluded, peaceful region, 
his practice of course was limited, and there was no 
opportunity for a sudden rise in fortune or in fame. 
Here, in the year 1826, he married a lady of great 
moral worth, and one capable of adorning any station 
she might be called to fill, — Miss Abigail Powers. 

His elevation of character, his untiring industry, 
his legal acquirements, and his skill as an advocate, 
gradually attracted attention ; and he was invited to 
enter into partnership under highly advantageous 
circumstances, with an elder member of the bar in 
Buffalo. Just before removing to Buffalo, in 1829, 
he took his seat in the House of Assembly, of tlie 
State of New York, as a representative from Erie 
County. Though he had never taken a very active 
part in politics, his vote and his sympathies were with 
the Whig party. The State was then Democratic, 
and he found himself in a helpless minority in the 
Legislature , still the testimony comes from all parlies, 
that his courtesy, ability and integrity, won, to a very 
unusual degree the respect of his associates. 

In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to a seat in 
the United States Congress He entered that troubled 
arena in some of the most tumultuous hours of our 
national history. The great conflict respecting the 
national bank and the removal of the deposits, was 
then raging. 

His term of two years closed ; and he returned to 
his profession, which he pursued with increasing rep- 
utation and success. After a lapse of two years 
he again became a candidate for Congress ; was re- 
elected, and took his seat in 1837. His past expe- 
rience as a representative gave hmi stiength and 
confidence. The first term of service in Congress to 
any man can be but little more than an introduction. 
He was now prepared for active duty. All his ener- 
gies were brought to bear upon the public good. Every 
measure received his impress. 

Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, and 
his popularity filled the State, and in the year 1847, 
he was elected Comptroller of the State. 



Mr. Fillmore had attained the age of forty-seven 
years. His labors at the bar, in the Legislature, in 
Congress and as Comptroller, had given him very con- 
siderable fame. The Whigs were casting about to 
find suitable candidates for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent at the approaching election. Far away, on the 
waters of the Rio Grande, there was a rough old 
soldier, who had fought one or two successful battles 
with the Mexicans, which had caused his name to be 
proclaimed in tiumpet-tones all over the land. But 
it was necessary to associate with him on the same 
ticket some man of reputation as a statesman. 

Under the influence of these considerations, the 
namesof Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore became 
the rallying-cry of the Whigs, as their candidates for 
President and Vice-Peesident. The Whig ticket was 
signally triumphant. On the 4th of March, 1849, 
Gen. Taylor was inaugurated President, and Millard 
Fillmore Vice-President, of the United States. 

On the 9th of July, 1850, President Taylor, but 
about one year and four months after his inaugura- 
tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the Con- 
stitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus became Presi- 
dent. He appointed a very able cabinet, of which 
the illustrious Daniel Webster was Secretary of State. 

Mr. Fillniore had very serious difficulties to contend 
with, since the opposition had a majority in both 
Houses. He did everything in his power to conciliate 
the South ; but the pro-slavery party in the South felt 
the inadequacyof all measuresof transient conciliation. 
The population of the free States was so rapidly in- 
creasing over that of the slave States that it was in- 
evitable that the power of the Government should 
soon pass into the hands of the free States. The 
famous compromise measures were adopted under Mr. 
Fillmcre's adminstration, and the Japan Exjiedition 
was sent out. On the 4th of March, 1853, Mr. Fill- 
more, having served one term, retired. 

In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the Pres- 
idency by the " Know Nothing " party, but was beaten 
by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr. Fillmore lived in 
retirement. During the terrible conflict of civil war, 
he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed that 
his sympathies were rather with those who were en- 
deavoring to overthrow our institutions. President 
Fillmore kept aloof from the conflict, without any 
cordial words of cheer to the one party or the other. 
He was thus forgotten by both. He lived to a ripe 
old age, and died in Buffalo. N. Y., March 8, 1874. 




■^ ^ 



FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT. 



71 



^&si;'^>*J^^<«lf«p»:^«lP4'%«f"i'Si-^^^^ 





**FHflNKLIN PIEHEE.^ 



asip^. 








RANKLIN PIERCE, the 
fourteenth President of the 
'United States, was born in 
Hillsborough, N. H., Nov. 
23, 1804. His father was a 
Revolutionary soldier, who, 
with his own strong arm, 
hewed out a liome in the 
wilderness. He was a man 
of inflexible integrity; of 
strong, though uncultivated 
mind, and an uncompromis- 
ing Democrat. The mother of 
Franklin Pierce was all that a son 
could desire, — an intelligent, pru- 
dent, afffectionate, Christian wom- 
an. Franklin was the sixth of eight children. 

Franklin was a very bright and handsome boy, gen- 
erous, warm-hearted and brave. He won alike the 
love of old and young. The boys on the play-ground 
loved him. His teachers loved him. The neighbors 
looked upon him with pride and affection. He was 
by instinct a gentleman; always speaking kind words, 
doing kind deeds, with a peculiar unstudied tact 
which taught him what was agreealile. Witliout de- 
veloping any precocity of genius, or any unnatural 
devotion to books, he was a good scholar ; in body, 
in mind, in affections, a finely-developed boy. 

When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, he 
entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me He was 
one of the most popular young men in the college. 
The purity of his moral character, the unvarying 
courtesy of his demeanor, his rank as a schol:ir. and 



genial nature, rendered him a universal favorite. 
There was something very peculiarly winning in his 
address, and it was evidently not in the slightest de- 
gree studied : it was the simple outgushing of his 
own magnanimous and loving nature. 

Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin Pierce 
commenced the study of law in the office of Judge 
Woodbury, one of the most distinguished lawyers of 
the State, and a man of great private worth. The 
eminent social qualities of the young lawyer, his 
father's prominence as a public man, and the brilliant 
political career into which Judge Woodbury was en- 
tering, all tended to entice Mr. Pierce into the fact- 
nating yet perilous path of political life. With all 
the ardor of his nature he espoused the cause of Gen. 
Jackson for the Presidency. He commenced the 
practice of law in Hillsborough, and was soon elected 
to represent tlie town in the State Legislature. Here 
he served for four yeais. The last two years he was 
chosen speaker of the house by a very large vote. 

In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was elected 
a member of Congress. Without taking an active 
part in debates, he was faithful and laborious in duty, 
and ever rising in the estimation of those with whom 
he was associatad. 

In 1837, being then but thirty-three years of age, 
he was elected to the Senate of the United States; 
taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren commenced 
his administration. He was the youngest memberin 
the Senate. In the year 1834, he married Miss Jane 
Means Ap[)leton, a lady of r:ire beauty and accom- 
plishments, and one admir:il>ly fitted lo adorn every 
station with wnich her Ivwband was honoicd. Of the 



72 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



three sons who were born to them, all now sleep with 
their parents in the grave. 

In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing fame 
and increasing business as a lawyer, took up his 
residence in Concord, the capital of New Hampshire. 
President Polk, upon his accession to office, appointed 
Mr. Pierce attorney-general of the United States ; but 
the offer was declined, in consequence of numerous 
professional engagements at home, and the precariuos 
state of Mrs. Pierce's health. He also, about the 
same time declined the nomination for governor by the 
Democratic party. The war with Mexico called Mr. 
Pierce in the army. Receiving the appointment of 
brigadier-general, he embarked, with a portion of his 
troops, at Newport, R. I., on the 27th of May, 1847. 
He took an important part in this war, proving him- 
self a brave and true soldier. 

When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his native 
State, he was received enthusiastically by the advo- 
cates of the Mexican war, and coldly by his oppo- 
nents. He resumed the practice of his profession, 
very frequently taking an active part in political ques- 
tions, giving his cordial sup[)ort to the pro-slavery 
wing of the Democratic party. The compromise 
measures met cordially with his approval ; and he 
strenuously advocated the enforcement of the infa- 
mous fugitive-slave law, which so shocked the religious 
sensibilities of the North. He thus became distin- 
guished as a " Northern man with Southern principles.'' 
The strong partisans of slavery in the South conse- 
quently regarded him as a man whom they could 
safely trust in office to carry o^it their plans. 

On the 1 2th of June, 1852, the Democratic conven- 
tion met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate for the 
Presidency. For four days they continued in session, 
and in thirty-five ballotings no one had obtained a 
two-thirds vote. Not a vote thus far had been thrown 
for Gen. Pierce. Then the Virginia delegation 
brought forward his name. There were fourteen 
more ballotings, during which Gen. Pierce constantly 
gained strength, until, at the forty-ninth ballot, he 
received two hundred and eighty-two votes, and all 
other candidates eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was 
the Whig candidate. Gen. Pierce was chosen with 
great unanimity. Only four States — Vermont, Mas- 
sachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee — cast their 
electoral votes against him Gen. Franklin Pierce 
was therefore inaugurated President of the United 
States on the 4th of March, 1853. 



His administration proved one of the most stormy our 
country had ever experienced. The controversy be- 
tween slavery and freedom was then approaching its 
culminating point. It became evident that there was 
, an "irrepressible conflict" between them, and that 
this Nation could not long exist " half slave and half 
free." President Pierce, during the whole of his ad- 
ministration, did every thing he could to conciliate 
the South ; but it was all in vain. The conflict every 
year grew more violent, and threats of the dissolution 
of the Union were borne to the North on every South- 
ern breeze. 

Such was the condition of affairs when President 
Pierce approached the close of his four-years' term 
of office. The North had become thoroughly alien- 
ated from him. The anti-slavery sentiment, goaded 
by great outrages, had been rapidly increasing; all 
the intellectual ability and social worth of President 
Pierce were forgotten in deep reprehension of his ad- 
ministrative acts. The slaveholders of the South, also, 
unmindful of the fidelity with which he had advo- 
cated those measures of Government which they ap- 
proved, and perhaps, also, feeling that he had 
rendered himself so unpopular as no longer to be 
able acceptably to serve them, ungratefully dropped 
him, and nominated James Buchanan to succeed him. 

On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce re- 
tired to his home in Concord. Of three children, two 
had died, and his only surviving child had been 
killed before his eyes by a railroad accident , and his 
wife, one of the most estimable and accomplished of 
ladies, was rapidly sinking in consumption. The 
hour of dreadful gloom soon came, and he was left 
alone in the world, without wife or child. 

When the terrible Rebellion burst forth, which di- 
vided our country into two parties, and two only, Mr. 
Pierce remained steadfast in the principles which he 
had always cherished, and gave his sympathies to 
that pro-slaver}' party with which he had ever been 
allied. He declined to do anything, either by voice 
or pen, to strengthen the hand of the National Gov- 
ernment. He continued to reside in Concord until 
the time of his death, which occurred in October, 
1869. He was one of the most genial and social of 
men, an honored communicant of tlie Episcopal 
Church, and one of the kindest of neighbors. Gen- 
erous to a fault, he contributed liberally for the al- 
leviation of suffering and want, and tiiany of his towns 
people were often gladened by his material bounty. 



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I'IFTEENTH PRESIDENT. 



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AMES BUCHANAN, the fif- 
.teenth President of the United 
States, was born in a small 
frontier town, at the foot of the 
eastern ridge of the AUegha- 
nies, in Franklin Co., Penn.,on 
the 23d of April, 1791. The place 
where the humble cabin of his 
father stood was called Stony 
Batter. It was a wild and ro- 
mantic spot in a gorge of the moun- 
tains, with towering summits rising 
grandly all around. His father 
was a native of the north of Ireland ; 
a poor man, who had emigrated in 
I 1783, with little proi>erty save his 

own strong arms. Five years afterwards he married 
Elizabeth Spear, the daughter of a respectable farmer, 
and, with his young bride, plunged into the wilder- 
ness, staked his claim, reared his log-hut, opened a 
clearing with his axe, and settled down there to per- 
form his obscure part in the drama of life. In this se- 
cluded home, where James was born, he remained 
for eight years, enjoying but few social or intellectual 
advantages. When James was eight years of age, his 
father removed to the village of Mercersburg, where 
his son was placed at school, and commenced a 
course of study in English, Latin and Greek. His 
progress was rapid, and at the age of fourteen, he 
entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle. Here he de- 
veloped remarkable talent, and took his stand among 
the first scholars in the institution. His application 
to study was intense, and yet his native powers en- 



abled him to master the most abstruse subjects with 
facility. 

In the year 1809, he graduated with the highest 
honors of his class. He was then eighteen years of 
age; tall and graceful, vigorous in health, fond of 
athletic sport, an unerring shot, and enlivened with 
an exuberant flow of animal sinrits. He immediately 
commenced the study of law in the city of Lancaster, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1812, when he was 
but twenty-one years of age. Very rapidly he rose 
in his profession, and at once took undisputed stand 
with the ablest lawyers of the State. When but 
twenty-six years of age, unaided by counsel, he suc- 
cessfully defended before the State Senate ore of the 
judges of the State, who was tried upon articles of 
impeachment. At the age of thirty it was generally 
admitted that he stood at the head of the bar; and 
there was no lawyer in the State who had a more lu- 
crative practice. 

In 1820, he reluctantly consented to run as a 
candidate for Congress. He was elected, and for 
ten years he remained a member of the Lower House. 
Daring the vacations of Congress, he occasionally 
tried some important case. In 1 831, he retired 
altogether from the toils of his profession, having ac- 
quired an ample fortune. 

Gen. Jackson, upon his elevation to the Presidency, 
appointed Mr. Buchanan minister to Russia. The 
duties of his mission he performed with ability, which 
gave satisfaction to all parties. Upon his return, in 
1833, he was elected to a seat in the United States 
Senate. He there met, as his associates, Webster. 
Clay, Wright and Calhoun. He advocated the meas- 
ures proposed by President Jackson, of m.ilvng repri- 



76 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



sals against France, to enforce the payment of our 
claims against that country; and defended the course 
of the President in his unprecedented and wholesale 
removal from office of those who were not the sup- 
porters of his administration. Upon this question he 
was brought into direct collision with Henry Clay. 
He also, with voice and vote, advocated expunging 
from the journal of the Senate the vote of censure 
against Gen. Jackson for removing the deposits. 
Earnestly he opposed the abolition of slavery in the 
District of Columbia, and urged the prohibition of the 
circulation of anti-slavery documents by the United 
States mails. 

As to petitions on the subject of slavery, he advo- 
cated that they should be respectfully received; and 
that the reply should be returned, that Congress had 
no power to legislate upon the subject. " Congress," 
said he, " might as well undertake to interfere with 
slavery under a foreign government as in any of the 
States where it now e.\ists." 

Upon Mr. Polk's accession to the Presidency, Mr. 
Buchanan became Secretary of State, and as such, 
took his share of the responsibility in the conduct of 
the Mexican War. Mr. Polk assumed that crossing 
the Nueces by the American troops into the disputed 
territory was not wrong, but for the Mexicans to cross 
the Rio Grande into that territory was a declaration 
of war. No candid man can read with pleasure the 
account of the course our Government pursued in that 
movement. 

Mr. Buchanan identified himself thoroughly with 
the party devoted to 'the perpetuation and extension 
of slavery, and brouglit all the energies of his mind 
to bear against the Wilmot Proviso. He gave his 
cordial approval to the compromise measures of 1850, 
which included the fugitive-slave law. Mr. Pierce, 
upon his election to the Presidency, honored Mr. 
Buchanan with the mission to England. 

In the year 1856, a national Democratic conven- 
tion nominated Mr. Buchanan forthe Presidency. The 
political conflict was one of the most severe in which 
our country has ever engaged. All the friends of 
slavery were on one side; all the advocates of its re- 
striction and final abolition, on the other. Mr. Fre- 
mont, the candidate of the enemies of slavery, re- 
reived 114 electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan received 
174, and was elected. The ix)pular vote stood 
1,340,618, for Fremont, 1,224,750 for Buchanan. On 
March 4th. 1857, Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated. 

Mr. Buchanan was far advanced in life. Only four 
vears were wanting to fill up his threescore years and 
ten. His own friends, those with whom he liad been 
allied in political principles and action for years, were 
seeking the destruction of the Government, that they 
might rear upon the ruins of our free institutions a 
nation whose corner-stone should be human slavery. 
In this emergency, Mr. Buchanan was hopelessly be- 
wildered He could not, with his long-avowed prin- 



ciples, consistently oppose the State-rights party in 
their assumptions. As President of the United States, 
bound by his oath faithfully to administer the laws 
he could not, without perjury of tlie grossest kind, 
imite with those endeavoring to overthrow the repub- 
lic. He therefore did nothing. 

The opponents of Mr. Buchanan's administration 
nominated Abraham Lincoln as their standard bearer 
in the next Presidential canvass. The pro-slavery 
party declared, that if he were elected, and the con- 
trol of the Government were thus taken from their 
hands, they would secede from the Union, taking 
with them, as they retired, the National Capitol at 
Washington, and the lion's share of the territory of 
the United Slates. 

Mr. Buchanan's sympathy with the pro-slavery 
party was such, that he had been willing to offerthem 
far more than they had ventured to claim. All the 
South had professed to ask of the North was non- 
intervention upon the subject of slavery. Mr. Bu- 
chanan had been ready to offer them the active co- 
operation of the Government to defend and extend 
the institution. 

As the storm increased in violence, the slaveholders 
claiming the right to secede, and Mr. Buchanan avow- 
ing that Congress had no power to prevent it, one of 
the most pitiable exhibitions of governmental im- 
becility was exhibited the world has ever seen. He 
declared that Congress had no power to enforce its 
laws in any State which had withdrawn, or which 
was attempting to withdraw from the Union. This 
was not the doctrine of Andrew Jackson, when, with 
his hand upon his sword-hilt, he exclaimed. " The 
Union must and shall be preserved!" 

South Carolina seceded in December, i860; nearly 
three months before the inauguration of President 
Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in listless despair. 
The rebel flag was raised in Charleston; Fort Sumpter 
was besieged; our forts, navy-yards and arsenals 
were seized; our depots of military stores were plun- 
dered ; and our custom-houses and post-offices were 
appropriated by the rebels. 

The energy of the rebels, and the imbecility of our 
Executive, were alike marvelous. The Nation looktd 
on in agony, waiting for the slow weeks to glide away, 
and close the administration, so terrible in its weak- 
ness At length the long-looked-for hour of deliver- 
ance came, when Abraham Lincoln was to receive the 
scepter. 

The administration of President Buchanan was 
certainly the most calamitous our country has ex- 
perienced. His best friends cannot recall it with 
pleasure. And still more de|)loral)le it is for his fame, 
that in that dreadful conflict which rolled Its billows 
of flame and blood over our whole land, no word came 
from his lips to indicate his wish that our countrv's 
banner should triumiih over the flag of the rebellion. 
He died at his Wheatland retreat, June i, 1868. 





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ex'^^^D^^^-^T^ 



SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT. 



79 





i ABRAHAM > ^#^ J LINCOLN. > 







i^i^:^L,'it«a^,,J.U 





the 

the 

in 

12, 



BRAHAM LINCOLN, 
sixteenth President of 
►United States, was born 
Hardin Co., Ky., Feb. 
1809. About the year 1780, a 
man by the name of Abraham 
Lincohi left Virginia with his 
family and moved into the then 
wildsof Kentucky. Only two years 
after this emigration, still a young 
man, while working one day in a 
**' field, was stealthily approached by 
an Indian and shot dead. His widow 
was left in extreme poverty with five 
little children, three boys and two 
girls. Thomas, the youngest of the 
boys, was four years of age at his 
father's death. This Thomas was 
the father of Aliraham Lincoln, the 
President of the United States 
whose name must henceforth fo^^ever be enrolled 
with the most prominent in the annals of our world. 
Of course no record has been kept of the life 
of one so lowly as Thomas Lincoln. He was among 
the ix)orest of the poor. His home was a wretched 
log-cabin; his food the coarsest and the meanest. 
Education he had none; he could never either read 
or write. As soon as he was able to do anything for 
himself, he was compelled to leave the cabin of his 
starving mother, and push out into the world, a friend- 
less, wandering boy, seeking work. He hired him- 
self out, and thus spent the whole of his youth as a 
laborer in the fields of others. 

When twenty-eight years of age he built a log- 
cabin of his own, and married Nancy Hanks, the 
daughter of another family of poor Kentucky emi- 
grants, who had also come from Virginia. Their 
second child was Abraham Lincoln, the subject of 
this sketch. The mother of Abraham was a noble 
woman, gentle, loving, pensive, created to adorn 
a palace, doomed to toil and pine, and die in a hovel. 
"All that I am, or hope to be," exclaims the grate- 
ful son " I owe to my angel-mother. " 

When he was eight years of age, his father sold his 



cabin and small farm, and moved to Indiana. Where 
two years later his mother died. 

Abraham soon became the scribe of the uneducated 
community around him. He could not have had a 
better school than this to teach him to put thoughts 
into words. He also became an eager reader. The 
books he could obtain were few ; but these he read 
and re-read until they were almost committed to 
memory. 

As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly family 
was the usual lot of humanity. There were joys and 
griefs, weddings and funerals. Abraham's sister 
Sarah, to whom he was tenderly attached, was mar- 
ried when a child of but fourteen years cW" age, and 
soon died. The family was gradually scattered. Mr. 
Thomas Lincoln sold out his squatter's claim in 1830, 
and emigrated to Macon Co., 111. 

Abraham Lincoln was then twenty-one years of age. 
With vigorous hands he aided his father in rearing 
another log-cabin. Abraham worked diligently at this 
until he saw the family comfortably settled, and their 
small lot of enclosed prairie planted with corn, when 
he announced to his father his intention to leave 
home, and to go out into the world and seek his for- 
tune. Little did he or his friends imagine how bril- 
liant that fortune was to be. He saw the value of 
education, and was intensely earnest to improve his 
mind to the utmost of his power. He saw the ruin 
which ardent spirits were causing, and became 
strictly temperate; refusing to allow a drop of intoxi- 
cating liquor to pass his lips. And he had read in 
God's word, " Thou shalt not take the name of the 
Lord thy God in vain;" and a profane expression he 
was never heard to utter. Religion he revered. His 
morals were pure, and he was uncontaminated by a 
single vice. 

Young Abraham worked for a time as a hired laborer 
among the farmers. Then he went to Springfield, 
where he was employed in building a large flat-boat. 
In this he took a herd of swine, floated them down 
the Sangamon to the Illinois, and thence by the Mis- 
sissippi to New Orleans. Whatever Abraham Lin- 
coln undertook, he performed so faithfully as to give 
great latisfacticn to his employers. In this adven- 



ture his employers were so well pleased, that upon 
his return tiiey placed a store and mill under his care. 
In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk war, he 
enlisted and was chosen captain of a company. He 
returned to Sangamon County, and although only 23 
years of age, was a candidate for the Legislature, but 
was defeated. He soon after received from Andrew 
JaCkson the appointmeiitof Postmaster of New Salem, 
His only post-office was his hat. All the letters he 
received he carried there ready to deliver to those 
he chanced to meet. He studied surveying, and soon 
made this his business. In 1834 he again became a 
candidate for the Legislature, and was elected Mr. 
Stuart, of Springfield, advised him to study law. He 
walked from New Salem to Springfield, borrowed of 
Mr. Stuart a load of books, carried them back and 
began his legal studies. When the Legislature as- 
sembled he trudged on foot with his pack on his back 
one hundred miles lo Vandaha, then the capital. In 
1836 he was re-elected to the Legislature. Here it 
was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. In 1839 he re- 
moved to Springfield and began the practice of law. 
His success with the jury was so great that he was 
soon engaged in almost every noted case in the circuit. 

In 1854 the great discussion began between Mr. 
Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, on the slavery question. 
In the organization of the Republican party in Illinois, 
in 1856, he* took an active i)art, and at once became 
one of the leaders in that party. Mr. Lincoln's 
speeches in opposition to Senator Douglas in the con- 
test in 1858 for a seat in the Senate, form a most 
notable part of his history. The issue was on the 
slavery question, and he took the broad ground of 
ihe Declaration of Independence, that all men are 
created equal. Mr. Lincoln was defeated in this con- 
test, but won a far higher prize. 

The great Republican Convention met at Chicago 
on the i6th of June, i86o. The delegates and 
strangers who crowded the city amounted to twenty- 
five thousand. An immense building called "The 
Wigwam," was reared lo accommodate the Conven- 
tion. There were eleven candidates for whom votes 
were thrown. William H. Seward, a man whose fame 
as a statesman had long filled the land, was the most 
orominent. It was generally supposed he would be 
the nominee. Abraham Lincoln, however, received 
the nomination on the third ballot. Little did he then 
dream of the weary years of toil and care, and the 
bloody death, to which that nomination doomed him: 
and as little did he dream that he was to render services 
to his country, which would fix upon him the eyes of 
the whole civilized world, and which would give him 
a place in the affections of his countrymen, second 
only, if second, to that of Washington. 

Election day came and Mr. Lincoln received 180 
electoral votes out of 203 cast, and was, therefore, 
constitutionally elected President of the United States. 
The tirade of abuse that was poured upon this good 



and merciful man, especially by the slaveholders, was 
greater than upon any other man ever elected to this 
high position. In February, 186 1, Mr. Lincoln started 
for Washington, stopping in all the large cities on his 
way making speeches. The whole journey was frought 
with much danger. Many of the Southern States had 
already seceded, and several attempts at assassination 
were afterwards brought to light. A gang in Balti- 
more had arranged, upon his arrival lo" get up a row," 
and ill the confusion to make sure of his death with 
revolvers and hand-grenades. A detective unravelled 
the plot. A secret and special train was provided to 
take him from Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an 
unexpected hour of the night. The train started at 
half-past ten ; and to prevent any possible communi- 
cation on the part ot tlie Secessionists with their Con- 
federate gang in Baltimore, as soon as the train had 
started the telegraph-wires were cut. Mr. Lincoln 
reached Washington in safety and was inaugurated, 
although great anxiety was felt by all loyal people 

In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln gave 
to Mr. Seward the Department of State, and to other 
prominent opponents before the convention he gave 
important positions. 

During no other administration have the duties 
devolving upon the President been so manifold, and 
the responsibilities so great, as those which fell to 
the lot of President Lincoln. Knowing this, and 
feeling his own weakness and inability to meet, and in 
his own strength to cope with, the difficulties, he 
learned early to seek Divine wisdom and guidance in 
determining his plans, and Divine comfort in all his 
trials, bo'h personal and national. Contrary to his 
own estimate of himself, Mr. Lincoln was one of the 
most courageous of men. He went directly into the 
rebel capital just as the retreating foe was leaving, 
with no guard but a few sailors. From the time he 
had left Springfield, in 1861, however, plans had been 
made for his assassination, and he at last fell a victim 
to one of them. April 14, 1865, he, with Gen. Grant, 
was urgently invited to attend Fords' Theater. It 
was announced that they would Le present. Gen. 
Grant, however, left the city. President Lincoln, feel- 
ing, with his characteristic kindliness of heart, that 
it would be a disappointment if he should fail them, 
very reluctantly consented to go. While listening to 
the play an actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth 
entered the box where the President and family were 
seated, and firtd a bullet into his brains. He died the 
next morning at seven o'clock. 

Never before, in the history of the world was a nation 
plunged into such deep grief by the death of its ruler. 
Strong men met in the streets and wept in speechless 
anguish. It is not too much to say that a nation was 
in tears. His was a life which will fitly liecome a 
model. His name as tlie savior of his country "•i'll 
live with that of Washington's, ils father; hiso^':ntry- 
men being unable to decide wlii< h is tKp creaiet. 






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S£ i^ENTEENTH FREiiIDEi\ T. 



Sj 





NDREVV JOHNSON, seven- 
teenth President of the United 
States. The early life of 
Andrew Johnson contains but 
the record of poverty, destitu- 
tion and friendlessness. He 
was born December 29, 180S, 
in Raleigh, N. C. His parents, 
belonging to the class of the 
"poor whites " of the South, were 
in such circumstances, that they 
could not confer even the slight- 
est advantages of education ujwn 
their child. When Andrew was five 
years of age, his father accidentally 
lost his life while herorically endeavoring to save a 
friend from drowning. Until ten years of age, Andrew 
was a ragged boy about the streets, supjxjrted by the 
labor of his mother, who obtained her living with 
her own hands. 

He then, having never attended a school one day, 
and being unable either to read or write, was ap- 
prenticed to a tailor in his native town. A gentleman 
was in the habit of going to the tailor's shop occasion- 
ally, and reading to the boys at work there. He often 
read from the speeches of distinguished British states- 
men. Andrew, who was endowed with a mind of more 
than ordinary native ability, became much interested 
in these speeches ; his ambition was roused, and he 
was inspired with a strong desire to learn to read. 

He accordingly applied himself to the alphabet, and 
with the assistance of some of his fellow-workmen, 
learned his letters. He then called upon the gentle- 
man to borrow the book of speeches. The owner, 



pleased with his zeal, not only gave him the book, 
but assisted him in learning to combine the letters 
into words. Under such difficulties he pressed ou 
ward laboriously, spending usually ten or twelve hours 
at work in the shop, and then robbing himself of rest 
and recreatio." to devote such time as he could to 
reading. 

He went to Tennessee in 1826, and located at 
Greenville, where he married a young lady who pus 
sessed some education. Under her instructions he 
learned to write and cipher. He became prominent 
in the village debating society, and a favorite with 
the students of Greenville College. In 1828, he or- 
ganized a working man's party, which elected him 
alderman, and in 1830 elected him mayor, which 
position he held three years. 

He now began to take a lively interest in political 
affairs; identifying himself with the working-classes, 
to which he belonged. In 1835, he was elected a 
member of the House of Representatives of Tennes- 
see. He was then just twenty-seven years of age. 
He became a very active member of the legislature 
gave his adhesion to the Democratic party, and in 
1840 "stumped the State," advocating Martin Tan 
Buren's claims to the Presidency, in opposition to thos,. 
of Gen. Harrison. In this campaign he acquired mucli 
readiness as a speaker, and extended and increased 
his reputation. 

In 1841, he was elected Stale Senator; in 1843, he 
was elected a member of Congress, and by successive 
elections, held that important post for ten years. In 
1853, he was elected Governor of Tennessee, and 
was re-elected in 1855. In all these resi)onsible posi- 
tions, he discharged his duties with distinguished ibil- 



84 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



ity, and proved himself the warm friend of the work- 
ing classes. In 1857, Mr. Johnson was elected 
United States Senator. 

Years before, in 1845, he had warmly advocated 
the annexation of Texas, stating however, as his 
reason, that he thought this annexation would prob- 
ably prove " to be the gateway out of which the sable 
sons of Africa are to pass from bondage to freedom, 
and become merged in a population congenial to 
themselves." In 1850, he also supported the com- 
promise measures, the two essential features of which 
were, that the white people of the Territories should 
be permitted to decide for themselves whether they 
would enslave the colored people or not, and that 
the free States of the North should return to the 
South persons who attempted to escape from slavery. 

Mr. Johnson was neverashamedof his lowly origin: 
on the contrary, he often took pride in avowing that 
he owed his distinction to his own exertions. "Sir," 
said he on the floor of the Senate, " I do not forget 
that I am a mechanic ; neither do I forget that Adam 
was a tailor and sewed fig-leaves, and that our Sav- 
ior was the son of a carpenter." 

In the Charleston-Baltimore convention of i8i«j, ne 
was the choice of the Tennessee Democrats for the 
Presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of the South- 
irn Democracy became apparent, he took a decided 
■stand in favor of the Union, and held that " slavery 
must be held subordinate to the Union at whatever 
cost." He returned to Tennessee, and repeatedly 
imperiled his own life to protect the Unionists of 
Tennesee. Tennessee having seceded from the 
Union, President Lincoln, on March 4th, 1862, ap- 
pointed him Military Governor of the State, and he 
established the most stringent military rule. His 
numerous proclamations attracted wide attention. In 

1864, he was elected Vice-President of the United 
States, and upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, 

1865, became President. In a speech two days later 
he said, " The American people must be taught, if 
they do not already feel, that treason is a crime and 
must be punished ; that the Government will not 
always bear with its enemies ; that it is strong not 
only to protect, but to punish. * * The people 
must understand that it (treason) is the blackest of 
crimes, and will surely be punished." Yet his whole 
administration, the history of which is so well known, 
was in utter icKonsistency with, and the most violent 



opposition to. the principles laid down in that speech. 

In his loose policy of reconstruction and general 
amnesty, he was opposed by Congress; and he char- 
acterized Congress as a new rebellion, and lawlessly 
defied it, in everything possible, to the utmost. In 
the beginning of 1868, on account of " high crimes 
and misdemeanors," the principal of which was the 
removal of Secretary Stanton, in violation of the Ten- 
ure of Office Act, articles of impeachment were pre- 
ferred against him, and the trial began March 23. 

It was very tedious, continuing for nearly three 
months. A test article of the impeachment was at 
length submitted to the court for its action. It was 
certain that as the court voted upon that article so 
would it vote upon all. Thirty-four voices pronounced 
the President guilty. As a two-thirds vote was neces- 
sary to his condemnation, he was pronounced ac- 
quitted, notwithstanding the great majority against 
him. The change of one vote from the not guilty 
side would have sustained the impeachment. 

The President, for the remainder of his term, was 
but little regarded. He continued, though impotentl;-, 
his conflict with Congress. His own party did not 
think it expedient to renominate him for the Presi- 
dency. The Nation rallied, with enthusiasm unpar- 
alleled since the days of Washington, around the name 
of Gen. Grant. Andrew Johnson was forgotten. 
The bullet of the assassin introduced him to the 
President's chair. Notwithstanding this, never was 
there presented to a man a better opportunity to im- 
mortalize his nam.e, and to win the gratitude of a 
nation. He failed utterly. He retired to his home 
in Gree«ville, Tenn., taking no very active part in 
politics until 1875. On Jan. 26, after an exciting 
struggle, he was chosen by the Legislature of Ten- 
nessee, United States Senator in the forty-fourth Con- 
gress, and took his seat in that body, at the special 
session convened by President Grant, on the 5th of 
March. On the 27th of July, 1875, the e.\-President 
made a visit to his daughter's home, near Carter 
Station, Tenn. When he started on his journey, he was 
apparently in his usual vigorous health, but on reach- 
ing the residence of his child the following day, was 
stricken with paralysis, rendering him unconscious. 
He rallied occasionally, but finally passed away at 
2 A.M., July 31, aged sixty-seven years. His fun- 
eral was attended at Geenville, on the 3d of August, 
with every demonstration of respect 




^><^^^::^ 



EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT. 






LYSSES S. GRANT, the 
eighteenth President of the 
United States, was born on 
the 29th of April, 1822, of 
Christian parents, in a humble 
^^-™:^; .%^?" home, at Point Pleasant, on the 
banks of the Ohio. Shortly after 
his father moved to George- 
town, Brown Co., O. In this re- 
mote frontier hamlet, Ulysses 
received a common-school edu- 
cation. At the age of seven- 
teen, in the year 1839, he entered 
the Military Academy at West 
Point. Here he was regarded as a 
solid, sensible young man of fair abilities, and of 
sturdy, honest character. He took respectable rank 
as a scholar. In June, T843, he graduated, about the 
middle in his class, and was sent as lieutenant of in- 
fantry to one of the distant military posts in the Mis- 
souri Territory. Two years he past in these dreary 
solitudes, watching the vagabond and exasperating 
Indians. 

The war with Me.\ico came. Lieut. Grant was 
sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His first 
battle was at Palo Alto. There was no chance here 
for the exhibition of either skill or heroism, nor at 
Resacade la Palma, his second battle. At the battle 
of Monterey, his third engagement, it is said that 
he performed a signal service of daring and skillful 
horsemanship. His brigade had exhausted its am- 
munition. A messenger must be sent for more, along 
a route exposed to the bullets of the foe. Lieut. 
Grant, adopting an expedient learned of the Indians, 
grasped the mane of his horse, and hanging upon one 
side of the anin>al, ran the gauntlet in entire safety. 



From Monterey he was sent,with the fourth infantry, 
to aid Gen. Scott, at the siege of Vera Cruz. In 
preparation for the march to the city of Mexico, he 
was appointed quartermaster of his regiment. At the 
battle of Molino del Rey, he was promoted to a 
first lieutenancy, and was brevetted captain at Cha- 
pultepec. 

At the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant re- 
turned with his regiment to New York, and was again 
sent to one of the military posts on the frontier. The 
discovery of gold in California causing an immense 
tide of emigration to flow to the Pacific shores, Capt. 
Grant was sent with a battalion to Fort Dallas, in 
Oregon, for the protection of the interests of the im- 
migrants. Life was wearisome in those wilds. Capt. 
Grant resigned his commission and returned to the 
States; and having married, entered upon the cultiva- 
tion of a small fanii near St. Louis, Mo. He had but 
little skill as a farmer. Finding his toil not re- 
munerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering into 
the leather business, with a younger brother, at Ga- 
lena, 111. This was in the year i860. As the tidings 
of the rebels firing on Fort Sumpter reached the ears 
of Capt. Grant in his counting-room, he said, — 
"Uncle Sam has educated me for the army; though 
I have served him through one war, I do not feel that 
I have yet repaid the debt. I am still ready to discharge 
my obligations. I shall therefore buckle on my sword 
and see Uncle Sam through this war too." 

He went into the streets, raised a company of vol- 
unteers, and led them as their captain to Springfield, 
the capital of the State, where their services were 
offered to Gov. Yates. The Governor, impressed by 
the zeal and straightforward executive ability of Cai>t. 
Grant, gave him a desk in his office, to assist in the 
volunteer organization that was being formed in the 
State in behalf of the Government. On the 15th of 



88 



Ul 



J:S S. G.I A XT. 



June, (86i, Capt. Grant received a couKui.sion as 
Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Vol- 
unteers. Hij merits as a West Point graduate, who 
had served for 15 years in the regular army, were such 
that he was soon promoted to the rank of Brigadier- 
General and was placed in command at Cairo. The 
rebels raised their banner at Paducah, near the mouth 
of the Tennessee River. Scarcely had its folds ap- 
peared in the breeze ere Gen. Grant was there. The 
rebels fled. Their banner fell, and the star and 
stripes were unfurled in its stead. , 

He entered the service with great determination 
and immediately began active duty. This was the be- 
ginning, and until the surrender of Lee at Richmond 
he was ever pushing the enemy with great vigor and 
effectiveness. At Belmont, a few days later, he sur- 
prised and routed the rebels, then at Fort Henry 
won another victory. Then came the brilliant fight 
at Fort Donelson. The nation was electrified by the 
victory, and the brave leader of the boys in blue was 
immediately made a Major-General, and the military 
Jistrict of Tennessee was assigned to him. 

Like all great captains. Gen. Grant knew well how 
to secure the results of victory. He immediately 
pushed on to the enemies' lines. Then came the 
terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, and the 
siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. Pemberton made an 
unconditional surrender of the city with over thirty 
thousand men and one-hundred and seventy-two can- 
non. The fall of Vicksburg was by far the most 
severe blow which the rebels had thus far encountered, 
and opened up the Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf. 

Gen. Grant was ne.xt ordered to co-operate with 
Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and pro- 
ceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown from 
his horse, and received severe injuries, from which he 
was laid up for months. He then rushed to the aid 
of Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas at Chattanooga, and 
by a wonderful series of strategic and technical meas- 
ures put the Union Army in fighting condition. Then 
followed the bloody battles at Chattanooga, Lookout 
Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels 
were routed with great loss. This won for him un- 
bounded praise in the North. On the 4th of Febru- 
ary, 1864, Congress revived the grade of lieutenant- 
general, and the rank was conferred on Gen. Grant. 
He repaired to Washington to receive his credentials 
and enter upon tb'' duties of his new office. 



Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took, cha'rgt of 
the army to concentrate tiie widel) -dispersed National 
troops for an attack upon Richmond, the nominal 
capital of the Rebellion, and endeavor there to de- 
stroy the rebel armies which would be promptly as- 
sembled from all quarte;s for its defence. The whole 
continent seemed to tremble under the tramp of these 
majestic armies, rushing to the decisive battle field. 
Steamers were crowded with troops. Railway trains 
were burdened with closely packed thousands. His 
plans were comprehensive and involved a series of 
campaigns, which were executed with remarkable en- 
ergy and ability, and were consummated at the sur- 
render of Lee, April 9, 1865. 

The war was ended. The Union was saved. The 
almost unanimous voice of the Nation declared Gen. 
Grant to be the most prominent instrument in its sal- 
vation. The eminent services he had thus rendered 
the country brought him conspicuously forward as the 
Republican candidate for the Presidential chair. 

At the Republican Convention held at Chicago. 
May 2 1, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the 
Presidency, and at the autumn election received a 
majority of the popular vote, and 214 out of 294 
electoral votes. 

The National Convention of the Republican party 
which met at Philadelphia on the 5th of June, 1872, 
placed Gen. Grant in nomination for a second term 
by a unanimous vote. The selection was emphati- 
cally indorsed by the people five months later, 292 
electoral votes being cast for him. 

Soon after the close of his second term, Gen. Grant 
started upon his famous trip around the world. He 
visited almost every country of the civilized world, 
and was everywhere received with such ovations 
and demonstrations of respect and honor, private 
as well as public and official, as were never before 
bestowed upon any citizen of the United States. 

He was the most prominent candidate before the 
Republican National Convention in 1880 for a re- 
nomination for President. He went to New York and 
embarked in the brokerage business under the firm 
nameof Grant & Ward. The latter proved a villain, 
wrecked Grant's fortune, and for larceny was sent to 
the penitentiary. The Geii^ral was attacked with 
cancer in the throat, but suffered in his stoic-like 
manner, never complaining. He was re-instated as 
General of the Army and retired by Congress. The 
cancer soon finished its deadly work, and July 23, 
1885, the nation went in mourning over the death of 
the illustrious General. 




v) c-^U.-.^iL- o-A? 




NINETEENTH PRESIDKNI. 



9« 








'ig^'^'^'^'^'^'ga'^'S&t,;'.r.;jii.;,u;;;i.;.;.>,v^;^ig~7;^.JtV 






UTHERFORD B. HAYES, 
the nineteenth President of 
the United States, was born in 
Delaware, O., Oct. 4, 1822, al- 
most three months after the 
death of his father, Rutherford 
Hayes. His ancestry on both 
the paternal and maternal sides, 
was of the most honorable char- 
acter. It can be traced, it is said, 
as far back as 1280, when Hayes and 
Rutherford were two Scottish chief- 
tains, fighting side by side with 
Baliol, William Wallace and Robert 
Bruce. Both families belonged to the 
nobility, owned extensive estates, 
and had a large following. Misfor- 
tane ovfcnaking the family, George Hayes left Scot- 
land in i6iSo, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son 
George was; born in Windsor, and remained there 
during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, mar- 
ried Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of his mar- 
riage until hJs death in Simsbury, Conn. Ezekiel, 
son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was a manufac- 
turer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. Rutherford Hayes, 
?on of Ezekiel aud grandfather of President Hayes, was 
born in New Haven, in August, 1756. He was a farmer, 
blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He emigrated to 
Vermont at an uiiknown date, settling in Brattleboro, 
where he established a hotel. Here his son Ruth- 
erford Hayes the father of President Hayes, was 



born. He was married, in September, 1813, to Sophia 
Birchard, of Wilmington, Vt., whose ancestors emi- 
grated thither from Connecticut, they having been 
among the wealthiest and best famlies of Norwich. 
Her ancestry on the male side are traced back to 
1635, to John Birchard, one of the principal founders 
of Norwich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers 
in the Revolutionary War. 

The father of President Hayes was an industrious 
frugal and opened-hearted man. He was of a me- 
chanical turn, and could mend a plow, knit a stock- 
ing, or do almost anything else that he choose to 
undertake. He was a member of the Church, active 
in all the benevolent enterprises of the town, and con- 
ducted his business on Christian principles. After 
the close of the war of 181 2, for reasons inexplicable 
to his neighbors, he resolved to emigrate to Ohio. 

The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day. 
when there were no canals, steamers, nor railways, 
was a very serious affair. A tour of inspection was 
first made, occupying four months. Mr. Hayes deter 
mined to move to Delaware, where the family arrived 
in 1 817. He died July 22, 1822, a victim of malarial 
fever, less than three months before the birth of the 
son, of whom we now write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore be- 
reavement, found the support she so much needed in 
her brother Sardis, who had been a member of the 
household from the day of its departure from Ver- 
mont, and in an orphan girl whom she had adopted 
some time before as an act of charity. 

Mrs. Hayes at this period was very weak, and the 



RUTHhUFORD B. HAVES: 



subject of this sketch was so feeble at birth that he 
was not expected to live beyond a month or two at 
most. As the months went by he grew weaker and 
weaker, so that the neighbors were in the habit of in- 
quiring from time to time " if Mrs. Hayes' baby died 
last night." On one occasion a neighbor, who was on 
familiar terms with the family, after alluding to the 
boy's big head, and the mother's assiduous care of 
him, said in a bantering way, " That's right ! Stick to 
him. You have got him along so far, and I shouldn't 
wonder if he would really come to something yet." 

" You reed not laugh," said Mrs. Hayes. "You 
wait and see. You can't tell but I shall make him 
President of the United States yet." The boy lived, 
in spite of the universal predictions of his speedy 
death; and when, in 1825, his older brother was 
drowned, he became, if possible, still dearer to his 
mother. 

The boy was seven years old before he w-^nt to 
school. His education, however, was not neglected. 
He probably learned as much from his mother and 
fister as he would have done at school. His sports 
were almost wholly within doors, his playmates being 
his sister and her associates. These circumstances 
tended, no doubt, to foster that gentleness of dispo- 
sition, and that delicate consideration for the feelings 
of others, which are marked traits of his character. 

His uncle Sardis Birchard took the deepest interest 
in his education ; and as the boy's health had im- 
proved, and he was making good progress in his 
studies, he proposed to send him to college. His pre- 
paration commenced with a tutor at home; b.it he 
was afterwards sent for one year to a professor in the 
Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Conn. He en- 
tered Kenyon College in 1838, at the age of sixteen, 
and was graduated at the head of his class in 1842. 

Immediately after his graduation he began the 
study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, Esq., 
in Columbus. Finding his opportunities for study in 
Columbus somewhat limited, he determined to enter 
the Law School at Cambridge, Mass., where he re- 
mained two years. 

In 1845, after graduatmg at the Law School, he was 
admitted to the bar at Marietta, Ohio, and shortly 
afterward went into practice as an attorney-at-law 
with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fremont. Here he re- 
mained three years, acquiring but a limited practice, 
and apparently unambitious of distinction in his pro- 
fession. 

In 1849 he iiidved to Cincmnati, where his ambi- 
tion found a new stimulus. For several years, how- 
ever, his progress was slow. Two events, occurring at 
this period, had a powerful influence upon his subse- 
quent life. One of these was his marrage with Miss 
Lucy Ware Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of 
Chilicothe; the other was his introduction to the Cin- 
cinnati Literary Club, a body embracing among its 
members suck men as'^hief Justice Salmon P. Chase, 



Gen. John Pope, Gov. Edward F. Noyes, and many 
others hardly less distinguished in after life. The 
marriage was a fortunate one in every respect, as 
everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of our 
Presidents was more universally admired, reverenced 
and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and no one did 
more than she to reflect honor upon American woman 
hood. The Literary Cluu brought Mr. Hayes into 
constant association with young men of high char- 
acter and noble aims, and lured him to display the 
qualities so long hidden by his bashfulness and 
modesty. 

In 1S56 he was nominated to the office of Judge of 
the Court of Common Pleas; but he declined to ac- 
cept the nomination. Two years later, the office of 
city solicitor becoming vacant, the City Council 
elected hinr for the unexpired term. 

In i86i, when the Rebellion broke out, he was at 
the zenith of his professional 'if.. His rank at the 
bar was among the the first. But the news of the 
attack on Fort Sumpter found him eager to take -id 
arms for the defense of his countr}'. 

His military record was bright and illustrious. In 
October, 186 1, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, and 
in August, 1862, promoted Colonel of the 79th Ohio 
regiment, but he refused to leave his old comrades 
and go among strangers. Subsequently, however, he 
was made Colonel of his old regiment. At the battle 
of South Mountain he received a wound, and while 
faint and bleeding displayed courage and fortitude 
that won admiration from all. 

Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, after 
his recover)', to act as Brigadier-General, and placed 
in command of the celebrated Kanawha division, 
and for gallant and meritorious services in the battles 
of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, he was 
promoted Brigadier-General. He was also brevetted 
Major-General, "forgallant and distinguished Fcrvices 
during the campaigns of 1864, in West Virginia." In 
the course of his arduous services, four horses were 
shot from under him, and he was wounded four times. 

In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to Congress, from 
the Second Ohio District, which had long been Dem- 
ocratic. He was not present during the campaign, 
and after his election was importuned to resign his 
commission in the army ; but he finally declared, " I 
shall never come to Washington until I can come by 
the way of Richmond." He was re-elected in 1S66. 

In 1867, Gen Hayes was elected Governor of Ohio, 
over Hon. Allen G. Thunnan, a popular Democrat. 
In 1869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleton^ 
He was elected Governor for the third term in 1875. 

In 1876 he was the standard bearer of the Repub- 
lican Party in the Presidential contest, and after a 
hard long contest was chosen President, and was in 
augurated Monday, March 5, 1875. He served his 
full term, not, hcwever, with satisfaction to his party, 
but his administration was an average op.'* 



TiVENTIETH PRESIDENT. 



95 





... ^ ^'i? 





AMES A. GARFIELD, twen- 
tieth President of the United 
States, was born Nov. 19, 
1831, in the woods of Orange, 
Cuyahoga Co., O His par- 
ents were Abram and Ehza 
(Ballou) Garfield, both of New 
England ancestry and from fami- 
lies well known in the early his- 
tory of that section of our coun- 
try, but had moved to the Western 
Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settle- 
ment. 

The house in which James A. was 
born was not unlike the houses of 
j poor Ohio farmers of that day. It 
*as about 20 x 30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces be- 
tween the logs filled with clay. His father was a 
.iard working farmer, and he soon had his fields 
cleared, an orchard planted, and a log barn built. 
The household comprised the father and mother and 
.:heir four children — Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and 
'ames. In May, i823j the father, from a cold con- 
.racted in helping to put out a forest fire, died. At 
ihis time James was about eighteen months old, and 
Thomas about ten years old. No one, perhaps, can 
(ell how much James was indebted to his brother's 
rcil and self-sacrifice during the twenty years suc- 
ceeding his father's death, but undoubtedly very 
much. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sis- 
itrs live in Solon, O., near their birthplace. 

Tlie early educational advantages young Garfield 
enjoyed were very limited, yet he -made the most of 
them. He labored at farm work for others, did car- 
penter work, chopped wood, or did anything that 
would bring in a few dollars to aid his widowed 
mother in he' ^ttnggles to keep the little family to- 



gether. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever ashamed of his 
origin, and he never forgot the friends of his strug- 
gling childhood, youth and manhood, neither did they 
ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor, 
the humblest fiiend of his boyhood was as kindly 
greeted as ever. The poorest laborer was sure of the 
sympathy of one who had known all the bitterness 
of want and the sweetness of bread earned by the 
sweat of the brow. He was ever the simple, plain, 
modest gentleman. 

The highest ambition of young Garfield until \\t 
was about sixteen years old was to be a captain of 
a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard 
a vessel, which his mother strongly opposed. She 
finally consented to his going to Cleveland, with the 
understanding, however, that he should try to obtain 
some other kind of employment. He walked all the 
way to Cleveland. This was his first visit to the city 
After making many applications for work, and trying 
to get aboard a lake vessel, and not meeting with 
success, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos 
Letcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. He re- 
mained at this work but a short time when he wen"^ 
home, and attended the seminary at Chester for 
about three years, when he entered Hiram and the 
Eclectic Institute, teaching a few terms of school in 
the meantime, and doing other work. This school 
was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of 
which churcli he was then a member. He became 
janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way. 
He then became both teacher and pupil. He soon 
" exhausted Hiram " and needed more ; hence, in the 
fall of 1854, he entered Williams College, from which 
he graduated in 1856, taking one of the liighest hon- 
ors of his class. He afterwards returned to Hiram 
College as its President. As above stated, he early 
united with the Christian or Diciples Church at 
Hiram, and was ever after a devoted, zealous mem- 
ber, often preaching in its pulpit and places where 
he happened to be. Dr. Noah Porter, President of 
Yale College, says of him in reference to his religion : 



O- 



9« 



/AMES A. GARFIELD. 



" President Garfield was more than a man of 
strong moral and religious convictions. His whole 
history, from boyhood to the last, shows that duty to 
man and to God, and devotion to Christ and life and 
faith and spiritual commission were controlling springs 
of his being, and to a more than usual degree. In 
:ny JLidgmenc there is no more interesting feature of 
his character than his loyal allegiance to the body of 
Christians in which he was trained, and the fervent 
sympathy which he ever showed in their Christian 
communion. Not many of the few 'wise and mighty 
and noble who are called' show a similar loyalty to 
the less stately and cultured Christian communions 
in which they have been reared. Too often it is true 
that as they step upward in social and political sig- 
nificance they step upward from one degree to 
another in some of the many types of fashionable 
Christianity. President Garfield adhered to the 
:;hurch of his mother, the church in which he was 
trained, and in which he served as a pillar and an 
evangelist, and yet with the largest and most unsec- 
tarian charity for all 'who loveour Lord in sincerity.'" 

Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with Miss 
Lucretia Rudolph, Nov. ii, 1858, who proved herself 
worthy as the wife of one whom all the world loved and 
mourned. To them were born seven children, five of 
whom are still living, four boys and one girl. 

Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 1856, 
;n Hiram and the neighboring villages, and three 
years later he began to speak at county mass-meet- 
ings, and became the favorite speaker wherever he 
was. During this year he was elected to the Ohio 
Senate. He also began to study law at Cleveland, 
and in 1861 was admitted to the bar. The great 
Rebellion broke out in the early part of this year, 
and Mr. Garfield at once resolved to fight as he had 
talked, and enlisted to defend the old flag. He re- 
ceived his commission as Lieut. -Colonel of the Forty- 
second Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Lifantry, Aug. 
14, 1861. He was immediately put into active ser- 
vice, and before he had ever seen a gun fired in action, 
was placed in command of four regiments of infantry 
and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the 
work of driving out of his native State the officer 
(Humphrey Marshall) reputed to be the ablest of 
those, not educated to war whom Kentucky had given 
to the Rebellion. This work was bravely and speed- 
ily accomplished, although against great odds. Pres- 
ident Lincoln, on his success commissioned him 
Brigadier-General, Jan. 10, 1862; and as "he had 
been the youngest man in the Ohio Senate two years 
before, so now he was the youngest General in the 
army." He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, 
in itsoperations around Corinth and its march through 
Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of the 
General Court-Martial for the trial of Gen. Fitz-John 
Porter. He was then ordered to report to Gen. Rose- 
crans, and was assigned to the " Chief of Staff." 

The military bJstory of Gen. Garfield closed with 



his brilliant services at Chickamauga, where he won 
the stars of the Major-General. 

Without an effort on his part Geu Garfield waf 
elected to Congress in the fall of 1862 from the 
Nineteenth District of Ohio. This section of Ohio 
had been represented in Congress for si.xty years 
mainly by two men — Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua 
R. Giddings. It was not without a struggle that he 
resigned his place in the army. At the time he en- 
tered Congress he was the youngest member in that 
body. Thersj he remained by successive re- 
elections until he was elected President in 1880. 
Of his labors in Congress Senator Hoar says : " Since 
the year 1864 you cannot think of a question whicii 
has been debated in Congress, or discussed before a 
tribunel of the American people, in regard to whicfc 
you will not find, if you wish mstruction, the argu- 
ment on one side stated, in almost every instance 
better than by anybody else, in some speech made in 
the House of Representatives or on the hustings by 
Mr. Garfield." 

Ujxin Jan. 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elected to 
the U. S. Senate, and on the eighth of June, of the 
same year, was nominated as the candidate of his 
party for President at the great Chicago Convention. 
He was elected in the following November, and on 
March 4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably no ad- 
ministration ever opened its existence under brighter 
auspices than that of President Garfield, and every 
day it grew in favor with the people, and by the first 
of July he had completed all the initiatory and pre- 
liminary work of his administration and was prepar- 
ing to leave the city to meet his friends at Williams 
College. While on his way and at the depot, in com- 
pany with Secretary Blaine, a man stepped behind 
him, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his back. 
The President tottered and fell, and as he -did so the 
assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the 
left coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting no further 
injury. It has been very truthfully said that this was 
" the shot that was heard round the world " Never 
before in the history of the Nation had anything oc- 
curred which so nearly froze the blood of the people 
for the moment, as this awful deed. He was smit- 
ten on the brightest, gladdest day of all his life, and 
was at the summit of his power and hope. For eighty 
days, all during the hot months of July and August, 
he lingered and suffered. He, however, remained 
master of himself till the last, and by his magnificent 
bearing was teaching the country and the world the 
noblest of human lessons — how to live grandly in the 
very clutch of death. Great in life, he was surpass- 
ingly great in death. He passed serenely away Sept. 
19, 1883, at Elberon, N. J., on the very bank of the 
ocean, where he had been taken shortly previous. The 
world wept at his death, as it never had done on the 
death of any other man who had ever lived upon it. 
The murderer was duly tried, found guilty and exe- 
cuted, in one year after he committed the foui deed. 



TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDENT. 



99 





HESTER A. ARTHUR, 
twenty-first PresH^iu of the 
United States, was born in 
Franklin Cour ty, Vermont, on 
thefifthof Odober, 1830, and is 
the oldest of a family of two 
sons and five daughters. His 
father was the Rev. Dr. William 
Arthur, aBaptisld'.rgyman, who 
emigrated to tb.s countr)' from 
the county Antrim, Ireland, in 
\\\ his 1 8th year, and died in 1875, in 
Newtonville, neai Albany, after a 
long and successful ministry- 
Young Arthur was educated at 
Union College, S( henectady, where 
he excelled in all his studies. Af- 
ter his graduation he taught school 
in Vermont for two years, and at 
the expiration cf that time came to 
New York, with $500 in his pocket, 
and entered the office of ex-Judge 
E. D. Culver as student. After 
I being admitted to the bar he formed 
a partnership with his intimate friend and room-mate, 
Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention of practicing 
m the West, and for three months they roamed about 
in the Western States in search of an eligible site, 
but in the end returned to New York, where they 
hung out their shingle, and entered upon a success- 
ful career almost from the start. General Arthur 
soon afterward raajrpd the daughter of Lieutenant 



Herndon, of the United States Navy, who was lost at 
sea- Congress voted a gold medal to his widow in 
recognition of the bravery he displayed on that occa- 
sion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's 
nonunation to the Vice Presidency, leaving two 
children. 

Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celebrity 
in his first great case, the famous Lemmon suit, 
brought to recover possession of eight slaves who had 
been declared free by Judge Paine, of the Superior 
Court of New York City. It was in 185a that Jon-i 
athan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with 
his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, when 
they were discovered and freed. The Judge decided 
that they could not be held by the owner under the 
Fugitive Slave Law. A howl of rage went up from 
the South, and the Virginia Legislature authorized the 
Attorney General of that State to assist in an appeal. 
Wm. M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed 
to represent the People, and they won their case, 
which then went to the Supreme Court of the United 
States. Charles O'Conor here espoused the cause 
of the slave-holders, but he too was beaten by Messrs 
Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken toward 
the emancipation of the black race. 

Another great service was rendered by General 
Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jennings, 
a respectable colored woman, was put off a Fourth 
Avenue car with violence after she had paid her fare. 
General Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a 
verdict of $500 damages. The next day the compa- 
ny issued an order to admit colored persons to ride 
on their cars, and the other car companies quickly 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



followed their example. Before that the Sixth Ave- 
nue Company ran a few special cars for colored per- 
sons and the other lines refused to let them ride at all. 

General Arthur was a delegate to the Convention 
at Saratoga that founded the Republican party. 
Previous to the war he was Judge-Advocate of the 
Second Brigade of the State of New York, and Gov- 
ernor Morgan, of that State, appointed him Engineer- 
in-Chief of his staff. In 1861, he was made Inspec- 
tor General, and soon afterward became Quartermas- 
ter-General. In each of these offices he rendered 
great service to the Government during the war. At 
the end of Governor Morgan's term he resumed the 
practice of the law, forming a partnership with Mr. 
Ransom, and then Mr. Phelps, the District Attorney 
of New York, was added to the firm. The legal prac- 
tice of this well-known firm was very large and lucra- 
tive, each of the gentlemen composing it were able 
lawyers, and possessed a splendid local reputation, if 
not indeed one of national extent. 

He always took a leading part in State and city 
politics. He was appointed Collector of the Port of 
New York by President Grant, Nov. 21 1872, to suc- 
ceed Thomas Murphy, and held the office until July, 
20, 1 87 8, when he was succeeded by Collector Merritt. 

Mr. Arthur was nominated on the Presidential 
ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the famous 
National Republican Convention held at Chicago in 
June, 1880. This was perhaps the greatest political 
convention that ever assembled on the continent. It 
was composed of the Jeading politicians of the Re- 
publican party, all able men, and each stood firm and 
fought vigorously and with signal tenacity for their 
respective candidates that were before the conven- 
tion for the nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield re- 
ceived the nomination for President and Gen. Arthur 
for Vice-President. The campaign which followed 
was one of the most animated known in the history of 
our country. Gen. Hancock, the standard-bearer of 
the Democratic party, was a popular man, and his 
party made a valiant fight for his election. 

Finally the election came and the country's choice 
>vas Garfield and Arthur. They were inaugurated 
March 4, 1881, as President and Vice-President. 
A few months only had passed ere the newly chosen 
President was the victim of the assassin's bullet. Then 
came terrible weeks of suffering, — those moments of 
anxious suspense, when the hearts of all civilized na- 



tions were throbbing in unison, longing for the re- 
covery of the noble, the good President. The remark- 
able patience that he manifested during those hours 
and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible suf- 
fering man has often been called upon to endure, was 
seemingly more than human. It was certainly God- 
like. During all this period of deepest anxiety Mr, 
Arthur's every move was watched, and be it said to his 
credit that his every action displayed only an earnest 
desire that the suffering Garfield might recover, to 
serve the remainder of the term he had so auspi- 
ciously begun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested 
in deed or look of this man, even though the most 
honored position in the world was at any moment 
likely to fall to him. 

At last God in his mercy relieved President Gar- 
field from further suffering, and the world, as never 
before in its history over the death of any other 
man, wept at his bier. Then it became the duty of 
the Vice President to assume the responsibilities of 
the high office, and he took the oath in New York. 
Sept. 20, 1881. The position was an embarrassing 
one to him, made doubly so from the facts that all 
eyes were on him, anxious to know what he would do, 
what policy he would pursue, and who he would se- 
lect as advisers. The duties of the office had been 
greatly neglected during the President's long illness, 
and many important measures were to be immediately 
decided by him ; and still farther to embarrass him he 
did not fail to realize under what circumstances he 
became President, and knew the feelings of many on 
this point. Under these trying circumstances President 
Arthur took the reins of the Government in his own 
hands ; and, as embarrassing as were the condition of 
aff'airs, he happily surprised the nation, acting so 
wisely that but few criticised his administration. 
He served the nation well and faithfully, until the 
close of his administration, March 4, t885, and was 
a popular candidate before his party for a second 
term. His name was ably presented before the con- 
vention at Chicago, and was received with great 
favor, and doubtless but for the personal popularity 
of one of the opposing candidates, he would have 
been selected as the standard-bearer of his party 
for another campaign. He retired to private life car- 
rying with him the best wishes of the American peo- 
ple, whom he had served in a manner satisfactory 
to them and with credit to himself. 





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TWENTY-SECOND PRESIDENT. 



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TEPHEN GROVER CLEVE- 
LAND, the twenty- second Pres- 
ident of the United States, was 
born in 1837, in the obscure 
town of Caldwell, Essex Co., 
N. J., and in a little two-and-a- 
half-story white house which is still 
standing, characteristically to mark 
the humble birth-place of one of 
America's great men in striking con- 
trast with the Old World, where all 
men high in office must be high in 
origin and born in the cradle of 
wealth. When the subject of this 
sketch was three years of age, his 
father, who was a Presbyterian min- 
ister, with a large family and a small salary, moved, 
by way of the Hudson River and Erie Canal, to 
Fayetteville, in search of an increased income and a 
larger field of work. Fayetteville was then the most 
straggling of country villages, about five miles from 
Pompey Hill, where Governor Seymour was born. 

At the last mentioned place young Grover com- 
menced going to school in the "good, old-fashioned 
way," and presumably distinguished himself after the 
manner of all village boys, in doing the things he 
ought not to do. Such is the distinguishing trait of 
all geniuses and independent thinkers. When he 
arrived at the age of 14 years, he had outgrown the 
capacity of the village school and expressed a most 



emphatic desire to be sent to an academy. To this 
his father decidedly objected. Academies in those 
days cost money; besides, his father wanted him to 
become self-supporting by the quickest possible 
means, and this at that time in Fayetteyille seemed 
to be a position in a country store, where his father 
and the large family on his hands had considerable 
influence. Grover was to be paid $50 for his services 
the first year, and if he [)roved trustworthy he was to 
receive $100 the second year. Here the lad com- 
menced his career as salesman, and in two years he 
had earned so good a reputation for trustworthiness 
that his employers desired to retain him for an in- 
definite length of time. Otherwise he did not ex- 
hibit as yet any particular " flashes of genius " or 
eccentricities of talent. He was simply a good boy. 
But instead of remaining with this firm in Fayette- 
ville, he went with the family in their removal to 
Clinton, where he had an opportunity of attending a 
high school. Here he industriously pursued his 
studies until the family removed with him to a point 
on Black River known as the " Holland Patent," a 
village of 500 or 600 people, 15 miles north of Utica, 
N. Y. At this place his father died, after preaching 
but three Sundays. This event broke up the family, 
and Grover set out for New York City to accept, at a 
small salary, the position of " under-teacher " in an 
asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully for two 
years, and although he obtained a good reputation in 
this capacity, he concluded that teaching was not his 



104 



5. GROVE R CLEVhLAA'D. 



calling for life, and, reversing the traditional order, 

he left the city to seek his fortune, instead of going 

to a city. He first thought of Cleveland, Ohio, as 

there was some charm in that name for him; but 

before proceeding to that place he went to Buffalo to 

isk the advice of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted 

stock-breeder of that place. The latter did not 

speak enthusiastically. "What is it you want to do, 

my boy?" he asked. "Well, sir, I want to study 

law," was the reply, "Good gracious!" remarked 

ihe old gentleman ; " do you, indeed ? What ever put 

that into your head? How much money have you 

got?" "Well, sir, to tell the truth, I haven't got 

II 
any. 

After a long consultation, his uncle offered him a 
place temporarily as assistant herd-keeper, at $50 a 
year, while he could " look around." One day soon 
afterward he boldly walked into the office of Rogers, 
Bowen & Rogers, of Buffalo, and told Ihem what he 
wanted. A number of young men were already en- 
gaged in the office, but Grover's persistency won, and 
he was finally permitted to come as an office boy and 
have the use of the law library, for the nominal sum 
of $3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for 
his board and washing. The walk to and from his 
uncle's was a long and rugged one; and, although 
the first winter was a memorably severe one, his 
shoes were out of repair and his overcoat — he had 
none-— yet he was nevertheless prompt and regular. 
On the first day of his service here, his senior em- 
ployer threw down a copy of Blackstone before him 
with a bang that made the dust fly, saying "That's 
where they all begin." A titter ran around the little 
circle of clerks and students, as they thought that 
was enough to scare young Grover out of his plans ; 
Dut in due time he mastered that cumbersome volume. 
Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleveland 
exhibited a talent for executiveness rather than for 
chasing principles through all their metaphysical 
possibilities. " Let us quit talking and go and do 
;t," was practically his motto. 

The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland was 
elected was that of Sheriff of Erie Co., N. Y., in 
which Buffalo is situated; and in such capacity it fell 
to his duty to inflict capital punishment upon two 
ciminals. Li iSSi he was elected Mayor of the 
City of Buffalo, on the Democratic ticket, with es- 
pecial reference to the bringing about certain reforms 



in the administration of the municipal affairs of that 
city. In this office, as well as that of Sheriff, his 
performance of duty has generally been considered 
fair, with possibly a few exceptions which were fer- 
reted out and magnified during the last Presidential 
campaign. As a specimen of his plain language in 
a veto message, we quote from one vetoing an iniqui- 
tous street-cleaning contract: "This is a time for 
plain speech, and my objection to your action shall 
be plainly stated. I regard it as the culmination of 
a mos' bare-faced, impudent and shameless scheme 
to betray the interests of the people and to worse 
than squander the people's money." The New York 
Sun afterward very highly commended Mr. Cleve- 
land's administration as Mayor of Buffalo, and there- 
upon recommended him for Governor of the Empire 
State. To the latter office he was elected in 1882, 
and his administration of the affairs of State was 
generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, if 
any, were made very public throughout the nation 
after he was nominated for President of the United 
States. For this high office he was nominated July 
ri, 1884, by the National Democratic Convention at 
Chicago, when other competitors were Thomas F. 
Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, 
Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc.; and he 
was elected by the people, by a majority of about a 
thousand, over the brilliant and long-tried Repub- 
lican statesman, James G. Blaine. President Cleve- 
land resigned his office as Governor of New York in 
January, 1885, in order to prepare for his duties as 
the Chief Executive of the United States,' in which 
capacity his term commenced at noon on the 4th of 
March, 1885. For his Cabinet officers he selected 
the following gentlemen: For Secretary of State, 
Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware ; Secretary of the 
Treasury, Daniel Manning, of New York ; Secretary 
of War, William C. Endicott, of Massachusetts ; 
Secretary of the Navy, William C. Whitney, of New 
York; Secretary of the Interior, L. Q. C. Lamar, of 
Mississippi ; Postmaster-General, William F. Vilas, 
of Wisconsin ; Attorney-General, A. H. Garland, of 
Arkansas. 

The silver question precipitated a controversy be- 
tween those who were in favor of the continuance of 
silver coinage and those who were opposed, Mr. 
Cleveland answering for the latter, even before his 
inauguration. 




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TWENTY-THIRD PRESIDENT. 



107 





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iENJAMIN HARRISON, the 

'uwenty-third President, is 
the descendant of one of the 
histoiical families of this 
country. The head of the 
family was a Major General 
Harrison, one of Oliver 
Cromwell's trusted follow- 
ers and fighters. In the zenith of Croui- 
■well's power it became the duty of this 
Harrison to participate in the trial of 
Charles I. and afterward to sign the 
death warrant of the king. He subse- 
quently paid for this wilii his life, being 
hung Oct. 13, IGGO. His descendants 
came to America, and the next of the 
family that appears in history is Konja- 
r.:in Harrison, of Virginia, great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, and 
after whom he was narfied. Benjamin Harrison 
was a member of the Continental Congress during 
the years i774-5-G, and was one of the original 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. He 
was three times elected Governor of Virginia. 
Gen "William Henry Harrison, the son of the 



distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a-€uo- 
cessful career as a soldier during the War of 1812, 
and with -a clean record as Governor of the North- 
western Territory, was elected President of the 
United States in 1840. His career was cut short 
by death within one month after Iiis inauguration. 
President Harrison was born at North Bend, 
Hamilton Co., Ohio, Aug. .^0, 1833. His life up to 
the time of his graduation by the Miami University, 
at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventful one of a coun- 
try lad of a family of small means. His father was 
able to give Lira a good education, and notbmg 
more. He became engaged while at college to tha 
daughter of Dr. Scott, Principal of a female schoo 
at Oxford. After graduating he determined to en- 
ter upon the study of the law. He went to Cin 
cinnati and then read law for two years. At tht 
expiration of that time young Harrison received tb"; 
only inheritance of his life ; his aunt dying left hia 
a lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy as t 
fortune, and decided to get married at once, <ak3 
this money and go to some Eastern town an ". be- 
gin the practice of law. He sold his lot, and with 
the money in his pocket, he started out wita his 
young wife to fight for a place in the world. Ee 



108 



jbKlNjAMlN HARRISON. 



decided to go to Indianapolis, which was even at 
that time a town of promise. He met with slight 
encouragement at first, making scarcely anything 
the first year. He worked diligently, applying him- 
self closely to his calling, built up an extensive 
practice and took a leading rank in the legal pro- 
I'ession. He is the father of two children. 

In 1860 Mr. Harrison was nominated for the 
position of Supreme Court Reporter, and then be- 
gan his experience as a stump speakei He can- 
vassed the State thoroughly, and was elected by a 
handsome majority. In 18G2 he raised the 17th 
Indiana Infantry, and was chosen its Colonel. His 
regiment was composed of the rawest of material, 
out Col. Harrison employed all his time at first 
mastering military tactics and drilling his men, 
when he therefore came to move toward the East 
with Sherman his regiment was one of the best 
drilled and organized in the army. At Resaca he 
especially distinguished himself, and for his bravery 
at Peachtree Creek he was made a Brigadier Gen- 
eral, Gen. Hooker speaking of him in the most 
complimentary terms. 

During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the field 

lie Supreme Court declared the office of the Su- 
preme Court Reporter vacant, and another person 
was elected to the position. From the time of leav- 
ir^ Indiana with his regiment until the fall of 1864 
he had taken no leave of absence, but having been 
nominated that year for the same office, he got a 
thirty-day leave of absence, and during that time 
made a brilliant canvass of the State, and was elected 
for another terra. He then started to rejoin Sher- 
man, but on the way was stricken down with scarlet 
iever, and after a most trying siege made his way 
to the front in time to participate in the closing 
incidents of the war. 

In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined r. re-election as 
reporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 1876 
He was a candidate for Governor. Although de- 

eated, the brilliant campaign he made won for him 
a National reputation, and he was much sought, es- 
pecial.y in the East, to make speeches. In 1880, 
as usual, he took an active part in the campaign, 
and Wit- elected to the United States Senate. Here 
he served six j'ears, and 77as known as one or the 
ablest men, best lawyers and strongest debaters in 



that body. AVith the expiration of his Senatorial 
term he returned to the practice of his profession, 
becoming the head of one of tlie strongest firms in 
the State. 

The political campaign of 1888 was one of the 
most memorable in the history of our country. The 
convention which assembled in Chicago in June and 
named Mr. Harrison as the chief standard bearer 
of the Republican party, was great in every partic- 
ular, and on this account, and the attitude it as- 
sumed upon the vital questions of the day, chief 
among which was the tariff, awoke a deep interest 
in the ca'mpaign throughout the Nation. Shortly 
after the nomination delegations began to visit Mr. 
Harrison at Indianapolis, his home. This move- 
ment became popular, and from all sections of the 
country societies, clubs and delegations journeyed 
thither to pay their respects to the distinguished 
statesman. The popularity of these was greatly 
increased on account of the remarkable speeches 
made by Mr. Harrison. He spoke daily all through 
the summer and autumn to these visiting delega- 
tions, and so varied, masterly and eloquent were 
his speeches that they at once placed him in the 
foremost rank of American orators and statesmen. 

On account of his eloquence as a speaker and his 
power as a debater, he was called upon at an un- 
commonly early age to take part in the discussion 
of the great questions that then began to agitate 
the countrj'. He was an uncompromising aiiti 
slavery man, and was matched against some of tl.e 
most eminent Democratic speakers of his State. 
No man who felt the touch of his blade dccired tu 
be pitted with him again. With all his eloq-'ence 
as an orator he never spoke for oratorical effect, 
but his words always went like bullets to the mark 
He is purely American in his ideas and is a spier 
did type of the American statesman. Gifted witi 
quick perception, a logical mind and a ready tongue, 
he is one of the most distinguished impromptu 
speakers in the Nation. JNIany of these speeches 
sparkled with the rarest of 'eloquence and contained 
arguments of greatest weight. Manj' of his terse 
statements have already become aphorisms. Origi- 
nal in thought, precise in logic, terse in statement, 
j'et withal faultless in eloquence, he is recognized as 
the sound statesman and brilUan*; orator o- the day 







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§j DAVID BUTLER 





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SHE HON. DAVID BUT- 
LER. Closely connected 
with the early history 
and the development of 
Nebraska and associated 
with it at perhaps the most 
critical period of its his- 
tory, the gentleman whose biogra- 
phy is hero sketched must ever be 
remembered by the citizens of the 
State in that association. Chosen 
by an overwhelming majority in 
l.sGG to be the first to occupy' the 
Governor's chair under the new 
organization ; re-elected with en- 
thusiasm to the same office in 
18G8, and 3'et again honored bj' 
the confidence of the people in 1 870, he has done 
perhaps as much as anj' one individual in safely 
launching the "Ship of State," Nebraska, upon her 
unparalleled voyage of ever-growing success. 

Gov. Butler was born in Greene County, Ind., 
near the town of Linton, Dec. 15, 1829. He is the 
eldest son of ten children, of whom six survive. 
The grandfather of our subject, Thomas Butler, 
was a native of Virginia, and removed to Indiana 
and became one of the earliest pioneers of that Ter- 
ritory. As the country developed he was promi- 
nentl}' identifli'd with the various enterprises that 
helped to that end, and enjoj-ed the greatest confi- 
dence and respect of all who knew him. The maiden 
name of his wife was Mary Robinson. 

The father of our subject was born in the j^ear 
1809, was reared upon the pioneer farm of his 



father, and grew up amid surroundings that would 
to-day be anything but congenial b^^ reason of the 
primitive condition. He became an enterprising 
and prosperous farmer, and also dealt very exten- 
sively in cattle. He became the husband of Nancy 
Cliristy, the daughter of Joseph Christy, Esq. Like 
her father, she was born in North Carolina. 

The early life and boj'hood of our subject were 
spent amid agricultural surroundings, and such 
education as he obtained was received first in a 
private school, where he was prepared for the pub- 
lic institution, in both of which he made rapid prog- 
ress, and drank as deeply as was permitted at the 
fountain of knowledge. He remained upon the 
farm until ho was twenty-one years of age, but long 
before attaining his majority was a thorough, prac- 
tical farmer, and understood all that was necessary 
in regard to the management of stock. lu his 
youth he had given promise of powers and intelli- 
gence, and though tliej' Lay dormant for nianj^ years, 
were bound to make themsolvcs known and felt, as 
had been the case of the Virginian pioneer in In- 
to whom reference was made above. 

Upon attaining his majority Mr. Butler began 
farming on his own account, supplementing the 
same by trading in cattle, which he drove through 
to Wisconsin, where they were at a premium, ow- 
ing to the fact that the country was just being 
opened up for settlement. He continued tlius 
engaged until the j'ear 1852, when he embarked in 
mercantile pursuits, retaining, however, his interest 
in his cattle trade. These engagements, although 
somewhat diverse, were not incompatible, and in 
them he was quite prosperous until the financial 



112 



DAVID BUTLER. 



crash of 1857. He was a heavy loser at that time 
in the f.aihire of the Citizens' Bank .it Gosport, 
Ind., and also tlirungli tlie inal)ility of many of 
his creditors to meet their payments from a like 
cause. He, however, strujiglecl manfully against 
the relentless tide of difficulty that threatened 
utter ruin, and finally succeeded in paying dollar 
for dollar of every liability, witli interest due. Mr. 
Butler in early j'oulh took an unusual interest in 
political questions, and proved that he ]>ossessed a 
grasp of mind and independence of cliaracler by 
forsaking the Democratic traditi(Mis of his father's 
house, and casting his first vote for the Republican 
party at its birtli. In 1856 he was nominated by 
the Republicans of the Twentieth District in Indiana 
for the .State Senate. Not having had any [loliti- 
cal experience, and the ojjpositiou springing a third 
candidate, he was [lersuaded to withdraw before 
the election, not, however, without having made a 
spirited canvass, though a partial one. 

In the fall of 1851) Mr. Butler removed to Paw- 
nee City, Neb., and there associated himself with 
the Hon. W. B. Raper, and witii that gentleman 
embarked again in business; but even here he re- 
tained his interest in the cattle trade, and was very 
shortly gralilied to see his earnest efforts rewardecl, 
and to be able to fill a laiger place than had been 
possible before his trials in 1857. This partp.ersliip 
l.asted until 1801, when Mr. Butler was elected a 
member of the Territorial Legislature. 

In 1863 Mr. Butler was elected .State Senator for 
a term of two years, representing the First District, 
which comprised the counties of Richardson, Paw- 
nee, Johnson, Gage, Cla}', Jefferson, and all the un- 
organized territory lying to the westward. Both 
in the House and Senate Mr. Butler made his 
mark, and did good service for his constituents 
and the .State, and it was as a result of the abilitj' 
then manifested and recognized, the personal worth 
and higli character sustained by iiini, that he was 
nominated and by a large majority vote passed by 
the hand of the people to the highest chair of 
office within the gift of the people. 

Among the services rendered the State by Mr. 
Butler while in the Legislature may be mentioned 
the introduction of a bill for the reapportioning of 
Nebraska, the passage of which he worked very 
hard to procure, but in Legislative halls as in every 
other the green-e^'ed monster of jealousy is bound 
to find admittance. It was so in this case, and to 
this was due the failure of our subject in spite of 
his hard work; but upon renewhig the fight in the 
Senate he was successful, and the bill went through 
intact. 

As above noted Mr. Butler was elected Gover- 
nor in 1866 of the newly admitted State, and dur- 



ing his term of office managed the affairs of State 
so wisely and so well as to receive at both the two 
subsequent elections the expression of a grateful 
people by re-election to the same high office. AVhile 
serving hisseeond term as Governor, the Legislature 
committed to his care the delicate and laborious 
work of removing the cai)ital from the city of Omaha 
to a central position in the interior of the State, a 
part of Nebraska then almost uninhabited. This 
was successfully accomplished, and a State House, 
State University and Lunatic Asylum erected with- 
out the aid of legislative appropriations. The 
city of Lincoln with its public buildings is a monu- 
ment of Gov. Butler's financial sagacitj' in the man- 
agement of affairs of Stale. 

After retiring from the Governorship Mr. Butler 
returned to and continued mercantile life, prosecut- 
ing the interest connected therewith even more 
extensively than before. He continued to make 
Pawnee City his headquarters until lisG8, when he 
removed to Lincoln, the capital, residing there un- 
til 1874, when he located upon his present farm 
three miles west of Pawnee City. This beautiful 
property, which is known as the Uplands Stock 
Farm, comprises 320 acres, which is supplied 
with admirably arranged and substantially con- 
structed buildings, such as would be needed for 
his purpose. Besides dealing in cattle, he raises 
and feeds quite •■ large number annually, while 
every winter considerable attention is paid to the 
fattening of cattle for the market. At one time 
he was a breeder of .Short-horn cattle, and his 
farm was well stocked with thoroughbreds of the 
most favored breeds of both cattle and hogs. 

The marriage of Mr. Butler vvas celebrated in 
January 1860, when he was united with Miss 
Lydia .Storey, of Bloomington, Ind. The family 
circle of Gov. Butler com[)rises four children, who 
bear the names subjoined: Violet E., Seth D., 
Darias and Paul. At all times our subject h.as 
taken a most active Interest in the political and 
general interests of Nebraska, and h.as been unfail- 
ing in his efforts to advance the same. On the 
4th of September, 1888, he was nominated for 
Governor on the Union Labor ticket as their 
standard bearer, and stumpeil the State in behalf 
of the movement. He is a pioniinent member of 
the I. O. O. F., and is affiliated with Interior 
Lodge No. 9, at Pawnee City. Gov. Butler is a 
man of much reserve force, bright, clear intellect, 
possessing in no small measure the power that is 
indispensable in directing and managing enter- 
prises of magnitude. He is at all times a true gen- 
tleman, strong in friendship, ever genial, affable 
and courteous, both winning and retaining the ad- 
miration, respect and friendship of kis fellows. 




^mM- 



\Anrv\cij, 





■^x? 



-*^!(OBERT W, FURNAS.i^ 






fON. ROBERT WILKIN- 
SON FURNAS was the 
second gentleman to re- 
ceive from the peoiile of 
the State the high honor 
of being elected Gover- 
nor. He was chosen to fill this po- 
'^f^^f sition in tlie year 1873, and retired 
®^^i§^3i? ^^ t,he close of his term, having 
earned the good-will, respect and 
admiration of the whole people by 
reason of his excellent administra- 
tion. He was born in Troy, Miami 
Co., Ohio, on the 5th of May, 1 824. 
His parents were natives of South 
Carolina, in which State also the grandfather had 
been born. His great-granilfather was a member of 
a good old English family, and was born at Stand- 
ing Stone, in tlie county of Cumberland, England. 
He was brought up and educated in his native place, 
and when a 3'oung man was there married, and then 
started with his wife for the New World. They 
landed in South Carolina about the year 17G2. 
Thomas Furnas, the third child of Jolin and Mary 
Furnas, was born in 1768, six years after the settle- 
ment of his parents in America, as above noted. 
William Furnas was the 6fth child and only son of 
Thomas and Esther Furnas. The chosen occupa- 
tion of this interesting family for several genera- 
tions has been that of farming. The chief institu- 
tion, at that time, of the South, in connection with 
all labor, especially field work, was that of slaver^', 
and the members of the early generations of this 



family were most conscientious members of the 
Quaker Church, which looked upon it as an abomi- 
nation. This was the occasion finally of their re- 
moval to Ohio, which they did in 1804, settling in 
the Miami Valley. It was in the home tliere estab- 
lished that the subject of this sketch was born. He 
is the eldest of a family of three ciiildren, and the 
only one now living. His twin brother died in in- 
fancy, and his younger sister at the age of fifteen. 

In 1832 the parents of our subject were stricken 
down by the ravages of tiiat dreaded plague, the 
cholera, which swept over tiie country at that time, 
taking in its course, old and j'oung, rich and poor, 
without distinction. In this tr3'ingtime the natural 
guardians of the life of our subject, the directors 
of his footsteps, the instructors of his life, were re- 
moved, and lie was left to struggle and battle in 
tiie conflict of life unaided by them. Then, when 
the clouds seemed darkest and thickest, his grand- 
father stepped forward in order to supplj', at least 
in sonic measure, the place thus left vacant, and 
with him he remained until he reached his seven- 
teenth 3'ear, working on the farm during the sum- 
mer, and during the winter attending .school. He 
seized every opportunit}' afforded for the increase 
of knowledge, and has ever continued to add to his 
store, and his reputation is that of a well-read, 
thoroughly educated gentleman. 

As soon as our subject attained the above-men- 
tioned age, he went to Covington, Kj'., and there 
served an apprenticeship to the printing business, in 
the office of the Lkkiiuj Valley Register, published 
by Richard C. Laijgdon. It was at that time one 



116 



ROBERT WILKINSON FURNAS. 



of the most noted newspapers, and its editor, one 
of the first newspaper men in the "West or South. 
Young Furnas remained in this office until 1843, 
and acquired a large store of practical knowledge 
of ti-ade, general business, and life, as well as con- 
siderable information upon all ordinary topics, be- 
sides the specific attainment desired in the knowl- 
edge of the business. The benefit of this schooling 
is perhaps clearly traceable even in tiie present, and 
the ini mediate past. Leaving Covington lie pro- 
ceeded to Cincinnati, opened a book and job office, 
and continued in the printing business at that place 
for two years with good success. 

Near the close of tliat time, and in the year 1845, 
our subject was united in marriage with Mary S. 
McComas, a native of Ohio, and a most excellent 
lady, one who has the power and ability to assist 
him in life, and fitted to grace any position in so- 
ciety', liowever high. There have been born of this 
union five children. 

One of the first public engagements entered into 
by our subject when he became a voter was when, in 
company with several other young men, he felt the 
necessity of education as the means necessary to 
power in this life in any of its relations. They 
bound tliemselves to advocate the building of the 
school-house in Troy, and a lot was reserved for 
that purpose. Older citizens, perhaps not so welt 
alive to the progressive spirit of the age, thought it 
unnecessary, and threw in the way a tliousand ob- 
jections. The young men were defeated at the 
poles the first year, but nothing daunted continued 
the contest, and the next year carried their point 
by a small majoritj', with the i-esult that a $17,000 
school-house was erected, and has stood a monu- 
ment to the enterprise and foresight of these young 
men. Upon the success of tlfe above undertaking, 
Mr. Furnas was elected one of the School Directors, 
which he continued to be until his removal to Ne- 
braska, when he resigned. 

Our subject was only twentj'-three years of age 
when he became proprietor of the Troy Times, an 
organ of the Whig party, of which also he was the 
editor and publisher, and by his trenchant articles 
did much service in the Taylor campaign. In 1 852 
he sold this paper, and was engaged first as Freight 
and Ticket Agent, afterward as conductor for the 



Dayton & Michigan Railroad, continuing until 1 856. 
In March of that year he emigrated to this State, 
established himself at Brownville, and in July of 
the same year established the Brownville Advertiser, 
and entered the arena of political life. He became 
a very zealous advocate of the agricultural and edu- 
cational interests of the State, and in the fall of 
that year was elected to the Territorial Legislature. 
Here the masterly qualities that have since distin- 
guished him before the State were made manifest. 
During his term of ofl3ce, as noted in the foregoing 
paragraph, our subject originated the school system 
of the Territory, which was modeled in its general 
features after the system of Ohio. In the year 1 858 
he was re-elected and again took his seat in the 
Legislature. In 1861 he was elected Chief Clerk, 
and early in the spring was commissioned Colonel 
in the United States Regular Army, and received 
orders from the Secretary' of War to organize the 
loyal Indians and have them mustered into the serv- 
ice. He was successful in his mission and raised 
three regiments. These were fully equii)ped, and 
Col. Furnas commanded them in the Southern ex- 
pedition under Gen. Blunt, which took in the bor- 
ders of Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and the Indian 
Territory. Resigning his commission after having 
done splendid work with his command, he returned 
and went to work to recruit, and established the 
2d Nebraska Cavalry, and added fresh glories to 
the already brilliant record of military achieve- 
ment. With this command he served under Gen. 
Sully in the now renowned "Sully expedition" 
against the Sioux Indians, wherein they were pursued 
to British Columbia. 

The next four years our subject was emplo3'ed 
as Indian Agent for the Omaha and Winnebago 
Indians, which he resigned to take his place at the 
helm of the State as already recorded. Among the 
nianjr honors worn so gracefull}-, and in such manly 
spirit, are: Regent of the State University, Presi- 
dent of the State Board of Agriculture, President, 
of the State Agricultural Society, President of the 
State Soldiers' Union, Vice President of the National 
Pomological Association, Past Grand Master of 
the I. O. O. F., Past Grand High Priest, and Past 
Grand Commander of the Masonic bodies of the 
State of Nebraska. 





uiZd ^a^T^^iu^y- 




Upillillll 








-V*). 



..o*o-@XiQ..o*o. 



Sfe-^!- 



f'lLAS GARBER. This dis 
tinguished and well-known cit- 
izen of Nebraska served the 
State most acceptably as its 
Governor for the two terms, 
from 1874 to 1878. He was 
born in Logan County, Ohio, 
Sept. 21, 1833. There he passed 
his boyhood days, attending the 
common schools and developing 
into a sturdy and promising young 
man. At the early age of seven- 
teen years he was determined to 
strike out for himself and see what 
he could do toward making his own 
living. He was ambitious, yet we 
very much doubt whether the beard- 
less 3'oung man who turned his face AVestward in 
1850 ever had the remotest idea that he would 
himself some day be at the head of a great com- 
monwealth, that would be created still further 
toward the setting sun. At that time he came into 
Iowa, which was receiving such Hoods of emigrants 
from the older settled States. He located in Clay- 
ton County and engaged in agricultural pursuits, 
the occupation which has done so much toward de- 
veloping some of the best men our Nation has 
produced. His life for some years was uneventful, 




j'et he was being disciplined and prepared for the 
honorable and useful positions he was to fill in 
after years. He took an active interest in all pub- 
lic matters, and w.as a well-informed, hard-working 
young man. 

When the stars and stripes which had so long 
floated above Ft. Sumter were fired upon and the 
little garrison compelled to surrender, the patriot- 
ism of the North was aroused as never before in the 
history of the country. Thousands of the best 
rnen of the Nation immediately volunteered their 
services to aid in suppressing the monstrous rebell- 
ion, which had replaced the American banner with 
the stars and bars. Among this vast army of pa- 
triotic men might have been found Silas Garber. 
He was mustered into the 3d Missouri Infantry, 
which was known as the famous Lyon Regiment. 
He served with this regiment for one year, when 
he was mustered out and returned to Clayton 
Countj'. He, however, did not long remain in the 
quiet of that peaceful section, for we soon again 
find him at the front. Now he is First Lieutenant 
of Company D, 27th Iowa Infantrj-, which he 
raised. His valiant services soon received recogni- 
tion, and he was promoted to be Captain of the 
company, which position he faithfully and al)Iy 
filled until the close of the war. He participated 
in all the battles of the Red River campaign, and 



120 



SILAS GARBER. 



Pleasant Hill., La., the battles of Old Oaks, Miss., 
Nashville, Tenn., and others under the command of 
Gen. A. J. Smith. 

Upon being mustered out of military service 
Capt. Garber returned to Clayton County, but soon 
thereafter went to California, where he passed the 
next four years. He came to Nebraska in the early 
part of 1870, and found a suitable location in Web- 
sle*County, where he still resides, being the oldest 
resident in Red Cloud. He was indeed a pioneer 
of the Great West, for when he located in Webster 
County there were but two settlers in the county. 

Upon locating in Red Cloud and ever since Mr. 
Garber has taken a most important part in both 
her business and political affairs. He engaged in 
farming and merchandising, and is to-day Presi- 
dent of the Farmers' & Merchants' Banking Com- 



pany of that city, and also largely identified with 
its material interests. He was chosen the first 
Probate Judge of the county, and also represented 
his district in the Legislature, and served for one 
year as Register of the United States Land Office 
at Lincoln. 

Capt. Garber became popular both with the peo 
pie and tiie politicians, and was nominated for 
Governor by the Republican Convention, which 
assembled at Lincoln Sept. 3, 1874, and was elected 
by a handsome majority. He served so acceptably 
that he was renominated by the convention which 
met Sept. 26, 1876. He was again endorsed at the 
polls in November, and served until the close of 
his term in 1878. He then retired to his home at 
Red Cloud, where he has since resided, a highly- 
respected and useful citizen. 




^^* 




CyT<4Lo(^CH^^ cyr-^u<>e^ 



?-v«iZ££;lSi3«Qj^i^:^d:^ 










ocx> 



<x.5o~ 



^)N. ALBINU8 NANCE, 
Fourth Governor of the 
State of Nebraska, aud in 
that connection the recip- 
ient of the confidence, ad- 
miration and liighest es- 
teem of the people, not simply of 
Nebraska, but wherever his most ex- 
cellent administration is known. If, 
however, it be but borne in mind 
that Gov. Nance is a descendant of 
a long line of noble representatives 
of a certain Huguenot family, whose 
members were of the stamp and 
stuff of which martyrs and heroes 
are made, aud tiierefore persons of thought, con- 
viction and strength of character, it is not surpris- 
ing that he should possess the same, which under 
the more happy regime of present government and 
liberality of opinion, should liring him into promi- 
nence and enable him in his high station to sustain 
a reputati(jn mostbrilbant. 

The ancestors of Gov. Nance on his father's side 
were of tiiat number driven from France by the 
religious intolerance and persecution that followed 
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. With many 
others similarly situated they came to the New 
World and formed what became a very prosperous 
community in the State of North Carolina, their 
descendants moving North and Westward, ever 



in the vanguard of progress, as section after sec- 
tion and district after district were located. 

The subject of our sketch was born on the 30th 
of March, 1848, at Lafayette, Stark Co., 111., and 
he is the oldest son of Dr. Hiram Nance, for many 
years one of the most successful piiysicians and 
able surgeons in Central Illinois. His settlement 
in that State dates back to 1836. It was the Far 
West of that period, and was filled with far more 
of danger, difficulty and hardship, and demanded 
more spirit, bravery and self-denial than is con- 
ceivable in these days, when the bands of steel pass 
by the door of the Western pioneer, and thus 
bring him into almost immediate contact with the 
great world of civilization. The ancestry of Gov. 
Nance upon the maternal side of the family was 
Englisli. The maiden name of his mother was 
Sarah R. Smith, who was born in tiie State of Ohio. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War Albinus was 
but a lad of thirteen, but his i)atriotic soul was 
fired with loyal enthusiasm, and he chafed severely 
at the restraint of j'ears that prevented him taking 
a more able stand in defense of the Union. At a 
later period of the struggle and when just sixteen 
years of age, he enlisted in the 9th Illinois Cavalry. 
The youthful defender and intrepid young soldier 
was mustered in contrary to both the wishes and 
continued earnest protests of his parents and friends. 
But he could know no restraint in this matter, and 
was determined to follow the stars and stripes. 



1-24 



ALBINUS NANCE. 



and to defend them if so needed until the death. 

He continued in the service until the close of tbe 
war, and participated as an active combatant in 
the battles of Guntown, Hurricane Creek, Franklin, 
Nashville, Tupelo, Spring Hill and Columbia, Tenn. 
He was one in the line that made one of the most 
daring and gallant charges at the battle of Nash- 
ville, and was slightly wounded in the same. 

The necessity for war being passed. Cavalryman 
Nance returned his saber to its sheath, and when 
the regiment disbanded returned to his home and 
became a student at Knox College, Galesburg, 111., 
where he took part of the classic course. Soon 
after leaving college he commenced the stud}' of 
law, and in 1870 was admitted to the bar by the 
Supreme Court of Illinois, after passing in the best 
possible manner a very rigid examination. 

Standing upon the threshold of life, the future 
stretching before him, animated by the grandeur 
cf tlie prospect supplied by hope and ambition, the 
subject of our sketch was more fascinated and im- 
pressed by the opportunities and inducements held 
out by the newer country, and pursuant thereto he 
decided to come to Nebraska, as the most promis- 
ing of all the States and Territories of that mag- 
nificent field. This was in 1871. He secured a 
homestead in Polk County, devoting part of his 
time to farming, but the larger part to the practice 
of his chosen profession; but his experience was 
such as almost invariably follows — his, ability was 
speedily recognized and his legal work rapidly 
grew upon his hands, and before long he left his 
farm to sow and reap in other fields, at once more 
congenial and lucrative. 

In accordance with the decision referred to in 
the above paragraph, Mr. Nance removed to Osce- 
ola, the county seat of Polk County, where before 
ver}' long lie w.as fully established in legal practice. 
In 1873 his friends submitted his name to the 
Republican Convention of the Thirteenth Dis- 
trict for Representative in the State Legislature. 
The counties of Ad.ams, Butler, Clay, Fillmore, 
Hamilton, Platte, Polk and York sent their dele- 
gates, and these gentlemen thus representing the 
interests of a large body of citizens in those coun- 
ties, comprised the convention to which his name 
was presented. There were seven candidates in 



all, and each candidate had his circle of friends; 
these were diligent in season and out of season to 
advance the interests of the several candidates. 
Naturally a long and exciting contest was speedily 
commenced, and watched with deep interest by all. 
In order that the reader m.iy appreciate the posi- 
tion occupied by the j'oung lawyer in the estima- 
tion of the people, and the impress his character 
and ability had already made, we would notice 
that after several ballots had been taken the an- 
nouncement was made that Albinus Nance had 
received the nomination, and thus began his po- 
litical career with a clear sun and a fair sky. 

The principal opponent of our subject in the 
convention, urged by his friends, and spurred on by 
his own, doubtless, laudable ambition, determined to 
enter the field as an independent candidate, and 
the most strenuous efforts were made to defeat the 
regular candidate of the convention, but without 
success. The election showed a majority of about 
2,000 in favor of the subject of this writing. 

In 1876 Mr. Nance was one of the six delegates 
chosen by the Republican State Convention to 
represent this State at the National Convention at 
Cincinnati, .and was by his fellows elected Chair- 
man of the delegation. During that year he was 
renominated for the Legislature, indeed, almost 
without opposition, and at the opening session of 
the Legislative body he was elected Speaker of the 
House. If he had made a reputation and record as 
a member, he more than established it, and added 
fresh luster in his more advanced position, thus 
necessarily bringing himself before the people, who 
at once recognized in him one worthy of additional 
honors. In 1878 the Republican State Convention 
nominated him for Governor, and he was elected 
by a large majority. In 1880 he was renominated 
by acclamation and with wild enthusiasm, and re- 
elected liy a majority greatly in excess of any other 
candidate on the State ticket. 

One of the happiest steps ever taken by Gov. 
Nance was that of.his union in matrimony in 1875, 
when he became the husband of Miss Sarah AVhite, 
daughter of Egbert and Mary White, of Farragut, 
Iowa, who presented her husband with a bright and 
beautiful little daughter, who bears the name of 
Nellie. 




'^^- 




^:C^^tA-i£^ 




-»->> .O*0-;C2^/V'S)"°*°" 




AMES W. DAWES. Tliis gentle- 
'3: man was elected Governor in the 
flivw year 1883, and such was his of- 
ficial deportment lliat he was 
renominated with enUuisiasm, 
and re-elected by an apprecia- 
tive people. He continued to 
occupy his high position in the 
service of the State until the 
year 1887, and during the time 
gave every evidence that tlie 
confidence of those who had 
elected him in his honor, man- 
hood and ability, was indeed 
well founded. He was the fifth 
Governor of the State. Gov. 
Dawes was born at McConnelsville, Morgan Co., 
Ohio, on the 8th of January, 1845. He went with 
his parents when they removed to Wisconsin in 
1856. The rudiments and foundation work of his 
education were received in Ohio, but in the Wiscon- 
sin schools the major i)art of the work was done, and 
from them our subject was graduated with a good 
practical English education, such as would serve in 
the daily affairs of life. As he advanced in years and 
was capable of doing more service upon the farm, 
he attended school only in the winters, devoting 
the summers to husbandry. In October, 18C4, he 
was engaged in clerking for G. J. Hansen & Co., 
who were engaged as general merchants at Kilbourn 



City, Wis., where he continued until October, 1868, 
and in these four j^ears gained invaluable experience 
of men and business, adding materially to his store 
of information, and, unknown to himself, but none 
the less really, preparing for days of larger oppor- 
tunity and more important engagements. 

The next employment taken up by our subject 
was that of the study of law, which he began and 
carried on with his cousin, Julius H. Dawes, Esq., 
of Fox Lake, Wis., a prominent and successful 
lawyer. Here our subject devoted everj' atten- 
tion, and became a careful, persevering and diligent 
student, so much so that his examination, which de- 
termined his admission to the bar, was unusually 
brilliant, and he was accordingly admitted with 
congratulations upon the 10th of January, 1871, 
and began the practice of his chosen profession, 
which, from its being eminently congenial and pe- 
culiarly well adapted to one of his ability and 
mental cast, was that in which success in life was 
more completely assured hiui. 

Not long after the admission of our subject to 
the bar another, and if anything more important, 
event occurred. It was that of his marriage. In- 
stances are far too common where an error of judg- 
ment or a misplaced confidence at such time has 
been fraught with disastrous results to both con- 
tracting parties; results all the more serious because 
of the nature and faults of the contract. It was the 



128 



JAMES W. DAWKS. 



happiness of Mr. Dawes and the lady of his choice 
to be mutually compatible in disposition, tastes, 
desires, and in fact all the varied points where dif- 
ference of sentiment would in all probability lead, 
sooner or later, to a breach of confidence or worse. 
This union, therefore, has brought a more complete 
happiness, a more perfect felicity, into both lives, and 
has made the home all that could be desired. This 
interesting event occurred at Fox Lake, and was 
celebrated on the 1 1th of Ma3', 1871. 

Our subject located in Crete, of this State, on 
the olli uf September, 1871, with the intention of 
engaging for a time in mercantile pursuits. For 
some years he continued in this line of business 
with an ever-growing success and enlarging patron- 
age. In March of 1877 he transferred his energies 
from commercial pursuits to the legal profession, 
opening a law office at Crete, and has .since been 
one of the leading lights of the Nebraska bar. He 
became a member of the Nebraska Constitutional 
Convention of 1875, and the following 3-ear was 
elected State Senator. During his term of office 
he won from all golden opinions of his ability and 
power, and his sojourn in Senatorial halls was, if 
an^'thing, more pleasant than usual, owing to his 
genial, affable and courteous manner, which won 
and retained many much valued friendships, and 
which was the means of affording him larger oppor- 
tunities than might have otherwise been possible. 
His record in this connection is upon the books of 
the session, and is well known, and does not there- 
fore call for detailed mention in such a writing as 
the present; suffice it here to remark that it was such 
as to ultimatelj- lead to his election to the highest 
official chair in the State.. 

From Maj-, 1876, to September, 1882, inclusive, 
the subject of this sketch continued to hold the po- 
sition as Chairman of the Republican State Central 
Committee of Nebraska. The long continuance and 
the number of consecutive terms embraced within 
the above dates speak more clearly and emphaticallj' 
his ability and power than anything that might be 
said in addition. Mr. Dawes was further honored 
by being elected delegate to the Republican Na- 
tional Convention at Chicago, in June of 1880. 
This it will be remembered was the convention that 
nominated the noble, but ill-fated. James A. Gar- 



field. The delegation of which he was a member 
at this time unanimously named him as a member 
of the National Republican Committee for Nebraska 
for a term of four years, which it nas his privilege 
to serve with e\evy satisfaction to all parties con- 
cerned for that period. 

Few men ever felt more the need of education 
for a jieople who governed themselves than Gov. 
Dawes. The absolute necessity of universal educa- 
tion, wide in scope, complete in curiiculuin, ex- 
haustive in detail, practical in its aim and general 
utilit}', was evident to him, and he was therefore 
deeply interested in educational matters, and his 
sympathies were alwa3-s assured for matters con- 
nected therewith. He has served in several offices 
connected with this department, the most important, 
perhaps, being those of Trustee and Secretary of the 
Doane College, which is situated at Crete. The 
duties of these offices have engaged his attention 
since the ye.ar 1875. 

The crowning glory of the official life and public 
service of the subject of our sketch was that which 
identified him with the chief office of the State. In 
the year 1882 he was nominated by the Republican 
party for Governor. His life was well known, his 
character thoroughly understood, his past services 
remembered and appreciated, and accordingly he 
was received with much favor, and elected amid the 
plaudits of the whole people. He entered upon the 
duties of his high office in January, 1883, continu- 
ing to discharge the same throughout the usual pe- 
riod of two years. At the expiration thereof he 
was again nominated bj* his party and re-elected 
by the people, and for a second term continued to 
discharge his duties as before. Is an}' further 
proof of his ability, honor, manhood and faithful- 
ness demanded.' Can any mere verbose compli- 
mentary eulogium express as much as this, especially 
when it is reinforced b^' all the accompanjing marks 
of confidence and regard of the people.' Gov. Dawes 
will long be remembered, having won a warm place 
in the hearts and memories of the people, together 
with his most excellent administration of affairs, 
which from first to last materially assisted the onward 
march and development of Nebraska as a State, aVid 
aided in placing her among the very first of all States 
of the greatest Republi-c the world has ever known. 







^^^ 





^ xTQHM M. JTHA YEXR. :f 



sip 







^ssii>^ 



JOHN M. THAYER. 
This distinguished gentle- 
man, whom Nebraska de- 
lighted to honor b}' the 
gift of the highest office 
in its power to bestow, was 
elected thereto by an overwhelming 
majority in the autumn of 1886, and 
bj' his wise administration of afifaiis, 
his excellent executive ability, has 
since fully justifled this enthusiastic 
choice. The place of the nativity of 
our subject is Bellingham, Norfolk 
Co., Mass. ; he is the son of Elias and 
Ruth (Staples) Thayer. The chosen 
occupation of the father was farming, and in the 
physical and moral healthful environment of pasto- 
ral life our suljject was brought up. 

The smallest part of man is the physical, that can 
be weighed avoirdupois and measured with a tape 
line; a far greater and nobler is that of stamp di- 
vine — the mind, which is the true "standard of the 
man.'' Having in mind the importance of proper 
instruction, in order to the proper use of this most 
wonderful instrument, our subject, after the usual 
preparator}' instruction, attended the classes at 
Brown University, from which institution he was 
graduated in 1S47. The law was the chosen profession 
of our subject, and at It he worked assiduously un- 
til the year 1854, still continuing a resident of his 
native State, and at that time he removed to the 
State of Nebraska. 



Omaha, then a rising 3'oung town, with a ne'vly 
opened and undeveloped tcrrritory all around it, 
afforded a good field for a young man of education, 
enterprise, enthusiasm and energj-,to " rise up with 
the country." In the 3'ear 1855 the political arena 
was entered. Jlr. Thaj'er became one of four can- 
didates for Congressional honors; a splendid run for 
tiie office, however, resulted onlj- in defeat, the suc- 
cessful candidate being Fenner Ferguson. The fol- 
lowing year was remarkable as that in which the 
now "grand old party" was organized. The con- 
vention was held at Bellevue, and our subject was 
a candidate for the partj' nomination, but was de- 
feated by Mr. Dailj-. This experience was repeated 
in every particular in June of 18G0. He was suc- 
cessful in receiving the nomination to the Territorial 
Legislature, and served the session of 1860-61. 

Our subject entered the service of the United 
States at the beginning of the Civil War, and re- 
ceived the commission of Colonel of the 1st Ne- 
braska Infantry. In the 3-ear 1855 he had been 
elected by the Territorial Legislature Brigadier 
General of the Territorial Militia, and afterward 
promoted to that of Major General of the militia. 
While in these positions he was frequently led into 
engagements more or less serious on the frontier, 
the enemies being the aborigines of that section, 
who at that time had not entirely ceased their old 
habits of depredation. The intimate knowledge of 
our subject concerning the Indians, their surround- 
ings, their attitude, their feelings, and their chiefs, 
were all of immense value to him. As a case iu 



132 



JOHN M. THAYER. 



point, which we might mention, our subject was ap- 
pointed by Gfov. Izai-d to act in conjunction with 
Gov. O. D. Richardson, to inquire into certain out- 
rages by Pawnees, to meet them in council and ef- 
fect a treaty with them; in this they were fairly 
successful. But later events proved the lesson was 
but poorly learned by tlie Indians. In 1858, with 
a command of 194 volunteers, our subject went out 
after the same tribe, certain of their number having 
murdered, maltreated and robbed the settlers. He 
captured the entire tribe after a stubbornly con- 
tested battle, which was fought on the grounds oc- 
cupied by the town of Battle Creek, which derives 
its name from that event. 

As Colonel of the 1st Nebraska Infantry, our 
subject did good work in behalf of the Union, and 
it was not long before his superior military powers 
attracted attention, and he was promoted to be 
Brigadier General and breveted Major General. At 
Ft. Donelson and vShiloh he commanded a brigade 
in such excellent manner as led to the above honor. 
Through the siege of Vicksburg and the capture of 
Jackson, Miss., he also commanded a brigade, and 
for a time a division. The confidence of the com- 
manders in him was such that at the assault at 
Chickasaw Bayou, one of the storming columns was 
confided to his care. In this fight he had his horse 
shot under him, and .again while leading a charge at 
Arkansas Post. All the essential features, charac- 
teristics and trails of the successful soldier were 
possessed by him, and this being recognized resulted 
in the Army of tlie Frontier being given him to 
command. Throughout his service in military life 
he was a true soldier, a favorite with his men, who 
were confident tliat he would lead them to success 
and victory; resiiecteil by his officers, who well 
knew his sagacity and military genius, largely the 
result of his long experience on the frontier. 

In political matters our subject was a Democrat 
until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He 
sympatliized with the Free-Soil movement, but be- 
ing in the Territory he could not vote. In the year 
1856 he supported Fremont, and since that time has 
continued a stanch Republican. Upon the admis- 
sion of Nebr.aska as a State, Mr. Thayer was elected 
United States Senator in the election of 1866, and 
served faithfully until the close of his term. At the 



expiratioft thereof he was appointed by Gen. Grant 
the Governor of Wyoming Territory. In this office 
the qualities that had made him successful in civil 
life, that had made him a military leader and com- 
mander, the ability that had been developed for the 
handling of large bodies of men, the harmonizing 
of heterogeneous elements, combined to make his 
Governorship one worthy of note, and, doubtless, 
was the cause of the confidence expressed by the peo- 
ple of Nebraska in after daj's. 

The home of our subject is one that bears in its 
every -day life and happiness a brightness and com- 
pleteness that is more to be desired than the amass- 
ing of riches, the accumulation of power, or the 
right to sway the scepter of authority. He was 
united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Mar}' 
T. Allen, a ladj' possessing a disposition, character 
and intelligence, most beautiful, admirable and clear, 
one who has been trained to follow closely the Great 
Exemplar of the true life. She is the daughter of 
the Rev. John Allen, a clergyman of the Baptist 
Church, a native of Massachusetts. 

Gov. Thayer, though not a member of any spe- 
cial denomination, is a firm believer in the Christian 
religion, and always has been. His family adhere 
to the faith of the Baptist Church, of which also his 
parents were members. In that communion, also, 
he was trained and brought up, and he has al- 
ways retained a great desire to help forward every 
movement of religious nature ; whenever it has been 
possible to elevate the moral standard of the people, 
his active sympathies were engaged. One feature 
of his Governorship has been his evident anxiety 
that a more general and hearty acquiescence to a 
higher moral and religious standard should obtain, 
and whatever enterprises, projects, societies or asso- 
ciations, looked to this as their aim and object, were 
at all times sure of his hearty sympathy and suijport. 
As noted above, our subject stood before the 
people of Nebraska in the year 1886 as candidate 
for Governor. He was warmly received, actively 
and heartily supported, and enthusiastically elected 
by a majority of 25,000, in which he Aan about 2,000 
ahead of his ticket. His administration has revealed 
the wisdom of this choice, and it is not too much to 
say that the citizens of Nebraska have at no time 
had occasion to repent of their choice. 




mwwm^% ^^mwwx^ 




BIOGRAPHICAL, 



WILLIAM M. CRAVEN, the 
pioneer merchant of Armada, 
Nebr., was born in Randolph 
county, N. C, August 12, 1836. His 
father, L. D. Craven, was born in the same 
county and state, October 29, 1811. He 
emigrated to Morgan county, Indiana, 
in 18.36, Init subsequently removed to 
(^wen count}-, where he resided until he 
came to Nebraska in April, 1871. He 
was a shoemaker during the early part of 
his life, but found farming a more con- 
genial occupation. His wife, Levey Spoon, 
died in November, 1884, a member of the 
]\[ethodist church, of which Mr. Ci'aven is 
also a member. The grandparents on 
both sides were Carolinians by birth. 
William M. Craven served an ajiprentice- 
siiip at carpentering before he had reached 
tlie age of maturity, and at the age of 
twenty-one .lie was a contractor and 
l)uilder, at wjiich occupation he continued 
until the war ijegan, when he enlisted in 
May, 1S61. in the Fourteentii Indiana 
infantry and was sent immediately to the 
scene of conflict. He participated in the 
battles of Rich mountain. Cheat mountain, 
Greenbrier and Winchester. He was in 
the Army of the Potomac until August, 



1862, and then re-enlisted at brigade 
lieadquarters, this time in the 1st brig- 
ade, 3d division and 15th corps, and 
marched with Sherman from Huntsville, 
Alabama, to the sea, and was mustered 
out July 9, 1865, at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky. He came out of his long and hon- 
orable service without a scar, but not 
without great suffering from the exposure 
incident to camp life. During his encamp- 
ment on Cheat mountain it rained every 
day, except nine, for three months. After 
the war he returned to Indiana and 
resumed his former occupation of con- 
tracting. He was married August 24, 
1865, to Miss Myra Starbuck. They have 
seven children — Elfie M., Myrtie M.,Met- 
tie F., Osa L., Charlie E., Josie M. L., and 
Nevie F. 

"William M. Craven came to Buffalo 
county, Nebraska, in the Spring of 1871, 
and took up a homesteail near Shelton, 
where he remained until 1876. He then 
spent nearly three years farming in 
Arkansas, but he was not pleased witii the 
country and concluded to return to Ne- 
braska. Shortly after his return to this 
county he moved to Buffalo pi'ecinct, where 
he purchased ten acres of land near the 



142 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



present thriving little town of Armada, 
and erected a small sod house, in which he 
kept a little store, in tlie fall of 1881. He 
started on a capital of $9, but by honest 
dealing he has prospered until he is now 
doing a flourisliing business in a neat little 
store on one of the prominent four corners 
of Armada. When he commenced busi- 
ness there was no town thought of, the 
postoffice then being located three miles 
east of there. A petition was finally cir- 
culated and the postoffice was removed to 
Armada town, and Mr. Craven was made 
postmaster. He now has twenty acres 
of land adjoining the town, and has also 
one hundred and sixty acres in the town- 
ship. When Mr. Craven first came to the 
county it was exceedingly wild and 
sparsely settled. He has seen as many as 
two thousand Indians in one body going 
to and coming from their hunting expedi- 
tions. Wild game, such as buffalo, ante- 
lope and deer, was plenty almost any- 
where. His crop was completely destro\'ed 
three years in succession by the grassiiop- 
pers and he and his family were subjected 
to great inconvenience and suffering 
thereb3^ It was just at this period that 
he concluded to emigrate to Arkansas. He 
has been postmaster for five years and 
has filled various local offices. He belongs 
to the Odd Fellows and Masonic lodges, 
and is a member of the G. A. R. 



JOHN H. WILSON, an enterprising 
boot and shoe merchant at Armada, 
Nebr.,was born in Woodford county, 
111., October 27, 18.57, and is the son 
of William S., and Mary (Tomb) Wilson. 
His father was born in Highland county, 



Ohio, March 10, 1833, but moved to Illi- 
nois when a J'oung man. He served in 
the war of the rebellion, enlisting in the 
fall of 1864, in the Eighth Illinois infan- 
try, and had served only about eight 
raontlis, when he was killed in the battle 
of Fort Gaines, Ala. He had always 
lived an upright, consistent life, was an 
active member of the Christian chui'ch 
and was highly respected by all who knew 
him. His wife is still living, is also a 
devoted and conscientious worker in the 
cause of religion, and is a member in the 
highest standing in the Christian church. 
But little is known of the paternal grand- 
father of the subject of this brief biogra]ih- 
ical sketch, except that his name was James 
Wilson, and that he died about 1856. 
The maternal grandfather is Mattliew W. 
Tomb, who is a native of Ohio, but who 
emigrated to Illinois in 1855. He is a 
leading agriculturist and a prominent man 
in the community where he resides, has 
held various local offices and is a respected 
member of the Christian church. He and 
his faithful wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Elizabeth Moore, ai'e still living. 
John H.Wilson isthe eldest of six children, 
one of whom is now dead, and upon him 
devolved largely the care and responsi- 
bility of his mother, with whom he 
remained until eighteen years of age. He 
began life for himself at twenty-one as a 
farmer in Illinois. In the spring of 1885, 
he immigrated to Buffalo countv, Nebr., 
and purchased railroad land near Armada, 
which he successfully cultivated for three 
3'ears. In the meantime he purchased 
eighty acres more land, making in all 240 
acres, a good portion of which he now has 
under special cultivation. His land lies 
within one and one-half miles of the town 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



143 



of Armada and is also in what is known as 
the "Wood River valley. 

In September, 18S8, Mr. Wilson moved 
to Armada and engaged in the boot and 
shoe business. He began with a limited 
amount of capital, and by industry and 
fair dealing he has succeeded in building 
up a substantial business, with a rapidly 
increasing trade. He enjoys the entire 
confidence of all his patrons and has built 
up a reputation for selling goods that are 
" all wool and a yard wide." He was mar- 
ried January .3, 1883, to Miss De Laura T. 
Foster, and this union has been blessed 
with two children — Stanley A. and John 
F. Mrs. Wilson was born in Marshall 
county, W. Va., December 4, 1857, and is 
the daughter of James and Etheline (Well- 
man) Foster, both natives of that state. 
Her fatlier died in 1878, but her mother is 
still living. Her paternal grandfather, 
James Foster, was born in Ireland, emi- 
grated to America in an early day, and 
first settled in Pennsylvania, but later in 
West Virginia. He died in 1865, at the 
age of eigiity-four. His wife was a native 
of Penns\'lvania and died in 1881. The 
maternal grandparents of Mrs. Wilson 
were Virginians by birth. 

Mr. Wilson has held various town offices 
of responsibility and has several times 
been re-elected assessor for his township. 
He and his estimable wife are both mem- 
bers of the Christian church and earnest 
advocates of temperance. 



RICHARD DARBYSHIRE, a 
young and enterprising man of 
^Ai'mada, Nebr., was born- in Bur- 
lington, Iowa, September 16, 1859. His 
father, Thomas Darbyshire, was born in 



England and came to America when nine 
years of age. He lived in Iowa, princi- 
pally at Burlington. He followed farming 
mostly, and died in 1884. Richard's 
mother, who bore the maiden name of 
Naomi Adams, was a native of Kentucky, 
as were also her parents. Richard Darby- 
shire remained with his parents until he 
was twenty-one and then began farming 
for himself. After he had farmed a couple 
of years he began dealing in horses, in 
which business he had marked success. 
He came to Nebraska in 1884 and resided 
near Armada for two years, then bought 
and sold farms and made considerable 
money in his various real estate transac- 
tions. In 1S86, he began driving the stage 
on the Kearney and Broken Bow line and 
continued for about eight months, during 
which he had an interesting experience. 
He frequently drove sixty miles a day 
when the thermometer registered from 
thirty-three to thirty -four degrees below 
zero, and was often compelled to shovel 
his way through snow banks and make 
schedule time in all kinds of weather. 
He drove for days at a time when hi 
would be the only team on the roads. The 
rules of the mail service imposed a heavy 
fine on mail carriers for being behind time 
without a most satisfactory excuse, but he 
was never fined the entire winter, which 
was one of the severest in the history of 
the country. The Union Pacific Railway 
Company was fined frequently for being- 
late with the mails that winter, but the 
disagreeable weather was no barrier to 
young Darbyshire in preventing him from 
delivering the mails on time. He is now 
in the livery business at Miller, Nebraska, 
and has one of the best barns in the 
county. 



144 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



C 



HATILES F. PATTERSON was 
born at Mt. Sterling, Brown 
county, 111., March 17, 1837, 
and was the son of Kentucky parents, 
named John D. and Mary Ann (Smith) 
Patterson. Charles F. Patterson went to 
Arkansas when seventeen years old and 
engaged in the manufacture of staves, 
which he found a ready market for in 
New Orleans. After a few j^ears' experi- 
ence in the great forests of Arkansas, 
he went to Bonaparte, Iowa, where he 
was engaged by Isaiah Meek, a lead- 
ing stockman of Van Buren county, as 
foreman of his large stock farm. In 1861 
he went to California in search of gold, 
and was there about eighteen months, 
during which time he was employed in a 
quartz mill. He then returned to Iowa 
and accepted his former position as fore- 
man of the Meek stock farm. In 1878 
he came to Nebraska and took a home- 
stead in Dawson county, just over tlie line 
from Buffalo county, and there built a sod 
house and prepared to make such improve- 
ments as were necessary to render his 
farm profitable under cultivation. He 
brought with him from Iowa about 400 
head of cattle, which he kept on shares 
for a few years. The settlement then was 
sparse, there being no houses between his 
home and Elm creek, about fifteen miles 
south. 

In 1885 he began sellino- cattle for O. 
W. Mead, of Boston, who was a large 
owner of live-stock ranches in the West. 
The cattle were shipped to Mr. Patterson, 
who disposed of them to feeders in Ne- 
braska, he acting as Mead's agent for 
eighteen months, during which time he 
sold many thousand dollars' worth of 
cattle. He was the agent, also, of Philip 



Dater & Co., of Cheyenne, for two years, 
and Avas also engaged with Tabor & Skin- 
ner, the former being ex-Gov. Tabor, of 
Colorado. He traveled all over the West, 
visiting their ranches and gathering up 
cattle, which he sold to Nebraska feeders. 
Charles F. Patterson died of heart ditti- 
culty, November 12, 1888, after a brief 
illness of only a few weeks. He was an 
Odd Fellow, and a gentleman who enjoyed 
the respect and confidence of his neighbors 
and fellow-citizens in general. He was 
married, November 1, 1860, to Miss Lydia 
C, daughter of Peter and Mary Ann 
(Lichty) ]\Iiller, and born in Westmore- 
land county. Pa., September 29, 1836. 
Her parents were born in Somerset, Pa., 
her father being the first white male child 
born in that town. They emigrated to 
Van Buren count}', Iowa, in 1854, with a 
family of twelve children, and there most 
of them now reside, but Peter Miller died 
in 1875, having been a life-long member 
of tlie German Baptist church. Tlie child- 
ren of Charles F. and Lydia Patterson are 
named as follows: John Wesley, Mary 
Ann, Maggie J., William Richard and 
Charles M. They have all had s])lendid 
opportunities for securing an education, 
and some are now engaged in teaching. 
The Patterson homestead consists of 320 
acres, well improved, and on which has 
recently been erected a handsome and 
substantial brick residence. 



BENJAMIN F. PEASE is a well-to- 
do farmer in Armada township, 
Buffalo county, Nebr., was born in 
Ontario county, N. Y., and is the son of 
Granger and Anna (Fish) Pease, the 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



145 



former of whom was born in Connecticut 
and the latter in New York. His parents 
moved to Michigan in 1839, where his 
father died in 1858 ; his mother was a 
Quakeress and passed to the eternal land 
in 1843. 

B. F. Pease began to learn tlie cooper 
trade when he was eighteen, and followed 
it for five years. He was married Octo- 
ber 2J:, 1859, to Martha Judd, by whom 
he had one child — Herbert. She was born 
in 1838, and was the daughter of Henry 
and Elvira Judd; tlie former was a native 
of Connecticut and the latter of Massa- 
chusetts. Mrs. Pease died in 1868, and 
Mr. Pease was next married, Mav 30, 1872, 
to Charlotte Odell, by whom he had three 
children — Charles, Salina and Floyd. Mr. 
Pease enlisted, August 12, 1861, in the 
Eigiith Miciiigan infantr}' and served four 
years. He participated in the battles of 
Coosaw, S. C; Pulaski, Wilmington, Ga.; 
and James Island, S. C, where he was 
taken prisoner, but was exchanged four 
months afterwards; and was also in the 
battles of Blue Springs, Ky.; Jackson, 
Miss., and Knoxville, Tenn. His brigade 
was under Gen. W. T. Sherman after the 
siege of Knoxville, but re-organized and 
joined the Army of the Potomac. He 
served with his regiment in every engage- 
ment, from the Wilderness to the evacua- 
tion of Petersburg, April, 1865 ; re- 
enlisted January 1, 1864, and was mus- 
tered out July 30, 1S65, having entered 
the army as a private and rising to the 
rank of first lieutenant. He came to- 
Nebraska in May, 1884, and settled in 
Armada township, Buffalo county. He 
took a soldier's homestead, which he now 
lias well improved, and has increased his 
acreao:e until his farm now contains 320 



acres under a good state of cultivation. 
He and his estimable wife are members of 
the Methodist church, and he is a member 
of the G. A. R., and a highly respected, 
citizen in the community. 



JOHN MEHCEE is one of the substan- 
tial farmers and stockmen of Armada 
township, Buffalo county. He was 
born in Roxburghshire, Scotland, 
August 31, 1845, and is the son of George 
and Isabel (Locky) Mercer, both of whom 
are natives of Scotland. His father came 
to America in 1852, and settled in Canada, 
his wife and family following in 1861. He 
was a shoemaker by trade, and a member 
of the old established Church of Scotland, 
and died in 1862. Young Mercer identi- 
fied himself with the Union cause Ijy 
enlisting in the navy August 18, 1864, anp 
belonged to a crew on board the Miami 
which was ordered up the James river and 
lay at Dutch Gap canal during the winter 
of 1864-5. He received his discharge at 
Philadelphia in June, 1865. After the 
war he went to Watertown, N. Y., where 
his mother and two brotiiers had moved, 
and engaged with Smith & Lamb, woolen 
manufacturers ; he also worked in the 
large steam woolen mills at Utica, and at 
Bridgetown, Me. He afterwards came 
west and worked in woolen factories in 
Ohio and Michigan, and as he was thor 
oughlv familiar with almost every depart- 
ment connected with the manufacture of 
woolen goods, found no trouble in procur- 
ing employment at any first-class factory. 
In the fall of 1873 he concluded to "go 
west and grow up with the country," and 
accordingly he turned up in Buffalo county, 
Nebr., and witliin a reasonably short time 



146 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



he was a proprietor of a No. 1 homestead, 
located in the rich and fertile valley of 
the Wood river, of which he was one of 
the first actual settlers. The country was 
naturally wild and exceedingh^ dreary to 
one comino'froni the far East, and it made 
no other impression on the mintl of young 
Mercer. He was forty miles from any 
town, in a country where elk, antelope 
and deer roamed at will, and along the 
small streams of which were plenty of 
beaver and wild-cats. He was fond of 
hunting, and followed it almost exclusively 
for three or four winters. It afforded him 
considerable amusement, and besides it 
was quite profitable. In fact, there was 
no other way of making money, and even 
a bachelor like Mr. Mercer could not live 
in a wild prairie country without money. 
He lived in a dug-out, which, in those days, 
was the only house that guaranteed its 
occupant absolute shelter from the fre- 
quent atmospherical disturbances. But 
even his dug-out did not protect him 
from the ravages of the grass-hopj^ers in 
1874-5-6. He has seen them three inches 
thick, antl thev didn't seem to smother each 
other either. A good many settlers got dis- 
couraged and left, but he concluded to 
stick by his claim as long as he could live. 
He would go to the hill, shoot a deer and 
trade it for flour and such articles of food 
as he stood in need of, and in that way he 
managed to get along. In the fall of 
1880 a prairie fire swept everything he 
had, including his hay and grain in the 
stack, — everything, in fact, except a patch 
of sod corn. 

John Mercer was married October 11, 
1885, to Pauline, daughter of James and 
Rachael (Spriggs) Stewart. She was born 
in Marshall county. 111., February 15, 1854, 



and has borne him two children — Jolm 
C, born December 24, 1887, and Edward 
James, born March 26, 1890. Mr. Mercer 
belongs to the G-. A. R., and is a repub- 
lican in whom there is no guile. He has 
two hundred and forty acres of fertile 
land and takes great pride in breeding 
good horses, of which lie is a splendid 
judge. 



A 



ETIIUR F. BURT was born in 
Delaware county, Ind.. January 
18, 1833, and is the son of Dick- 
erson and Margaret (Killough) Burt, the 
former of whom was reared in Massachu- 
setts and the latter in Ohio. Dickei'son 
Burt first taught school after he came to 
Ohio, and subseqently graduated from 
a Cincinnati medical college. He prac- 
ticed his profession at Muncie, Ind., and 
also had the honor of being appointed 
the first postmaster of that town. He 
was married to Margaret Killough, March 
3, 1827, by whom he had four children, 
and whom he lost by death February 9, 
1835. Arthur Burt lived with Cornelius 
Vaursdell, an old Christain preacher, 
until he was thirteen, and then started out 
for himself, and followed railroading for 
several years. In 1852 he made quite an 
extensive tour of the country, after which 
he followed farming in Ross county, Ohio, 
for several years. He was married Jan- 
uary 13, 1859, to Elizabeth Campbell. 
They have seven children — Christena A., 
Juda Y., John A., Dora L., Rosa E., Liz- 
zie L, and Mary B. 

Mr. Burt served in the late war, enlist- 
ing August 15, 1862, in the One Hundred 
and Third Illinois infantry. He partici- 
pated in the struggle at Holly Springs, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



147 



but being injured on the marcli to Yicks- 
hwvg, he was afterwards transferred from 
field service to tlie veteran reserve corps, 
and put on detached service, being sent to 
lioclf Island, 111., where he ran the machin- 
ery connected with the government prison 
until mustered oat in July, 1S05. lie fol- 
lowed farming in Illinois for several years 
after he returned from the war, and went 
to Missouri in 1ST2, where he spent four 
years. He came to Armada, Nebr., in 
May, 1879, and took up a homestead, 
lie was among the first to settle in 
tl;e countr}^ south of Armada, and had 
no neighbors on the south of him nearer 
than twelve miles. He is independent in 
politics and is an esteemed and worthy cit- 
izen. Mr. Burt has recently been ap- 
pointed inspector for the K. B. & H. R. 
K., in which position he is giving .full 
satisfaction. 



CHARLES M. HOUSTON, editor 
and proprietor of • the Miller 
Union, was born at Sidney, 
low'a, June 8, 1869, and is a son of Harry 
A. and Jane E. (Irwin) Houston. His 
father is a native of Pennsylvania and his 
mother of Ohio. His father has been 
actively engaged in the newspaper busi- 
ness for more than twenty j'ears, during 
which time he has published papers in 
Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Wisconsin. 
He is a clear and forcible writer, and at 
one time was a member of the editorial 
staff of the Kansas State Journal. 

Charles M. Houston, the subject of this 
sketch, learned the printing business in 
tiie home office at Sidney, Iowa, and is 
tlioroughly familiar with every depart- 
ment of a well-regulated country news- 



paper office. He went to Armada, Buffalo 
county, Nebr., in April, 18S9, and immedi- 
ately purchased the office of The Armada 
Watchman, which paper he published 
until July, 1890, when he removed said 
paper to the new town of Miller, and 
changed the name to Miller Union. The 
paper was started in May, 1888, by W. 
A. Hale, who conducted it till December, 
1888, when it passed into the hands of 
The Watchman Publishing Company, with 
R. A. Reed as editor. After the pajier 
became the property of Mr. Houston, it 
was materially improved in tone and gen- 
eral make-up. It was republican in poli- 
tics, and enjoyed a fair advertising pat- 
ronage. Young Houston, at the age of 
nineteen only at that time, made a success 
in the newspaper field where two pub- 
lishers had failed before him. He is a 
chip off the old block, and will make a 
reputation in the newspaper world equal 
to that of his father. 

Early in the spring of 1890, the Union 
Pacific Railroad Comi)any decided on 
constructing the Kearney and Black Hills 
branch, and in speaking of this decision 
the Miller Union, of August 28, states that 
"The Hancock Land & Improvement 
Company owned a section of land to the 
south and west of old Armada, about a 
mile through which the railroad was 
graded. Early in the month of June, the 
said Hancock Comj)any had their land 
re-surveyed and platted into a town-site 
and made the people of Armada the fol- 
lowing proposition : To all those engaged 
in business in Armada and owning either 
business or dwelling houses, the Ilancuck 
Companv would give them lots in tlie 
'new town' (which they had named Mil- 
ler), and would move their buildings from 



148 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



Armada to Miller free of cost to the 
owners. And to those business men who 
were not owners of buildings in the vil- 
lage of Armada who wished to build 
houses they would, give them warrantee 
deeds to lots when buildings were erected. 
***** 'pjjg people of Armada, 
seeing the determination of the Hancock 
people to build up Miller, and knowing 
of the vast advantages the^' would have 
over Armada, came to the conclusion that 
it was about time that the}' were taking 
steps whereb}' they might become citizens 
of Miller. Accordinglj', most of the citi- 
zens of Armada accepted the proposition 
of the Miller people; and about July 1st 
the first building was begun in Miller, 
which was a residence built by L. A. 
Hazzard on corner of Stephenson avenue 
and Fifth street. July 17th, the IRller 
Union made its first appearance and was 
issued from a barn, which had been hur- 
riedly erected for a shelter from the 
weather until better quarters could be 
secured." 

At present, besides churches, there are 
over thirty business firms in the place, 
including banks, and twenty-one dwell- 
ing-houses, and others under contract 
to be built. 



MASON A. YOUNG, one of the 
prominent farmers of Cedar 
township, Butfalo county, was 
born in Zanesville, Ohio, May 15, 1842. 
His parents. Mason and Luticie (Leggit) 
Young, were Pennsylvanians by birth. 
About 1838 they moved to Muskingum 
county, Ohio, and engaged in farming. 
The senior Young died in 1872, and his 
estimable wife followed him to the land 



of rest March 24, 1881. Three children 
were bom to thejn, one of whom, AVash- 
ington, is dead, leaving Mason A. and 
James, the only living representatives of 
the family. When Mason A. Young was 
seventeen years of age he enlisted, August 
2, 1862, in Company C, One Hundi'ed 
and Twenty-second Ohio volunteers, and 
served three j'ears. He participated in 
the engagements at Brandy Station and 
Locust Grove, and followed Gen. Grant 
through the terrible battles of the AVilder- 
ness. He also fought with might and 
main at Winchester, Adar Creek and 
Fisher's Hill, and was mustered out in 
June, 1865. Soon after the war he met 
Miss Jennie Butler, whom he married 
December 3, 1869. She was born in 
Maryland, February 2G, 1846, and is the 
daughter of John AVesley and Sarah Ann 
(Fisher) Butler. Her parents emigrated 
to Ohio, where her father died in 1853. 
This union has resulted in the birth of six 
children, namelj' — John Wilson, born May 
19, 1871 ; Annie, born July 13, 1873; Zet- 
tie E., born December 30, 1875 ; Amy, born 
March 24, 1877 ; Charles E., born March 
29, 1885 ; and Frank, born April 26, 18.87. 
Their daughter Zettie was the first white 
child born in Cedar township. Soon after 
marriage Mr. Young moved to Cedar 
county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming 
for a few years. In April of 1873 he moved 
to Buffalo county, Nebr., and settled in 
Cedar township, taking up a homestead on 
which he has since continued to reside. 
The country thereabouts was new and 
exceedingly wild at that time, there 
being only two or three families in 
the entire township. He dug the first 
well and erected the first frame house 
that far west in the region known as the 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



149 



Loup country. Fire swept the surround- 
ing prairie that year and consequently 
tliere was no grass left to cut for liay. 
Corn had to l)e hauled from Grand Island, 
and the high price of everything in the 
shape of provisions compelled the few 
scattering settlers to be as economical as 
possible. The drought and grasshoppers 
got away with tiie small acreage of crop 
the first few years, and for a time there 
was little to encourage the ambitious set- 
tlers. There were plent}'^ of antelope and 
deer, and some buffalo were yet to be 
seen along the Loup. There were Indians 
in the country in those days, and, while 
they were generally considered peaceable, 
Mr. Young made up his mind to always 
be prepared for any emergency that might 
arise, and to that end he purchased a six- 
teen shooter Winchester with five hun- 
tlred r(jun(ls of ammunition. Mr. Young 
has one of the best improved farms, and, 
in fact, is one of the most substantial 
farmers in Cedar township. Pie is indus- 
trious and systematic in everything he 
does and stands high socially and morally 
in the community. He has been super- 
visor of his township, and has held various 
other local offices. He is a member of 
the G. A. K. and in politics is a stanch 
republican. 



ELEAZER W. CARPENTER was 
born in New Hampshire, June 23^ 
1827. Plis parents, Willard and 
Betsey (Wason) Carpenter, were natives 
of New Hampshire, .the former having 
been born in 1789. They were married 
in 1812 and had two children— Miranda, 
born in 1820, and Eleazer W., born in 
1827; the former died in 1863. The father 



died in New York in 1841, and the mother 
died in Wisconsin in 1864. Eleazer W. 
Carpenter was married November 19, 
1854, to Miss Emily M., daughter of John 
and Hulda (George) Plumer. She was 
born in New Hampshire, June 25, 1830. 
Her father was born in 1808, and was the 
son of Nathaniel Plumer, who was born 
May 29, 1764. The family of E. W. Car, 
penter consists of seven children, namely — 
John W., born May 15, 1856 ; Stephen- 
born November 16, 1858 ; Hulda, born 
March 7, 1861 ; Cyril, born September 4, 
1863; Marion, born March 31, 1866; 
Miranda, born October 14, 1868, and Lydia, 
born May 31, 1871. Mr. Carpenter went 
with his parents from their native state, 
in 1840, to New York, where, at the age 
of sixteen, he hired out by the month to 
work on a farm. His next move was to 
Wisconsin in 1S54, where he was married 
and settled down to farming. He enlisted 
in September, 1864, in the First regiment, 
Minnesota heavy artillerv. His regiment 
was stationed at Chattanooga, Tenn., and 
performed garrison duty during most of 
the service. He was mustered out June 
17, 1865. In the fall of 1872 he started 
West to ])rospect for his future home. He 
arrived at Gibbon, Buffalo county, Nebr., 
after a long and wearisome journey made 
with an ox team. He remained here until 
the following spring ; in the meantime, 
however, he busied himself looking for a 
location. He was especially pleased with 
the land in the Cedar Creek valley, and 
he finally took up a homestead there. He 
built a frame house, sod being the ma- 
terial mostl}'^ employed at this early date. 
There was scarcely any settlement in this 
section at that time, and wild "anie was 



150 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



plenty, especially deer and antelope. 
There were hundreds of wild-cats and 
beaver along the creek, and hunting and 
trapping constituted the chief occupation 
of several of the early settlers. Mr. Car- 
penter had barely succeedetl in getting his 
family comfortabh^ housed, when one of 
the severest storms in the history of the 
country began raging. It was a blizzard 
of the most pronounced type and lasted 
for three days, during which snow fell and 
drifted to a great depth. Hundreds of 
cattle and other stock, without siielter, 
perished. In a sod house near Mr. Car- 
penter's dwelling-, lived a lady by the 
name of Mrs. Davis. During the awful 
storm a part of the roof of the house fell 
in, and the poor woman, whose husband 
was away at the time, became alarmed 
and started out in the blinding storm in 
the hope, it is supposed, of reaching the 
home of Mr. Carpenter. Soon after tlie 
storm ceased it was ascertained that Mrs. 
Davis was missing ; a diligent search was 
at once instituted, which soon resulted in 
the recovery of her remains, frozen stiff 
on the prairie. Incidents of this kind are 
not uncommon among the frontiersmen. 
Mr. Carpenter was also among tlie early 
pioneers who suffered from the grass- 
hopper raid. He describes them as appear- 
ing m the horizon like numerous black 
clouds, and as striking against his house 
like descending hail. 

The first school district in the township 
was organized in 1874-. and the first term 
of school was taught by Mrs. Carpenter 
m one of the rooms of her own house. 
Mr. Carpenter has served as justice of the 
peace of his township for eleven years and 
has been elected supervisor, the most im- 



portant office in the town. He has also 
been postmaster of Major's postoffice since 
Februarv, 1S79. He is republican in poli- 
tics and is one of the i-ecognized i>arty 
representatives in Buffalo county. 



SAMUEL HIGGINS, the first 
actual settler in the township of 
Cedar, Buffalo county, was born 
on the banks of the Penobscot river, in 
Maine, March 30, 1811. His paternal 
grandfather made his home on the banks 
of this beautiful stream jirior to the rev- 
olutionary war, and his father, William 
Higgins, was the second white male child 
born along its wooded banks. William 
Higgins was an active participant in the 
war of 1812. He accidentally crossed the 
picket lines and was captured Ij}^ the Eng- 
lish, but afterwards escaped. He died in 
1838. Samuel Higgins, the subject of this 
sketch, left his parental home in Maine in 
1837, and determined to see some of the 
country in which he lived. He visited 
several of the principal states in the 
Union, remaining for a short time in each. 
After a few years profitably spent in 
traveling, he settled on a farm in Gi-ant 
county, Wis., where he remained for thir- 
teen years. He was one of the pioneer 
residents of that territory, and voted for 
it to become a state. 

It was on November 10, 1872, when Mr. 
Higgins came to Buffalo county, Nebr. 
He built a small shanty in the town of 
Gibbon, then the count}'^ seat, wliere he 
left his family while he prospected for a 
claim. He finally settled on a homestead 
in Cedar township and also took a timber 
claim adjoining. His first house consisted 



B TIFF A L O CO UNTY. 



151 



of a " dug-out," in which he spent the 
winter of 1873-4, which was very mild 
and dr}'. His visitors consisted almost 
exclusively of Indians, who often called 
and asked for food or feed for their 
ponies. He fried pan-cakes once, but the 
Indians were not satisfied unless he pro- 
vided coffee to drink. An Indian is a hard 
customer to please. Occasionally one 
would call in an exceedingly bad humor 
and would refuse to extend the hand of 
friendship. They were always armed to 
the teeth, and strenuously objected to the 
whites killing any wild game. On one 
dark night Indians tried to break in the 
door of his "dug-out," but were fright- 
ened away. Mr. Higgins was always 
careful not to incur the ill-will of the red 
men, for he was the only white settler in 
all that region at that time, and he knew 
it meant sure death to him if he offended 
an Indian. In the spring of 1873, settlers 
began to come in and it was not long be- 
fore quite a settlement was effected. One 
of the notable incidents of the early 
settlement was the terrible snowstorm or 
blizzard in April of 1873. At that time 
Mr. Higgins' live chattels consisted of two 
horses, a cow and a calf. The cow was 
completely snowed under and smothered, 
wiiile the calf was dug out of the snow 
four days afterwards alive, but pretty 
hungry. It was the worst storm in the 
history of the country', and there has been 
no blizzard since anywhere equal to it. 
Mr. Higgins always possessed unbounded 
faith from the first in the future develop- 
ment of this country, and although many 
tried to discourage him, yet he went 
straight ahead setting out trees and pre- 
paring to do his share towards improving 
the country, notwithstanding the fact 



that he had had thirty acres of corn de- 
str(jyed for three consecutive years by 
grasshoppers. His grove of timber is 
now one of the very finest in the country 
and consists of Cottonwood, ash, maple 
and boxelder. 

Mr. Higgins was married twice. His 
first wife bore him nine children, and his 
second, two — one of whom is dead. His 
farm consists of one hundred and sixt)' 
acres, and is one of the best improved in 
the county. He has frequently held 
various offices of responsibility, but has 
as often refused to accept office, and was 
at one time treasurer of the Boones- 
borough Manufacturing Company, of 
Boonesborough, Iowa, a position of great 
trust and responsibility. When the war 
broke out he offered his services to his 
country, but was rejected on account of 
his extreme age. He has been an earnest 
and consistent member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church for sixty years, and has 
always taken great interest in religious 
affairs, and especially in the Sundav"^- 
school. Mr. Hiffsins has written some 
very fine essays, but the object and scope 
of this work are such as to preclude the 
insertion here of one of his productions. 



JOSEPH CLAYTON was born in 
Muskingum country, Ohio, in 1844. 
His father, Henry Clayton, was 
also a native of Ohio, and was born in 
1808. He moved to Indiana in 1852, and 
engaged in farming, but when the war 
broke out was one of the first to enlist. 
He served three years and lost a foot at 
the battle of Peach Tree creek. He also 
bore an honorable record as a soldier in 



152 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



the Mexican war. He married Margaret 
Young, by whom he had four children — 
Henry, Martha, Mary and Joseph. After 
the death of his mother in 1850, Joseph 
Clayton, then a lad of six years, lived 
with Thomas Alexander for eight A'ears. 
When the war began he was one among 
the first to offer his services, and although 
♦but a mere boy, enlisted August 17. 1861, 
in the First Ohio cavalry, and performed 
four long years of honorable service. His 
first experience in a battle was had at 
West Liberty, Ky. He also participated 
in the siege of Corinth. His company 
for some time served as special escort to 
Gen. ■ Mitchell while at Cincinnati. He 
was shot in the lung at the terrible battle 
of Russellville, Ala., on the 3d of July, 
1802, and for several months afterwards 
was closely confined in a hospital. He 
was mustered out of the service January 
20, 1865. After the war he spent a few 
years at farming in Ohio, from which 
state lie went to Iowa, where he remained 
two years. The spring of 1873 found 
him on a homestead in Cedar township, 
Buffalo county, Nebr. He was one of the 
first actual settlers in the township, and 
there was but one house on the road be- 
tween his homestead and Kearney, the 
county seat. He built a good, comfort- 
able sod house, and proved upon his claim 
in 1875. The Pawnee Indians frequently 
passed through the settlement during the 
first year or so of his residence there, but 
be never experienced any difficult}' with 
them. He had more fault to find with 
the grasshoppers in 187i than with the 
occasional presence of a few Indians. 
The former took, without asking, every- 
thing he had that was green, while the 
latter usually bego-ed hard for what little 



they got. Joseph Clayton was married 
May 8, 1879, to Miss Eosey Ewer. She 
is the daughter of Rural and Ellen (Wams- 
ley) Ewer, and was born in Grant county, 
Wis., March 9, 1859. Her father was a 
Pennsylvanian by birth, but emigrated to 
Wisconsin when a small boy. He was a 
soldier in the late war, and died in the 
service at Helena, Ark. Her mother was 
born in England, but when a mere child 
came to America with her parents. Three 
bright children bless the home of Mr. 
and Mrs. Clayton — Eayniond E., born 
July 9, 1882 ; and Mary May, born May 
5, 1887 ; and Earnest, born March 4, 1890. 
Mr. Clayton owns a splendid farm in the 
Cedar Creek valley, and has it well im- 
proved. He has always had great faith 
in the future development of this country, 
and even when the grasshoppers robbed 
him of his crop he did not become dis- 
couraged. He always believed exactly 
the opposite from the man who said, " It 
is simply a fight between the grass- 
hoppers and drought on the one hand and 
the plow on the other, and he believed 
the former would win." He has held 
various local offices, and is commander of 
Cedar Mountain Post, No. 220, Depart- 
ment of Nebraska, G. A. R. 



CHARLES R. WATERS first saw 
the light of day at Springville, 
Vernon county. Wis., August 4, 
18G0. His parents, Henry and Arminda 
(Harkness) Waters, were natives of Illi- 
nois, the former having been born in Knox 
county in 1823. The senior Waters moved 
to Wisconsin in 1848, where his wife died 
in 1875. He came to Nebraska in 1876, v 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



lo3 



but is now enjoying the pleasures afforded 
by a residence in California. He was the 
father of ten children, seven boys and 
three girls. He served as supervisor of 
Cedar township, Buffalo county, Nebr., 
two years. He also served three years in 
the war. Young Waters accompanied his 
father to Nebraska in the spring of 1876, 
and began life for himself about that time. 
He worked out by the month for a year 
or so, then engaged in farming for him- 
self. The country in that portion of 
Cedar township, Buffalo county, Nebr., 
was very sparsely settled, there being only 
a few houses in sight. He pre-empted a 
claim in 1880 and proved up on it soon 
after. He now has one hundred and sixty 
acres well improved, and is a prosperous 
young farmer. 



WI L L I A M» H. KILLG OBE 
came from Bradford county, 
Pa., to Buffalo county, Nebr., 
in February, 1872, locating in section 12, 
township 9, range 1-5, remaining here 
about four years. In 1876, going into the 
stock-raising business, he went to what is 
now Custer coiinty, helping to organize 
that county and serving as commissioner 
sevei-al terms. In 1880 he preempted a 
(juarter-section, and in 188-3 he came to 
Kearney City, feeding cattle for one year. 
He then went to the territories of Utah, 
Idaho and Montana. He remained in 
ilontana a short time only, although he 
had intended to make it his home, and 
left for Iowa and Minnesota; not liking 
these states, he again returned to Kear- 
ney, and bought some land on Drover 
Island, directly opposite old Fort Kear- 



ney, in Platte river. He there owns five 
quarter-sections of the finest hay and 
grazing lands in the state, and on Farm 
Island four quarter-sections, one hundred 
and fifty acres of which are under culti- 
vation, producing corn and oats. He also 
raises a quantity of stock. When he 
came West, he had $3,000 ; he now owns 
fifteen hundred afres of land and a num- 
ber of town lots, together Avith improve- 
ments, which he rents out at Kearney. 
He has upwards of two hundred head of 
cattle, seventy horses and a large number 
of hogs. Mr. Killgore was born in Brad- 
ford county. Pa., in August, 1839, on a 
farm. His father, John Killgore, a native 
of New Jersey, went to Pennsylvania, 
where he engaged in the tailoring busi- 
ness ; but, leaving this, he engaged in 
farming. He is still residing in Pennsyl- 
vania at the ripe age of eighty-one years. 
His wife, LA'dia W. Ilaynes, was a native 
of New York. To this union were born 
eleven children, William being the fourth. 
At the age of thirteen he ran away from 
home, going to a lumber camp; remain- 
ing at this a short time, he went into the 
butchering business, remaining in this sev- 
eral years; then, returning home, he 
worked at carpentering. The war break- 
ing out in 1861, he enlisted in April with 
Battery E, First Pennsylvania light artil- 
lery, serving the drst two years as quar- 
termaster's sergeant. He was then pro- 
moted to a second, and shortly after to a 
first, lieutenanc}', serving in all four years 
and three months. His battery was the 
first to go into Richmond. He sustained 
a rupture during one of the numerous 
battles in which he was engaged, for 
which he is now drawing a pension. 
After being mustered out at Philadelphia, 



154 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



he returned home and started a saw-mill. 
In 1867 he married Miss Sophie Dilts, a 
daughter of Philip Dilts, of New Jerse3^ 
Her father died in 1876 ; her mother is 
still living in Pennsylvania. This union 
has not been blessed by any children. In 
politics Mr. Killgore is an ardent republi- 
can, and is also a member of the Loyal 
Legion of the United States. As a citi- 
zen he is highly respected. 



A 



LEXANDER ST. PETERS was 
born in Paris, France, December 
15, 1807, and is the son of Lewis 
antl Mary Ann St. Peters. Alexander St. 
Peters came to Canada with his parents 
in 1815. They settled at Three Rivers, 
where the father died, in October, 1839. 
Young St. Peters began farming for him- 
self at the age of eighteen. He immi- 
grated to the United States before becom- 
ins: of age and settled in Vermont. In 
1835, he moved to Massachusetts, where 
he I'emained about eighteen months, and 
in 1837 moved to Iowa, settling in Ben- 
ton county. He purchased a farm there 
and followed his chosen occupation for 
several years. In April, 1874, he moved 
to Nebraska and took up a claim in Cedar 
township, Buffalo count}'. The country 
was new then anil settlers were few and 
far between. "Wild game, especially elk, 
antelo])e and deer, was quite plenty, and 
it was not an unusual tiling to see a few 
Indians passing back and forth to their 
hunting grounds. 

Mr. St. Peters built a sod house, barn 
and other necessary buildings, and has 
since devoted hmiself diligently to improv- 
ng his farm, which is, by the way, one 



of the best in the township. He suffered 
severely the first year or so from the 
grasshoppers, and at a time, too. when 
the destruction of an entire crop meant a 
great deal to him. He witnessed a great 
deal of terrible suffering among the set- 
tiers in those days, man\' of whom came 
near starving to death. They were in- 
deed trying times, and the courage of men 
was put to the severest test. Alexander 
St. Peters married Mary Ann Hatcot, a 
a native of Canada and of English descent. 
She bore him eleven 'children, as follows — 
Mary Jane (deceased), Franklin (de- 
ceased ), Silvia, John J., Alba E., Annie, 
Laura, Charles, Stephen, William E., and 
Emma B. Both Mr. St. Peters and his 
estimable wife are active members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 

Mr. St. Peters enlisted in August, 1862, 
in the Fortieth Iowa infantry, and served 
seventeen months. He was taken sick 
during his service, and after being confined 
in a hospital for some time was discharged. 
He is a modest, unassuming man and al- 
M'ays tries to do what is right by his fel- 
low-man. 



WH. ANDERSON, one of the 
representative farmers of 
Buffalo county, Nebraska, 
was born in New York City, October 10, 
1852. His father, James Anderson, also a 
native of New York City, was born in 
1812, and there he was raised, following 
the carpenter trade for manj' years. He 
moved to Lake county, Indiana, however, 
and remained there a short time ; he then 
returned to New York ; then moved again 
to Indiana, and in October, 1862, came to 



BUFFALO COVXTY. 



155 



Nebraska, settling on Wood river, near 
what IS now known as Wood E.iver Sta- 
tion, remaining three 3'ears. He then 
went East, living at Woodford county, Illi- 
nois. Returning to Nebraska in March, 
1879, he settled in Center township four 
miles east of Kearney. Subsequently 
growing old and infirm, his son, William 
H., brought him to his own residence, 
where he died August 8, 1SS6, at the age 
of sevent^'-four years — a prominent mem- 
ber of the Evangelical church. His wife, 
Isabella, was a daughter of William 
Hodge, a native of Scotland, a blind mu- 
sician, who came to this countr}'-, settling 
on Long Island, N. Y. There he died in 
1SS4 at the age of ninety-nine. Mi'S. 
Isabella Anderson is still living. This 
marriage was blessed with seven children, 
viz. — Isabella(deceased), Robert (deceased), 
Jamcb, Mary Ann, David, Alexander and 
William H. James Anderson, Junior, 
served in the late war iji the union ranks 
and now lives at Newton, Kansas. Sarah 
is the wife of A. B. Cherry ; Mary is the 
wife of V. B. Smith, of David City, Nebr. 
David was, for several terms, sheriff of 
Buffalo count}', Nebr, and died but a few 
years ago ; Alexander was killed b\' 
Indiiins at Wood River Station, February 
3, 1862, when he was fourteen years of age. 
William II. Anderson first saw Nebraska 
in 1802, his parents having moved here 
when he was but ten 3'ears of age. He was 
raised mainly in Illinois, to which state he 
was taken by h is father. He again came to 
Nebraska in March, 1879, and has lived in 
Buffalo county ever since. He owns two 
hundred and sixty-five acres of land lying 
on the Platte river, in Center township, 
six miles southeast of Kearney, most of 
which is in grass. In >873 he married 



Mary A., daughter of Peter Berg, of El 
Paso, Illinois. She was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, near Johnstown, in Cambria county. 
To this union have been born three chil- 
dren —Walter, Guy and Estella Ma}'. Mr. 
Anderson is a member of the Evangelical 
church, a stanch republican, and has 
served as township treasurer. He has 
also served on the school board. His in- 
tegrit}' and faithfulness while in those po- 
sitions have fully won him the regard and 
esteem of his fellow-citizens. 



SJ. WALDRON, one of the repre- 
sentative farmers of Buffalo county, 
Nebr., was born and raised in 
Macomb county, Mich. His father. Evert 
J. Waldron, was born and reared in Sara- 
toga county, N. Y. In 1834 he moved to 
Macomb county, Mich., where he married 
Catherine, daughter of Jacob Straup, who 
had moved to Macomb county the same 
year with his famih' from Genesee Falls, 
N. Y., where this lady was born and 
reared. After his marriage, Evert Wald- 
ron moved to Michigan, settling in Ma- 
comb county and actively engaging in 
farming. There the Avorthy couple still 
reside, he in his seventy-ninth year. 
Their union has been blessed with twelve 
children. 

Mr. S. J. Waldron came from Macomb 
count}', Mich., to this state, settling in Buf- 
falo county, in September, 1872, and enter- 
ing into a mercantile life at Kearney, which 
he followed eightyears. He then moved on 
hisfarm, consisting of the north half of sec- 
tion 8, township 8, range 15, 100 acres of 
which he has under thorough cultivation ; 
the remainder consists of fine hay land. The 



156 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



farm is situated not two miles from Kear- 
ney, and on account of its situation it is 
one of tlie finest in the county. Mr. Wald- 
ron has given it all his attention since 
1880, and as a natural result he has been 
rewarded by fine crops. His homestead 
is the northwest quarter of section 8, and 
has undergone the most perfect improve- 
ments. He has on his farm the first frame 
building that was erected in the Citj' of 
Kearney. It is a small box house, now 
used for a granary. Mr. Waldron has 
experienced all the vicissitudes of farm 
life in Nebraska, having undauntedly gone 
through grasshopper visitations and dry 
seasons. He enjoys single blessedness, 
and the respect of his neighbors, who 
honor him as a genial and upright citizen. 



MRS. SARAH L. LAYTON came 
to Nebraska in 1872, locating 
at Loup City. She remained 
there one year, and then took up her I'esi- 
dence where she now resides, consisting 
of tlie northeast quarter of section 35, 
township 9, range 15, it being then in the 
military reservation. Here she lived as a 
squatter two years before she could file 
papers for her claim, and seven years 
before proving it, as the papers were filed 
in the name of her husband, he havino- 
died before the claim could be proven 
She is, in fact, one of the pioneers of the 
county, there being but a few houses in 
. Keai'uey Avhen siie came. Time brings 
its clianges, and she has lived to see the 
then struggling village of Kearney grow 
to be a prosperous city — one tiiat is grad- 
ually assuming a metropolitan air. With 
her own hands and very little help, she 



has so improved her farm that it is now. 
producing excellent crops, and is esti- 
mated as one of the best in the county, it 
having always yielded well, excepting 
only the grasshopper year of 1874. Mrs. 
Layton is the daughter of Solomon Kin- 
ner, a native of New York, who is at 
present residing in Pennsylvania at the 
advanced age of ninet\' -three, being per- 
fectly deaf and blind. Mrs. Layton's 
mother was born in 1813, and is still liv- 
ing at the age of seventy-seven. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kinner were devoted members of 
the Methoilist Episcopal church, and were 
the parents of nine children. 

Mrs. Layton, the sixth child, was born 
July, 1845, in Pennsylvania, and passed 
her childhood there. In 1865 she married 
Jacob Layton, and the couple went to New 
Jersey, where they remained four years ; 
thence they went to Virginia. Not liking 
the climate, they removed to Nebraska, 
where her husband died. She has three 
sons, viz. — Carlos S., Arthur P. and Wal- 
ter A. Mrs. Layton belongs to the Evan- 
gelical church. To her as well as to many 
others is due the gratitude of. the noble 
sons of Nebraska for the cheering of tlie 
weary days when the}' toiled to make tiie 
great country which at the present is 
before the citizens of this state as an 
example of what industry can accomplisli. 



WILBERT S. HORMEL. With 
tiie many representative and 
successful farmers of Buffalo 
county, Nebr., is Wilbert S. Hormel, born 
in Warren county, Ohio, in March, 1857. 
His father, Joel Hormel, a native of _Ohio 
and a carpenteis by trade, married Miss 



^?>^,. 



,y#fto^^'' '^ 




F. G. HAMER. 



BUFFALO COU.VTV. 



159 



Jane lioffuum, also a native of Oliio. To 
this union were born two sons — Wilbert 
S. and Benjamin. Wili)ert passed iiis 
oarl\' days in Warren county, receiving 
an education at the common school. In 
Se))tember, 1874, with his father, became 
to Nebrasica, settling in Buffalo county on 
t lie southeast quarter of section 10, town- 
shi|)9. rangelS. Here he improved the land 
and lived fifteen years. In 1879 he bought 
ills father out, and became the sole 
owner of tiie farm, which he afterwards 
so successfully managed until the fall of 
1888, when he sold this property and 
bought his present farm. This tract of 
eighty acres is situated in the south half 
of the southeast quarter of section 15, town- 
siiip 9, range 15, consisting of the finest im- 
proved land in the county. He has built a 
commodious house, tine barn, granaries 
and outhouses, also a large windmill' for 
grinding grain. lie "raises mixed crops, 
and is giving considerable attention to 
the dairy business. 

At the age of twenty-seven, Mr. Ilor- 
niel married Miss Jennie Willhelmy, a 
daughter of Theodore Willhelmy, a native 
of AVisconsin, who came to Nebraska and 
located on a farm in the neighborhood. 
Of this union was born three children, 
vi/,. — Bertha, Francis and Earl S. Politic- 
ally Mr. Ilormel is an ardent democrat' 
and his fellow-citizens have honored him 
by electing him four consecutive terms 
as school dii'ector. He is also a member 
of the Farniei's' Alliance. The mother of 
the sui>ject of this sketch died in 1839, 
and Joel Ilormel took for his second wife, 
Miss Anna, daughter of James Ward, of 
Ohio, and to this union were born seven 
children, all of whom are residents of 
Nebi'aska. This ladv died in 1S79. Joel 



Ilormel served in the late war about 
three months, and is now making his 
home in Nebraska. W. S. Hormel, al- 
though only thirt\' -three years of age, 
has demonstrated his ability to conduct a 
farm on strictly business principles. He 
exhibits good taste in all things, and his 
wisdom is shown in his selection of the 
best agricultural implements and the con- 
venient arrangement of his barns and 
other outbuildings, and the cheerful and 
neat appearance of his comfortable 
dwellino;. 



FRANCIS G. IIAMER was born in 
a log cabin, on a farm near Fos- 
toria, Seneca county, Ohio, Febru- 
ar}' 20, 1843. The cabin was built of 
unhewn logs and floored with puncheons, 
and one of the first important events 
which he remembers was the building of 
an adiiition to this cabin. 

At the age of five years his father car- 
ried him to school and he began the pur- 
suit of knowledge seated on a slab, sup- 
ported by four legs made from a sapling 
and with no back. His little feet did not 
reach the floor, and he remembers his 
position yet as one of discomfort. Before 
he was ten 3'ears old, his mother died and 
his father moved to another farm near 
Delphi, Carroll count}', Ind. The house 
occupied was a slight improvement on the 
first cabin. It was built of hewn logs, 
but the floor was still made of juincheons, 
and a chimney, built of mud and sticks, 
permitted the smoke to rise from the tire- 
place, where huge back-logs roasted in 
the winter. The school-house was still 
a cabin, and the seats were rough boards 



160 



BUFFALO COryTY. 



without backs, but it contained an innova- 
tion, being warmed by a wood stove. In 
these good okl days nearly everybody 
wore homespun, and lie well remembers 
his first store coat. In winter the mental 
instruction was procured at revival meet, 
ings, spelling schools and debating socie- 
ties. In summer, the corn-field and har- 
vest fields furnished occupation, and in- 
struction was obtained at the quarterly 
and camp-meetings. It was a Methodist 
neighborhood, and the arrival of the pre- 
siding elder was looked forward to with 
great interest. He could preach a sermon, 
and from miles about the farmers came in 
wagons, driving along corduroy roads and 
wei'e delighted to listen to the man who 
could instruct and entertain. The spelling 
school and debating society were every- 
day aff"airs, and in them young Ilamer 
learned to spell, and at twelve years of 
age spelled down the whole school, and 
went home with more glor}' than he has 
ever had since, or hopes to obtain. In 
speaking he had more trouble ; he began 
to tieclaim at nine and tried to debate at 
fifteen, and at eighteen years of age, he 
was participating as best he could with 
those who had more or less experience on 
the stump — -men who had been members 
of the legislature, or practicing lawyers. 
Before he was sixteen, he attended school 
at the countv seat, returning to the dis- 
trict school at home during the winter. 

Before he was eighteen he began life as 
a Iloosier school master, and the succeed- 
ing summer, having borrowed a copy of 
Blackstone from a lawyer at tlie county 
seat, he began to prosecute his legal stud- 
ies, regretting that he could not be admit- 
ted to practice for three long years, or 
until he became twentv-one. For three 



successive winters, including his eight- 
eenth, nineteenth and twentieth birth- 
days, he taught school, read law, and 
attended the debating societies, and during 
the corresponding summers he farmed and 
raised corn and wheat and pigs, and tried 
to accumulate money to pay the expenses 
of attending a law school. In the spring 
succeeding his twentieth birth-day, he 
went to Indianapolis and became a student 
in the law office of Pen-in & Manlove, 
and shortly after entered the law school, 
then under the management of the Hon. 
Samuel E. Perkins, who was for many 
years one the supreme judges of Indiana, 
and a lawyer with a national reputation. 
He was admitted to practice on his twen- 
ty-first birth-day, or as soon as was hon- 
estly practicable. He then relurneti home 
and began farming and stock-raising, for 
the purpose of accumulating money to 
support himself during the first years of 
his practice as a lawyer. After watching 
the struggles of young lawyers in a city 
he doubted his own abilit\' to make a liv- 
ing at the commencement of his proposed 
professional career. He still attended the 
debating society, read law and literature, 
and occasionally contributed to neighbor- 
ing newspapers. At twenty -six, he formed 
a partnership with P. A. Brown, a lawyer 
of Indianapolis, and together they were, 
for a short time, engaged in the real estate 
business in Chicago. December 6, 1869, 
at Eddyville, Iowa, he was married to 
Miss K.' A. McCord, of Delphi, Ind. To- 
gether the young partners came to Lin- 
coln, Nebr., and began house-kee})ing in 
the humblest sort of way. One small room 
was rented for $10 a month, and in this 
for the time being they lived. Desk room 
was obtained in a real estate office for $8 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



161 



per month, ami liere tlie subject of our 
sketch, at the age of twenty-seven, earned 
his first money as a lawyer. It was only 
$2.50, l)ut it gave promise of tlie means 
of a living. In live months he began to 
earn enough to support himself and wife. 
He held his office in Lincoln a little more 
than two years, but during five months of 
this time he lived in the country, six 
miles from the town. During the first 
nine weeks of his residence in the country 
he walked to and from his office, making 
a daily walk of twelve miles. Half-past 
7 o'clock usually found him in his office, 
fresii from the invigorating labor of his 
six-mile tramp. When his day's labor was 
at an end, he returned. Some times the 
trial of a case ran into the night, and on 
sufU) occasions he did not reach his home 
until miilnight, or later. On one such 
occasion, tiie lawsuit ended about 11 
o'clock ; the ground was covered with 
slush and mud, which prevented the usual 
ra]iid walk, and it was 3 o'clock in the 
morning when the tired 3'oung law3'ei' 
arrived at his humble domicile. Shortly 
after this, he was able to buy a pony and 
pay cash for it, and the long walks were 
discontinued. 

During his i-esidence in Indianajiolis he 
became acquainteil with Gen. A. II. (Con- 
nor, at that time, one of the leading citi- 
zens of the Iloosier state. He knew him 
to be a sti'ong Iaw3er, and an ekxjuent 
advocate, and when General Connor found 
a home in Lincoln, he and the subject of 
this sketch formed a partnership which 
lasted through twelve long years, and 
until Mr. Ilamer's appointment as dis- 
trict judge. In Ma}', 1S72, Mr. Ilamer 
removed from Lincoln to the present site 
of Kearnev. At that time there was no 



town, only a prospect for one, and Mr. 
Hamer's first efforts were made in the 
direction of discovering a claim for him- 
self and partner. For himself he found a 
pr«-emption between the present site of 
the State Industrial School and the city. 
For General Connor, he found another 
claim lying a short distance north of the 
city. The result of this day's discovery 
was a removal of the firm and its efi"ects 
from Lincoln to Kearne}', Mr. Hamer 
coming a short time jn advance of his 
partner. A small building containing two 
or three hundred dollars" worth of goods 
and the ])ostoffice, was at that time, the 
only business house in Kearney, the pro- 
prietor being Mr. F. W. Dart. Mr. Ilamer 
needed an office, and Mr. Dart kindly' in- 
formed him that there was plenty of room 
in his store. The building was only 14xil0, 
but he thought there was jilenty of room 
for a store, postoffice and law office. A 
little corner was fenced off by a rough 
plank, which could be used as a table, and 
behind this was placed an em])ty nail-keg, 
covered with a shee]i-skin, and on this 
seat one of the future judges of Nebraska 
installed himself, and spreading the statutes 
out before him, was ready for business 
with the first law office in Kearney. 

Immediately upon hisarrival at Kearney, 
he and Mrs. Hamer began to reside upon, 
the pre-emption, where sod was broken 
and Mr. Ilamer personally' iilantcd his 
first crop of sod corn. The residence was 
an unpainted siianty. 12.Nir), ceiled with 
tar jiaper tacked upon tiie studding, and 
in this the)' lived two winters and two 
summers. The winters, however, are re- 
membered more vividly than the summers. 

In the fall of 1880, Mr. Hamer was 
nominated as the republican candidate 



162 



BUFFALO COUXTY. 



for representative in tiie state legislature. 
Mr. Hamer was supposed to favor Judge 
Elmer S. Dundy, who, it was known, 
would be a candidate before the legislature 
for United States senator, but other re- 
publicans favored the election of Senator 
Paddock to that position. Mr. Hamer 
was defeated by the joint vote of demo- 
crats and Paddock republicans. Mr. 
Simon C. Ayer, independent republican, 
became the succesful candidate. After 
the senatorial contest which followed, 
Paddock and Dundy were both defeated 
by C. II. YanWyck. As is well known, 
Senator Paddock since defeated Yan- 
AVyck and is one of the United States sen- 
ators from Nebraska. Two years later, Mr. 
Hamer actively supported his law partner 
Gen. Connor, who was brought out as a 
candidate against Mr. Luman R. Moore. 
Mr. Moore was an excellent and public- 
spirited man, but he had been nominated 
as a candidate for state senator by the 
same faction of rejiublicans that had de- 
feated Mr. Hamer. Gen. Connor made 
a vigorous canvass on his own account, 
thoroughly discussing the arbitrary exer- 
cise of corporate power before the people 
and the dangers which menaced tlieir wel- 
fare, and he was elected over his comj)et- 
itor b}^ a large majority. A year later, 
Mr. Hamer was the favorite candidate in 
the republican state convention of the 
people of the central and western part 
of the state for the office of justice of 
the supreme court. He was beaten by 
a majority of thirty-five, by M. B. Reese, 
of Wahoo. On the death of Judge Sam'l 
L. Savage, Mr. Hamer was appointed in 
December, 1883, judye of the Tenth judi- 
cial district, by Gov. Dawes, and he 
immediately entered upon the discharge 



of his duties. He was also elected, in the 
fall of 1884:, running on the republican 
ticket against Judge Barnd,the democratic 
nominee. His majority was 1^700, and 
in the fall of 1887, he was re-elected. 
This time his competitor was the Hon. 
Wm. L. Greene, democratic and labor can- 
didate, and one of the best stump orators 
in the state. Mr. Hamer'smajority at this 
election was a little short of .5,000 votes. 
The task of building up a new town is 
one of great labor. Upon those who have 
public spirit and a patriotic love of home, 
this task always falls. No enterprise for 
the benefit of his town, county and state 
has yet been presented that has not re- 
ceived Air. Hamer's cordial and energetic 
support. He has given months of his time 
to enterprises in which he had no per- 
sonal interest beyond that of the common 
good of his section, and has repeateilly 
pledged his future earnings to subscription 
lists for the benefit of his city. His first 
efforts of a public nature in Buffalo county 
were directed toward the defeat of a 
bill introduced into the state legislature 
for the pui-])ose of dividing the county. 
This bill, if it had become a law, would 
have placed Kearney on the western 
boundary of Buffalo county, ami would 
have prevented it from becoming a 
count}' seat. His next efforts were directed 
towards the establisliment of a bridge 
across the Platte river at Kearney. He 
also participated in the matter of locating 
the State Industrial School, he was a sub- 
scriber to the fund which procured the 
building of the Midway hotel, and was 
an earnest advocate of the canal and 
water power. He has helped to erect 
every church in the city and on all occa- 
sions has given time and monev for the 



B UFFA L CO UNTY. 



163 



public good of his city and section. As a 
lawyer, Mr. Hamer is careful, pains-tak- 
ing, laborious and much in earnest. He 
aspires to a thorough knowledge of the 
law and facts pertaining to his case rather 
than to a display of rhetoric. As a judge, 
he is a persistent and unremitting woi'ker. 
The Tenth judicial district is the largest 
in tiie state, and contains fifteen counties, 
in tliirteen of which courts are held. Until 
tiie appointment of Judge Church, of 
North Platte, about one year ago, Judge 
Ilamer heard all the cases in all this 
immense territory — a territory about tiiree 
hundred miles long and about one hun- 
dred miles wide. He annually disposes of 
about twenty-five hundred cases. 

Judge Hamer is of Englisii stock on 
his father's side. His great-grand fatiier, 
John Hamer, was born in the state of 
New York a century and a quarter ago, 
and his grandfather, William Hamer, was 
born in the same state and moved to 
Pennsylvania, where his eldest daughter, 
Mary, was born, and shortly thereafter he 
moved to Stark county, Ohio, wiiere ids 
otiier children were born, including Fran- 
cis Hamer, the father of the subject of 
this sketcii. Francis Hamer married 
Mary Mahan, and removetl from Stark 
county to Seneca county, Ohio, about the 
year 18-40, and tliree \^ears later his son, 
F'rancis G. was born. Francis G. has no 
brothers or sisters living. A brother and 
sister died in infancy, and Thomas L., 
anotiier brother, died in the Union army, 
at the age of sixteen, in 1864. Francis 
Hamer, the Judge's fatiier, David Ilamer, 
his uncle, Oliver Ilamer, liis half brother, 
and Mrs. Martha Shalienbarger and Mrs. 
Amanda Alien, half sisters, reside near 
Delphi, Carroll county, Indiana. The 



Judge's father is a farmer, as were his 
grandfather and great-grandfatlier, and 
the Judge himself is also (piite a farmer. 
He owns several valuable farms well 
stocked with fine cattle, horses and hogs, 
and lias liad crops growing every year 
but one since he was eighteen. Wliile 
he has worked hardas a lawN'er and as 
judge, he lias not forgotten the farm nor 
left it. 



JOHN W. KING, M. D., a young, 
well-read physician of excellent 
natural ability of Armada, Buffalo 
county, Nebr., was l)orn near Indian- 
apolis, Ind., February 10, 1859, and is 
tiie son of John G. and Martiia (Park) 
King. The latter was born in A'irginia, 
September 20, 1831, and is still liv- 
ing. John G. King was born in Indi- 
ana, February 28, 1831, and was a farmer. 
He enlisted in Company G, T\vent3'-sixth 
Indiana infantry, but only served about 
thirteen months, when he died in a hospi- 
tal at Springfield, Mo., August, 1862. He 
was married to Miss Martlia Park, Sep- 
tember 21, 1854, by whom he had three 
children — Bertlia (deceased), John W., 
and Fannie K. Dr. King was reared on a 
farm near Indiana]iolis, and provided for 
his widowed motlier after ids fatlier's 
death. He attended the normal school at 
Val])araiso, Ind., for two years, after 
which he spent two years on the old 
homestead. He began to read medicine 
witli Dr. J. G. Gressler of Pduff Creek, 
Ind., and afterwards attended a course of 
lectures at Bennett's Medical College, Ciii- 
cago. He tlien practiced about eighteen 
montlis at Waverly, Ind., and in Decem- 



ber, 1882, entered the Eclectic Medical 
Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which 
he graduated in June, 1883, and then 
located at WaverW, Ind., where he prac- 
ticed with excellent success fortwo years. 
He came to Ai'mada, Nebr.,in June, 1888, 
where he has since continued the practice 
of his profession. Dr. King was married 
to Miss Marv Cheatham. September 22, 
1880. She was born June 21, 1856, and 
was the daughter of William Cheatham, 
who was a Virginian by birth. She died 
April 19, 1889, leaving three children — 
Martha B., Ossie L., and John W. Dr. 
King is a member of the Odd Fellows, the 
Modern AVoodmen. and Knights of Pyth- 
ias. 



JOHN D. LOEWENSTEIN was born 
in Bii'mingham, a suburb of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., January 23, 1854. His 
father, Daniel Loewenstein, was born in 
Ahlen, Hesse Cassel, Germany, where he 
spent his early da^'s learning the cabinet, 
making trade, and following this in the 
old country. In 1852 became to America 
and, abandoning his trade, engaged in 
wagon-making. He is still living. Eliza 
beth, mother of John D., was also 
born in Ahlen, Hesse Cassel, Germany. 
To these parents were born six children, 
viz. — John D., Henry, Amelia (deceased), 
Frederick, Elizabeth and Mary. In 1855 
Mr. Loewenstein, with his parents, moved 
West, settling in Iowa City, where he 
passed his youth. March 28, 1873, he 
went to Denver, Colo., and August 2, 
1875, to Georgetown, Colo. In Septem- 
ber, 1876, he took an overland trip from 
Georgetown to Dead wood, Dak., and 



acquired a pretty fair idea of frontier life, 
and in January, 1877, returned to Iowa 
City. December 11, 1878, he married 
Mary Schmidt, daughter of John Schmidt, 
a native of Iowa. To this marriage have 
been born six children, viz. — Daniel J., 
William H., Frank J., Alva A , Christina 
and Ida May. Mr. Loewenstein settled in 
Buffalo county, Nebr., April 15, 1878, on 
the northwest quarter of section 17, town- 
ship 9, range 15. This land is now under 
the highest state of cultivation, producing 
large quantities of grain. He has built a 
comfortable dwelling house, a large com- 
modious barn and many other outbuild- 
ings. In politics he is an ardent demo- 
crat ; as a farmer, he is progressive, belong- 
ing to that prudent, thrifty class of Ger- 
man Americans, who make the best of 
citizens. His harvest implements are 
never left standing in the field where last 
used, but carefully stored under shelter 
nightly, setting an example that might 
be profitably followed by many a farmer. 



JOSEPH A. WATERS is one of 
the most successful farmers in 
Buffalo county, Nebr., as his finely 
improved farm in Center township 
indicates. He was born April 1, 1847, in 
Coshocton county, Ohio, and is of 
Scotch-Irish descent ; his father, Allen 
Waters, a farmer by occupation, having 
been born in Scotland, and his mother, 
Frances (Foster) Waters, in Ireland. 
There were seven children in the paternal 
family, Joseph being the fourth. Joseph 
lived at home in Ohio until about twenty- 
one years of age, during which time he 
attended the neighboring school and 
helped cultivate the farm. In 1807 he 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



165 



emigrated west and located in Scotland 
county, Mo., where for six year^ he en- 
gaged in farming and worked at the car- 
penter trade, which trade he still follows 
at odd intervals. Not being satisfied with 
his general surroundings in Missouri, he 
decided to emigrate still further west and 
take up government land ; accordingly, in 
the spring of 1873, he came to Buffalo 
county, Nebr., and filed his claim, April 
12, under the homestead law, on the 
quarter section in Center township on 
which he still resides. The country was 
ver}' new at that time and settlers were 
few and far between. There were plenty 
of deer, elk and antelope and a few 
remaining Pawnee Indians The first 
summer was put in principally at work at 
the carpenter trade. The following year 
(1874) he put out corn, oats and wheat, 
but harvested only a few bushels of wheat, 
the corn and oats having been totall}' 
destro3'ed by the grasshoppers. The fol- 
lovving 3^ear he raised a fair croj), but in 
1870 again lost nearly everything by the 
grasshoppers, but he h'as had good average 
crops ever since. In 1877, he set out trees 
on his farm, which are now large and 
thrifty and present an imposing appear- 
ance in the front of his spacious frame 
residence. He now has two apple 
orchards, which have borne fruit for five 
years — a very rai'e thing in this country — 
and has had extraordinary success in fruit 
growing. 

Mr. Waters was married November 2, 
1871, to Lyia A. Turner, by whom he 
has one child, Eva, who was born Septem- 
ber 9, ISSU, but lived to be only three 
weeks old. Mr. and Mrs. Waters are both 
members of the Methodist church. In 
politics, Mr. Waters is a republican. 



JOHN E. LUND (deceased) was a 
native of Norway, born January 22, 
1832, and came to this country in 
early life, locating at Minneapolis, 
Minn., where he resided for a number of 
years, and in 1868 located at Omaha, 
Nebr., and for four years was engaged 
as a mechanic in the car-siiops at that 
place. He was married in April, 18fi9, to 
Annie M. Erickson, who is a native of 
Canada and was born October (1, 1852. 
Mr. and Mrs. Lund lived at Omaha until 
1874, when, on account of close confine- 
ment in the shops, his health failed him 
and they decided to coiue fartlier west 
and take up government land and farm, 
in hopes of improving his health. Thev 
accordingl}^ located in Buffalo countv, 
Nebr., and filed a claim under the home- 
stead law on a quarter-section in Center 
township, four miles east of Kearney. 
The co'untr}' was comparatively new and 
verj^ sparsely settled. Wild game was 
plentiful and along the Platte river there 
were a good man\' Indians, who frequently 
called at their house to beg. For the first 
two years, having no team and being too 
poor to purchase one, he raised but little 
produce, and that little was destroyed by 
grasshoppers. Mr. Lund therefore worked 
at his trade in town and earned mone}' to 
keep family, but after the first two years 
crops were good and he luul abundant suc- 
cess. Mr. Lund died May 19, 1885, and 
since that date Mrs. Lund has conducted 
the farm and has been very successful in 
her management of its affairs. 

The union of Mr. and ^Irs. Lund re- 
sulted in the birth of four children, as 
follows — Alvin, born February 25, 1870; 
Earnest, born August 25, 187(i ; Emma, 
born July 1, 1879; and Albert, born Sep- 



IOC 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



tember 6, 1881. Mrs. Lund is a member 
of the Evangelical church, and the manner 
in which she is rearing her family is such 
as to elicit favorable comment among her 
neighbors. 



A 



NTIIONY SHOVEL, one of the 
old and respected citizens of 
Center township, was born 
September 21, 1830, in Montreal, Canada. 
He is a son of Mitchel and Catherine 
(Palmer) Shovel, both of whom were born 
in Canada, January 8, ISOO, and were of 
French descent. His paternal grand- 
father, Mitchel Shovel, was a native of 
France, but he died in Canada in LSIO. 
His maternal grandfather was Anthony 
Palmer, and was a native of France also. 
He died in Canada in 1848. Anthony 
Shovel's ])arents died when he was quite 
young, and he was left to look out for 
himself at ten years of age. He worked 
on a farm until he was fourteen, and then 
served an apprenticeship at the black- 
smithing. He crossed over to the United 
States in 1819, and visited many of the 
large cities in this country, going as far 
south as New Orleans, and worked at his 
trade a quarter of a century. He came 
from Ohio to Nebraska in September, 
1871, took up a homestead in Center town- 
ship, Buffalo county, immediately, and 
determined to make this his home. The 
country was very wild, but he had great 
confidence in its future, and believed he 
would live to see the time when it would 
be regarded with great promise. He had 
many interesting experiences with the 
Indians, and receiveil many calls from 
them at his house. September 13, 1855, 



he married Susan Culpeper, a daughter of 
William and Susan (Lockhart) Culpeper, 
and born Julj' 2, 1831. Her father was 
born in Culpeper county, Va., and died 
in 1835. Her mother was born in the 
same county and died in 1831. They 
have no children of their own, but 
adopted James A. McMannis, when eight 
years of age. He has since gone by the 
name of • James Shovel. They also 
adopted Maud Ma}' Reed, when five 
months old. She was born May 0, ISSl, 
and is now a bright little girl. 



WILLIAM D. GODBEY is the son 
of John and Ellen (A'oid) God- 
bey, and was born at Terre 
Haute, Ind., May 8, 1830. His father was 
a native of Virginia and was born in the 
year 1786. He farmed quite extensively' 
in Virginia until the vear 1828, when he 
emiirrated to Indiana, locating near Terre 
Haute. Here he continued his occupation 
of farming until the year 1810, when he 
removed to what was then considered the 
Western frontier, locating in Des Moines 
county, Iowa. After a residence there of 
three years, during which time he farmed, 
he moved to Mahaska county, Iowa, where 
he spent the remainder of his life. W. D. 
Godbey's mother was a native of Indiana 
and was born in the year 1818. There 
were eight children in the family, four 
boys and four girls. 

William D., the subject of this sketch, 
was married September 26, 1853, to Ingala 
Ryan, daughter of Jesse B. and Mahala 
Ryan, both natives of Barbour county, 
AV. Va. ; the former was born May 12, 
1814, and the latter March 1, 1813. Mr. 



and Mrs. Evan were married October 3, 
1833, and lived on a farm in Barbour 
county until 1846, when they moved to 
Union county, Ohio, wliere they resided 
until 1851, when they moved to Delaware 
count\% Ind., and two years later to Ma- 
iuiska county, Iowa. There were six chil- 
dren in the family — three boys and three 
girls. 

Immediately after marriage, Mr. and 
Mrs. WiUiani D. Godbey settled on a farm 
in Mahaska county, and contmued their 
residence there for twenty-five years. 
They emigrated west in 1878, locating in 
Cass county, Nebr., wliere they resided 
until March, 1884, when they removed to 
Buffalo county. Their union has been 
blessed with fourteen children, as follows — 
Emery, born August 26, 1854 ; Harriet A. 
born December 12, 1855; John C, born 
Api'il 13, 1857; Jesse B., born January 
19, 1859 ; Emily A., born November 12, 
1861 ; MahalaE., born September 20, 1863 ; 
Lllyssus S., born November 29, 1865 ; 
Charlie, born April 30, 1867 ; Olive, born 
March 30, 1869 ; Cyrus II., born Decem- 
ber 11, 1870; Nora, born April 1, 1872; 
William, born January 30, 1875 ; Martha 
E., born November 12, 1876 ; and Delia J., 
born June 19, 1880. Mr. Godbey is inde- 
pendent in politics. 



H 



ENRY W. MORSE was born in 
Richmond, Vermont, February 
6, 1845, and is the son of Adam 
and Mary (Hunter) Morse, natives of Ver- 
mont. His father was engaged in mer- 
cantile and farming business until he 
moved to Stark count}'. 111., in 1863, 
where he followed farming for several 



years. In 1880 he moved to Nebraska, 
where he has since been engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits. His faithful wife, how- 
ever, died in 1877. Both were active 
members of the Baptist church. II. W. 
Morse, when a lad of sixteen, found em- 
ployment in a woolen factory in Winooski, 
Vermont, where he worked until soon 
after the war broke out. In July, 1862, 
at the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the 
One Hundred and Forty-second regiment. 
New York volunteers, and served with 
credit to his country for three years. He 
participated in the engagements at Cold 
Harbor, Fort Darling, Petersburg and 
Chapin's farm, under the command of the 
invinciijle Ben. Butler. He also followed 
the brilliant Gen. Terry through North 
Carolina and Smithville, where he was 
discharged June 15, 1865. He returned 
to New York, but soon departed for 
the prairies of Illinois. In 1866 he en- 
tered the Cherokee Nation with a large 
number of cattle. The year 1867 found 
him back in Illinois again, where he spent 
two years. In 1870 he went to Dallas 
county, Iowa, and from there to Stewart, 
where heconducted a meat market for some 
time. In 1872 he landed in Gibbon, Buf- 
falo county, Nebr., where he resided four 
years, after which he spent two 3'ears in 
Wj'oming Territory, in charge of a gang of 
railroad men. When he first came to 
Buffalo county he took a timber claim, 
which he proved up several years after- 
wards, receiving patent No. 2, signed 
by President Chester A. Arthur. 

Henry W. Morse was married on Christ- 
mas da}', 1872, to Miss Ida, daughter of 
Lewis and Mary (Diamond) Throop. She 
was born in Illinois, ^fay 21, 1855. Her 
father was a New Yorker bv birth and 



168 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



her mother was born in England. Four 
children were born of this union — Willie 
A., born August 28, 1875 ; Arthur, boi'n 
November 28, 1878 ; Lillian, born Novem- 
ber 28, 1880 ; and May Jane, born March 
21, 1883. Mr. Morse is one of the leading 
farmers and stock-raisers of Center town- 
ship, Buffalo county, making a speciality 
of hogs and cattle. He is a republican 
in politics and has held various local offi- 
ces. He is, besides, a member of the Ma- 
sonic order. Odd Fellows' society, G. A. 
K. and A. O. U. W. 



JOSEPHUS MOOKE was born in Ohio, 
in 1851. His early boyhood was 
spent in a very similar way to that 
of other boys of that time. His 
father was Hamilton Moore, a native of 
Philadelphia, Pa., but who moved to Co- 
lumbiana county, Ohio, thence to Clay 
county, Ind., and from there migrated to 
Dawson count}', Nebr., in 1873 ; he then 
moved to Elm Creek township, Buffalo 
county, and here I'emained until 1885, 
when he returned to Indiana. He died 
October 15, the following year. Politi- 
cally, he was a reiniblican. Mrs. (Brisco) 
Moore, the subject's mother, was a native 
of Virginia, born in 1820. She moved 
with her parents to Ohio and was married 
there in 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Moore were 
both honored members of the Christian 
church, and to them were born twelve 
children, viz.— Mary E. (Mrs. Mills), Syl- 
vanus, Frances Ann (Mrs. Gonnug), Silas, 
Eliza Jane (Mrs. Tuttle), Josephus, John 
K., and five that are dead. 

Josephus, the subject of this sketch, 
migrated with his ])arents to Nebraska in 
1873, settling in Dawson county, and there 



entering a homestead claim of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres. In 1886 he moved 
to the village of Elm Creek, where he has 
since been running a restaurant. Mr. 
Moore is universally respected by all who 
know him for his excellent traits of char- 
acter, being always congenial and hospita- 
ble. He was married, in 1886, to Miss Ann 
Shay, a native of Michigan, born in 1870, 
Mr. Hull, county judge, officiating. Mr. 
Moore is allied in politics to the repub- 
licans. 



NT. BLISS, the subject of this 
sketch, is one of the progres- 
sive young men who came west 
to grow up with the country. He is a 
son of N. T. and Hannah M. (Collins) 
Bliss, and was born in Luzerne county. 
Pa., February 9, 1852. His father was 
a native of New York, and his mother of 
Pennsylvania; the former died in 186C, 
and the latter in 1888. N. T. Bliss is one 
of a family of eight children, five of whom 
are now living. Young Bliss attended 
the common schools, and also spent about 
eighteen months in a seminary. At six- 
teen, he became an engineer in the mining- 
regions of Pennsylvania, but he soon saw 
that it was almost impossible to lay up 
mone}' while he continued in this line, 
and he determined to come west. He 
arrived in Buffalo county, Nebr., in March, 
1878, and homesteaded the northwest 
quarter of section 20, in Gardner town- 
ship, built a small house, and began break- 
ing at once. 

Mr. Bliss was married August 17, 1882, 
the lady of his choice being Miss Edith 
M. Bodgers, a native of England. Tlieir 
home is blessed with three bright chil- 



BUFFALO COVXTY 



ino 



dren, namely — Clarence, born May 10, 
1883; Leilah, born March 23, 1885, and 
Earl E., born January 28, 1889. Mr. 
Bliss is a rej)ublican in politics, and, while 
he has not been an aspirant for public 
office, he has been called upon to fill the 
office of justice of the peace. lie owns a 
well improved farm, and takes considera- 
ble interest in raising blooded cattle, hav- 
ing now some fine specimens of the 
im])orted Hereford class. lie came west 
with limited means, but is now classed 
among the successful and enterprising 
farmers of Butfalo county. 



DAVID INMAN,born November 5, 
183C, is one of tlie first settlers of 
Butfalo county. He is the son of 
Powers and Mar}' (Durst) Inman, Ijoth 
natives of Pennsylvania. The former, a 
meclianic, was born in the year 1801, and 
departed this life in 1865 ; the latter was 
born January 5, 1805. There were born to 
them ten children — three bo\'s and seven 
girls — our subject being the fourtli child. 

David Inman lived at home in Meigs 
count}', Ohio, until he was eighteen years 
of age, during which time he served an 
apprenticeship and worked at the carpen- 
ter's trade, which business he has followed 
at odd intervals through life. In 1859 he 
made a trip through Missouri and Kansas 
with a view of locating in tlie West, but 
finally returned home and settled down 
to his trade. 

September 20, 1861, he responded to 
his country's call for troops, enlisting in 
Company K, Eighteenth regiment Oliio 
volunteers, and served nearh' four \'ears. 
His regiment left Camp Dennison Novem- 
ber 5, 1861, and proceeded to Cincinnati. 



Louisville, Elizabethtown, Bacon Creek, 
Bowling Green, Ky., and Nashville, 
Tenn., engaging in a numl)er of skir- 
mishes; from there on to Iluntsviile, 
Ala. He participated in battles at Hunts- 
ville, Decatur, Tuscnmbia and Athens, 
Ala., after which he was confined for two 
months in tiie hospital at Shelbyville and 
Talahoma (Tenn.), on account of disabili- 
ties incurred in marching. He joined 
his regiment in August, 1862, and took 
))art in the siege of Nashville, battle of 
Stone Piver and numerous minor battles, 
up to the taking of Stoneman's (iap, soon 
after which he was taken with erysipelas 
and confined in hospital at Talahoma and 
Nasliville, Tenn., until Se]itember, 1S63, 
when he joined his regiment and took 
part in the battle of Chickaniauga, tlie 
siege of Chattanooga, and the battle of 
Mission Kidge. He was discharged No- 
vember 9, 1864, and returned to Meigs 
county, where he followed bridge-build- 
ing until the spring of 1873, when he 
immigrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., and 
homesteaded the southeast quarter of sec- 
tion 28, township 10, range 16, where he 
still resides. 

Mr. Inman was one of the first to settle 
in Divide township, and, on account of 
the severe droughts and the grasshoppers 
which prevailed at that time, was unable 
to raise much grain for tiie first four 
j'ears. He worked at his trade in Kear- 
ney' at odd times, and was tluis able to 
provide for the family wants. Deer, elk 
and antelope were plentiful in those 
times, and furnished part of the family 
meat. 

Mr. Inman was married April 12, 1865, 
to Martha Cowdery, a native of Meigs 
county, Ohio, who- was born April 14, 



170 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



!1845. She is the daughter of George W. 
and Susan (Sayre) Cowdery, both natives 
of Meigs county, Ohio ; the former a law- 
3'er, was born January 15, 1820; the 
latter was born February 28, 1817. To 
Mr. and Mrs. David Inman there have 
been born nine children, as follows — 
Minerva A., born January 5, 1866 ; Rob- 
ert P., born July 23, 1868 ; Harry, born 
July 7, 1871 ; Stella E., born December 5, 
1873 ; Mary E., born April 13, 1876 ; Nora 
E., born March 14, 1879; George "W., 
born March 7, 1881 ; Eutli A., born Octo- 
ber 17, 1883, and David P., born August 
22, 1885. 



JOSEPH FITZ. Among the many 
fine and prosperous-looking places 
that greet the eye of a traveler on 
the main road running north from 
Kearney, through Divide township, is that 
of this gentleman. He was born in County 
Down, Ireland, September 15, 1839. and 
comes of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, 
Joseph Fitz, a cooper and gunsmith by 
trade, was a native of Scotland, born in 
the j'ear 1797 ; and his mother, Ellen 
(Murphy) Fitz, a native of Ireland, was 
born in 1808. There were eight chil- 
dren in the father's family — all boys. His 
parents were both zealous members of the 
Episcopal church. 

Mr. Fitz, the subject proper of this 
sketch, resided with his father in Ireland 
until eighteen years of age, coming to this 
country in July, 1847, and locating at 
Ledgedale, Wayne county. Pa. Here he 
resided for thirteen years, during which 
time he served an apprenticeship and 
worked at the carpent,er trade, and was 



overseer of teams for the Moss Tanning 
Company. In 1860 he removed to Bi\ad- 
ford county, and worked at carpentering 
for two years, after which he returned to 
Ledgedale, and in the spring of 1872, on 
account of the great demand for carpen- 
ters, caused b}' the big fire of the fall 
before, he moved to Chicago. Here he 
pursued his trade until the spring of 1874, 
when he concluded to seek his fortune in 
the then far West. He, accordingly, came 
to Buffalo count}' that spring, and pur- 
chased the southeast quarter of section 23, 
township 10,range 16, his present residence. 
The same spring he took a timber claim — 
the southwest quarter of section 14, same 
township and range. The following fall he 
bought two car loads of lumber from 
Chicago, built a small frame house, and 
broke a portion of his raw land. In 1876 
he had thirty acres in corn and fifty acres 
n wheat, but, on account of drought and 
grasshoppers, he lost all his corn and har- 
vested but three bushels of wheat to the 
acre. There was a general failure in crops 
that year, and man}' settlei's became dis- 
couraged and left the country. Mr. Fitz 
offered the quarter section on which he 
lived for $400, but could not sell even at 
that low figure. He has had good average 
crops ever since, and a palatial residence, 
together with other valuable improve- 
ments, show his prosperity and speak 
for his industrious and economical habits. 
In the meantime, however, he worked 
at his trade for ten months in Chicago. 
He has in all three hundred and twenty 
acres of the best land in Divide town- 
ship, and has broken in all one hundred 
and eighty acres. He has eleven acres 
of thrifty growing timber, which of itself 
is a valuable addition to a farm in this 



BUFFALO ('OCX TV 



171 



countn', where little timber is to be found. 
He is also owner of over eighty head of 
horses and cattle. 

Mr. Fitz was married April 15, 1867, to 
Elizabeth Patterson, wlio was born in the 
city of IJondout, Ulster county, IST. Y., 
July 9, 1851. Her father, Robert Patter- 
son, a native of Ireland, was born in 1828, 
and her mother, Jane (Henry) Patterson, 
also a native of Ireland, was born in 1830. 
There were three children in the father's 
family — one boy and two girls — of which 
Mrs. Fitz is the eldest. The union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Fitz has been blessed with a 
family of children, as follows — Jane, born 
August 7, 1869 (deceased) ; Robert P., 
born October 10, 1870; William J., born 
February 17, 1873; John H., born April 
3, 1875 (ileceased); Lilly M., born May 
23, 1878 ; Jane E., born Decenaber 9, ISSO. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fitz- are both members of 
the Presb^'terian church, and take an 
active interest in church affairs. The 
former has been a member of the church 
since 1877; the latter, since October, 1869. 
Mr. Fitz affiliates with the republican 
pai'ty. 



FRANK RICE, one of the highly 
])rosperous and influential farmers 
of Divide townsliip,Buffalo county, 
Nel)r., was born in Hamilton county, Oiiio, 
November 20, 1835. His father, Jesse 
Rice, was a native of West Virginia, born 
in the year 1812. At an early age Jesse 
emigrated with his father's family to 
Hamilton county, Ohio, where he learned 
the trade of a blacksmith, which he fol 
lowed for some years. Here he met and 
married, in 1834-, Amassie Erskine, which 



union was blessed with eight children — 
five boys and three girls. He moved to 
Peoria, 111., in 1836, where for the re- 
mainder of his life he was engaged as a 
steamboat engineer on the Mississippi and 
Illinois rivers. He died at Peoria in 1874 ; 
his wife survived him but two years, dying 
in 1876. 

Frank Rice, the subject of this sketch, 
began life on his c^wn account at the age 
of nineteen, serving an apprenticeship of 
one year at t^'pe-setting in the office of 
the Peoria 2lorning JVeics. He became 
quite proficient in the typographical art 
and afterwards worked on the Lacon 
Gazette, a paper published at Lacon, 111. 
For several years he ran an engine in sev- 
eral large distilleries at Peoria, and in 1862 
moved to Fulton county, 111., where he 
engaged in the distilling business for live 
years. In 1867 he emigrated to Linn 
count}', Iowa, and engaged in milling for 
one year, then returned to Fulton county, 
111., and engaged in farming. In 1869 
he moved to Clinton count}% Iowa, where 
he engaged in the distilling business. He 
came to Buffalo county, October 31, 1882 
and bought four hundred acres of the 
choicest land in the township, to which he 
has since added a quarter section, making 
in all five hundred and sixty acres, on which 
he now resides. Mr. Rice is one of the most 
extensive farmers in the count3\ having 
rai.sed this 3'ear over eight hundred acres 
of crop — princi]ially corn and fliix. He is 
one of the largest llax growers in the state, 
and this year raised and marketed thirty- 
five hundred bushels of seed. 

Mr. Rice was married September 2, 
1859, to Joanna Kline, wlio was born in 
Prussia, but, coming to this country at the 
age of ten j^ears, has little remembrance 



172 



BUFFALO CnuXTY 



of her ancestors. She was reared by an 
English family at Peoria, 111. By her he 
has two sons — Julian, born May 31, 1860, 
and Clarence, born December 3, 1868. 

Mr. Rice is a republican in politics and 
has served a term of two j'ears as super- 
visor of his township and has just been 
re-elected for another term. He is a 
stronjT high license man and don't believe 
in sumptuary legislation of any kind. 



JOHN F. YOUNG is one of the earli- 
est settlers of Buffalo county, 
and a man much respected 
for his honorable and upright 
course in life. He was born in Union 
county, 111., May 20, 1843. His father, 
Alexander Young, a farmer b}' occupation, 
was a native of Kentucky, and was born 
April 30, 1803. He died in 1844 at the 
age of forty-one years. His mother, 
Margaret (Wilgus) Young, is a native of 
Pennsylvania, and was born October 2, 
1809. She is still living, hale and hearty, 
at eighty years of age. There were eight 
children in the father's family , as follows — 
Elizabeth. Sarah A., Hester, Eliot, Nancy, 
Julia, Mary and John F. The father died 
when John F., whose name appears at the 
head of this sketch, was a mere babe, and 
when two years old his mother moved to 
Logan count}', Oliio, and in this antl Union 
county John F. spent his boyhood days. 
He attended the neighboring school and 
labored on the farm until the war broke 
out, when he was one of the first to 
respond to his country's call, enlisting 
April 25, 1861, in Company F, Eighth 
Indiana infantrv. He went with his 



regiment to "West Virginia, where, 
under Gen. Rosecrans, he participated 
in the battle of Rich Mountain. At 
the expiration of his time he was 
discharged August 6, 1861, at Indi- 
anapolis. He next enlisted, Se])tember 
28, 1861, at Columbus, Ohio, in Company 
K, First Ohio cavaliy, and was in Gen. 
Thomas' division until the re-organization 
of the cavalry into brigades in the fall of 
1862, after which he was in the Army of 
the Cumberland. April 15, 1862, he was 
taken sick with the typhoid fever at Pitts- 
burgh landing, and was sent to Camp 
Dennison hospital. Later, he obtained a 
thirty-day furlough, and returned home. 
Joining his regiment the latter part of 
July, he participated in an engagement at 
Tallahoma, Tenn., and the battle of 
Chickamauga in September, at which 
battle he was wounded in the left fore- 
arm and sent to the Cumberland hospital 
at Nashville, where he remained one 
month and was transferred to the hospital 
at Covington, Ky., where he was confined 
until the latter part of February following, 
when he returned to Nashville and re-en- 
listed as a veteran, March 11, 1864, in the 
same company and regiment. Altogether, 
he participated in battles and skirmishes 
at Calhoun, Tenn.; Decatur, Ala.; Sfoulton, 
Ala. ; Kennesaw ilountain. Noonday 
Creek, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jones- 
borough, Lovejoy Station, Rome, Dalton 
and Jaspei', Ga. ; Ebenezer Church, Ala. ; 
Selma, Ala., Columbus and Alpine, Ga. ; 
Liberty, Perryville and Franklin, Ky., 
and Dobson's Ford. Mr. Young was one 
of a small comi)any of men under Captain 
Joseph A. O. Yoeman, who, disguised in 
rebel uniform, was sent from Macon, Ga., 
in search of, and assisted in the capture 



BUFFALO COrXTY. 



173 



of, Jefferson Davis. They were twice 
taken prisoners by the Union forces but 
were released on producing papers show- 
ing their identity. Mr. Young, for his 
individual service in the capture of Jeff. 
Davis, received a special bounty from the 
government of $329.00. He was dis- 
charged at Hilton Head, S. C, September 
13, 1865, and now gets a pension of .$2.00 
per month for disabilities incurred in the 
Avar. 

He moved, in November, 1806, to Phil- 
adelphia, Pa., where he labored in the 
lumljer industry for three years, after 
which here turned to Ohio, and in Madison 
and Union counties was engaged in farm- 
ing until 1S73. In May, 1873, he emi- 
grated west and located in Buffalo county, 
Nebr.,takingaclaim in section 22, township 
10, range 16. In those days tluit section 
of the country was very sparseh' settled 
and wikl game was plentifid. Mr. Young 
rejjorts having frequently shot elk, ante- 
lojie and deer. There were very few 
buffalo remaining, but now and then one 
was to be seen. In 1S73 he had out ten 
acres of sod-corn, but, on account of ex- 
treme drought, got but little for his labor. 
In 1874 he broke up more land and put 
out more crops, but, the grasshoppers 
coming that year, he harvested only a 
a few bushels of wheat. He lost in like 
manner his corn in 1875. In 1876 he put 
out larger crops than ever, but that year 
llio grasshoppers destroyed every growing 
tiling, and even ate tlie dry bark from 
off his bean poles. From seventy acres of 
wheat, that yeai', he harvested but thii'ty- 
tliree bushels. The suffering and priva- 
tion his family had to endure can better 
be imagined than described. The three 
following years brought good crops. In 



1880, he moved back to Ohio, locating at 
Marion, where, for six years, he had a 
fruit and confectionery store. In 1886, 
he returned to Buffalo county, Nebr., and 
has since been engaged in farming. 

He was married April 2, 1864, to Sarah 
E. King, who was born June 16, 1848, 
and is the adopted daughter of William 
and Elizabeth (Kimsey) King; the former 
was born June 15, 1797, and the latter, 
June 26, 1797. The union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Young has been blessed with the birth of 
eight children, as follows — Anna E., born 
October 20, 1866 ; Eliot (deceased), born 
July 26, 1869 ; Margaret, born November 
8, 1870; Joanna (tleceased) born February 
11, 1873; Nellie C, born August 20, 1875; 
"William R., born July 11, 1877 ; Bessie M., 
born June 25, 1881, and John M., born 
April 7, 18S3. 

Mr. and Mrs. Young are both active 
members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and have so reared their children 
in that belief that their home is one which 
mav trulv be characterized a model home. 



SAMUEL M. FOIINEY is a prosper- 
ous farmer in Divide township, 
Buffalo county, Nebr., much re- 
spected by his neighbors and acquaint- 
ances for his honesty and integrity. He 
was born October 23, 1836, in Somerset 
county. Pa., His father, Michael Forney, 
a farmer by occu|iation, was also a native 
of Somerset county. Pa , and was born in 
the year 1811. His mother, Rachel (Hor- 
ner) Forney, was likewise a native of the 
same county and state, and was born May 
5, 1817. There were ten children in the 
father's famil}', as follows — Mary, Samuel, 



174 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



Edmuntl, Sally, David, John, Susan, Cath- 
arine A., ISTancy, and Amanda. The 
paternal grandfather, John Forney, a far- 
mer, carpenter and minister in the Dunkard 
church, was born in the year 1770, and 
married Susannah Beachly. Of the other 
grand parents, little or nothing is known. 

Samnel M., tlie subject of tliis sketch, 
resided at home witli his father in Somer- 
set county until twenty-one years of age, 
attending school and helping on the farm, 
and then moved with his father to Olney, 
Richmond county. 111., where he engaged 
in farming, which he continued until 
March, 1881, when he emigrated west and 
located in Buffalo count}', Nebr., purchas- 
ing his present farm — a timber claim at 
that time — in section 24, township 10, range 
16, which he afterwards entered as a 
homestead. Mr. Forney is an industrious 
farmer and has raised good crops every 
j'ear since he came. His wheat has aver- 
aged him from fifteen to twent3'-two 
bushels per acre, and oats about fort}' five 
bushels per acre. He now has one hun- 
dred and twenty acres broken in all. 

He was married September 18, 1862, to 
Catharine Kimmel, who was born Decem- 
ber 9, 1845, and is the daughter of Jacob 
and Nancy (Tombaugli) Kimmel, both 
natives of Stark county, Ohio; the former 
was born in 1820 and the latter in 1825. 
Tiiere were ten children in her father's 
family — four boys and six girls— as fol- 
lows — Johnatlian, Catherine, Mathias, 
Sarah, Louis, Serena, two that died in in- 
fanc}"-, Elizabeth and Susan. 

The union in marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Forney has been blessed with the birth of 
eight children, as follows — Nancy, born 
September 10, 1863 ; Rachel (deceased), 
born December 29, 1864; Susan, born 



August 15,1866; Lydia, born July 19, 
1868; Elizabeth and Edmund (twins), born 
July 6, 1871 (the former of whom is de- 
ceased) ; Mar}', born January 20, 187 7, 
and Martha, born March 15, 1S79. 

Mr. and Mrs. Forney are l)oth believers 
in the Dunkard faith, like all their ances- 
try, as far back as they are able to trace. 
Mr. Forney was appointed minister in the 
church in 1859 and for thirty years has 
filled that appointment, together with 
his other duties. Politically, he is a re- 
publican. 



GEORGE D. ASPINWALL, the 
subject of this sketch, was born 
in Henderson, Jefferson county, 
N. Y., August 19, 1849. He is a son of 
Joel A. Aspinwall, a native of A^ermont 
but now residing in Jefferson county, Wis- 
consin. His mother was a native of New 
York, and bore the maiden name of Sarah 
E. Rose. She died in Jefferson county. 
Wis., in March, 1858, at the age of thirty- 
six. The Asi)inwall family are of Eng- 
lish extraction, the original ancestor on 
American soil being the great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. 

In 1850 Mr. Aspinwall moved with his 
parents to AVisconsin, where he was reared 
on his father's farm. He is the eldest of 
three children, of whom Salmon C. lives 
in Wisconsin, and Sarah E., wife of Mer- 
ritt Rose, resides in Jefferson county, N. 
Y. He received a common school educa- 
tion and followed farming up to Decem- 
ber, 1880. He immigrated to Nebraska, 
and settled in Buffalo county, where he 
took up a claim in December, 1873. Here 
he endured the hardships of pioneer life and 




GEORGE D. ASPINWALL. 



BUFFALO CO I XT Y 



tlie deprivations of the famous grasshopper 
period. He has worked himself up and no 
one can better appreciate the luxuries and 
conveniences of life than one of these old- 
timers who has known what it is to see the 
fruits of years of toil swept away b}^ such 
calamities as tlie grasshopper scourge, and 
know what it is to be in want in a land 
where money has no purchasing power. 

In December, 1880, he left the farm 
and moved to Kearney, where he has 
since resided. January 1, 1881, he was 
ajipointed deputy county clerk, the duties 
of which position he performed the suc- 
ceeding two 3'ears. He then began busi- 
ness on his own account as a real estate 
and loan agent, in which he continued 
onl}' one }"ear, when he was elected clerk 
of the district court, his term of office 
exjiiring in 1SS7. In this position he gave 
general satisfaction. At the expiration of 
his term of office he again opened a real 
estate, loan and abstract office, which he 
continued to operate till April, 1890, when 
he was elected secretary and general man- 
ager of the Midwav Loan and Trust Com- 
i)anv and cashier of the Kearnev Savings 
Bank. lie assisted in the oi'ganization of 
and is a large stock-holder in both of these 
institutions. He was married, April 4, 
1872, to Miss Cecelia I., daughter of Har- 
vey Ransom, of Jefferson county, Wis. 
She shared with her husband the hard- 
siiips of frontier life and proved a help- 
mate and comfort in times that tried 
men's souls. 

No man is better known in Buffalo 
county than Mr. Aspinwall. His strict 
adherence to principle, sterling integrity 
and business ability render him one of 
Kearney's leading business men and most 
substantial citizens; always alive to every 



public movement for the common good, lie 
is personally popular with all classes. Con- 
servative without being non-progressive, 
generous without being extravagant, 
he ranks among the safe, level-headed 
men of the community. His home is as 
unostentatious and simple as his business 
career has been upright and successful. In 
his little family circle, tranquil and happy, 
we leave him to the enjoyment of the 
peace and plenty, which a lifetime of pa- 
tient untiring industry has bequeathed 
him. 



A" 



LEXANDEE BRUKER is an early 
settler of Buffalo county, Nebr., 
and one of the most prosper- 
ous fanners in Divide township. He 
was born June 17, 1812, in Alsace, France, 
and came to America in 1854, when but 
twelve years of age. He located at Bur- 
lington, Iowa, and secured employment at 
one of the hotels, where lie labored for 
nearl}' two years. He next procured a 
position in a job-printing office, which he 
held for two years. Having been econom- 
ical in his habits, he saved quite a little 
sum of money and leased land near Bur- 
lington for nine years and engaged in rais- 
ing fruit and making wine. He followed 
this industry until the war broke out, 
when, true to the country which he had 
adopted, he enlisted, in September, 1861, 
in the First United States lancers. The 
troops camped near Burlington for two 
months and then disbanded. He next en- 
listed, November 11, 1861, in Compan}' H, 
Eleventh Illinois cavalry, which was made 
up at Peoria, 111. Under this enlistment, 
he participated in the battle of Pittsburg 



178 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



Landing and the first siege of Corinth, 
after which, for some time, he was on duty 
as a scout. On account of weak lungs and 
liver trouble, he was discharged from 
further service, July 6, 1862. He grew 
better of his ailments and in September of 
tiie same 3'ear, enlisted in Company E, 
Twenty-fifth Iowa regiment. He was able 
to continue with his regiment but two 
weeks, when his health failed him and he 
was obliged to abandon entirelj' the expe- 
dition. He returned to Burlington, Iowa, 
where he followed fanning until he emi- 
grated west and located in Buffalocounty 
in October, 1875, filing claims on 160 acres 
in section 6, township 10, range 16, on which 
he still resides. The country immediately 
surrounding him was, at that time, new 
and very sparsely settled, his nearest 
neighbor living some three miles distant. 
The following year he broke a portion of 
his land and put it into corn. His crop 
flourished for a time and gave promise of 
an abundant harvest, but in August the 
grasshoppers came and devoured it all. He 
succeeded in smoking them off the first 
time the\^ came, but three weeks later 
they came in such abundance that he could 
do nothing but submit to the inevitable. 
That summer and fall he was compelled to 
live on corn bread, barley and wild game 
— -the latter consisting of deer, elk and 
jack-rabbits, which were quite plentiful in 
those days, Mr. Bruker having seen, near 
ills place, one drove of fifteen elk. He 
drove his team back to Burlington that 
fall and spent the winter there, returning 
in the spring. He has had good average 
crops since the grasshopper times and now 
has a well improved farm, with 120 acres 
broken and neat frame buildings. 

Mr. Bruker was married June 15, 1881, 



to Julia Streit, who is a native of Austria, 
born June 4, 1858, and came to this 
country, April 11, 1884-. The}' are both 
members of the Catholic church. In pol- 
itics, Mr. Bruker is a republican. 



RN. VOLK. Although but few 
years a resident of Elm Creek, 
Mr. Volk has become a valued 
citizen by the publication of Ths Elm 
Creel- Sun. His father, John Volk, was a 
native of New York City, and was born 
in ISOi. He was a vei-y prosperous man 
in business, being for years proprietor of 
an extensive chair manufactory in his 
native city. In 1840 he moved to New 
Jersey and there remained till death, 
which occurred in 1887. He was an active 
member of the Pi'esbyterian cimi-ch and 
his death caused a long-felt vacancy. Mr. 
Volk was a supporter of the whig plat- 
form, and when that party merged into 
the republican, he still remained loyal to 
their principles. In 1826 Mr. Volk was 
married to Miss Rebecca Bennett, a native 
of New Jersey, also a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. For \'ears slie was an 
untiring and faithful worker and unto her 
might the Master truthfully' say : "Well 
done, good and faithful servant." Jlr. 
and Mrs. Volk shared in tiie choicest bless- 
ings of earth, for to them were given 
eleven children, viz. — Henrietta, William, 
Thomas, Christiana, Abram (died when 
twenty-three years old), Maria (died when 
an infant), John, Samuel, Silas, Mary and 
E. N". E. N. Volk was born in Croton, 
N. J., in IS-i-i. When two years of age 
his parents moved to Flemington, N. J., 
where his father was postmaster. At the 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



170 



age of nineteen he went to Trenton, N. J., 
as compositor on a daily newspaper, and 
there remained twenty years. He then 
came West, locating first at Plum Creek, 
but soon afterwards moved to Elm Creek, 
Buffalo county, Nebr., where he still 
resides. His first issue of The Elm Creek 
Sun was on June 2, 18S6. 

In 1866, while in Trenton, N. J., Mr. 
Volk was united in marriage to Miss Maiy 
E. Krier, of Trenton, by the Rev. John 
Heisler. Mrs. Mary E. Volk was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1850, and for j'ears has 
been an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. Six children have 
brought sunsiiine into their hearts and 
home, viz. — Eva (deceased), Bessie, Mary, 
liichey, George and Robert Newton (died 
September IS, 1886). Mr. Volk has served 
four years as clerk of Elm Creek township, 
and three years as clerk of the village of 
Elm Creek, Nebr. 



GEORGE MILBOURN. There are 
few more worthy of honorable 
mention in this biographical 
work tlian the subject of this memoir. 
Wiiile he has not achieved what the world 
calls greatness, he has gained the highest 
regard of his townsmen, and those with 
whom he is intimately associated. He is 
the son of Jacob Mil bourn, a native of 
Virginia, born in 1792. Jacob first moved 
to Ohio, settling in Carroll county, and 
thence to Columbiana county. He was 
for some time foreman of the Davis mills, 
after which he purchased the Ciiambers- 
burgh mills. Mr. Milbourn was a whig in 
politics. He was nuvrried in 1823 to Miss 
Marie Monohan, a native of Carroll county, 



Ohio. She was a member of the Quaker 
society, and continued a devout adheient 
to the faith until death. Seven children 
were born to them — Enos, Abigail, Jane, 
Henry (died in infancy), George, Samuel 
(deceased) and Washington, who was born 
in Carroll county, Ohio, and from there, 
with his parents, moved to Columbiana 
county and thence to Stark count}'. He 
tiiere learned the blacksmith trade. He 
then moved to Woodford county, HI , and 
there enlisted in the Union service, in the 
Eighth Illinois infantry ; was in the en- 
gagement at Mobile and was mustered out 
at New Orleans in 1865. In 1872 he 
located in Nebi'aska, settling in section 26, 
township 9, range 18, in Elm Creek town- 
ship, Buffalo countv. He married Susan 
Phflassheim in 1850, a native of Germany. 
Mrs. Milbourn has been a member of the 
Presbyterian church for years. They are 
the parents of six living children — George 
F., William F., Abraham L., Addie L., 
Dora, Rosa Ann, and Emma (died in 
infancy). 

George, the subject of this notice, was 
born in Ohio, in 1831 ; he migrated, with 
his parents, to Woodford county. 111., in 
1861 and there farmed till 1862. Being 
true to the impulses of a patriotic nature, 
he enlisted in the Hundred and Twelfth 
Illinois infantry, in 1862, at Galva, Henry 
county. 111. He was one hundred and 
twenty-two times under fire, and was in 
twenty-two principal engagements and 
onehundredskirmishes,and passed through 
thein all without receiving a wound. 
Following is a list of the engagements in 
which he participated : Monticello, Ky.; 
Richmond, Ky.; Calhoun, Philadelphia, 
Campbell Station, Knoxville, Beard's Sta- 
tion, Dandridge, Mud Creek and Kelley's 



180 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Ford, all in Tennessee; Pine Mountain, 
Ottoy Creek, Atlanta, Eough and Headl- 
and Jonesboro, all in Georgia ; Columbia, 
Franklin and JSTashville, all in Tennessee ; 
Fort Anderson, Town Creek, Wilmington 
and Goldsboro, all in North Carolina. lie 
was mustered out at Greensborough, N. C, 
and thence went to Chicago, and from 
there to Ohio, and in 1S67 he returned to 
Illinois. He remained there till 1871, at 
which date he came to Nebraska, settling 
on section 26, township 9, 1'ange 18 west, in 
Elm Creek township, Buffalo count3\ Mr. 
Milbourn is a supporter of the republican 
ticket, and is one of the most enthusiastic 
members of the G. A. R. organization. 

Mr. Milbourn was united in marriage in 
1868 to Miss Martha Moore, a native of 
White Oak Grove, 111. She is an active 
member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, and possesses congenial, motherly 
characteristics, which make her so beloved 
and admired by all who are intimate!}' 
associated with her. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Milbourn have been born thirteen chil- 
dren — L. M.,James,Lucy, Mary E.,Johnny, 
Tleson (deceased), Enos, Eddie, Reuben 
(deceased), Eunice M. (deceased), Allie, Car- 
rie (deceased), and Lottie Y. 



HENRY S. STEELE, one of the 
respected farmers of Elm Creek 
township, Buffalo county, Nebr., 
is the only son of James and Caroline 
Steele, natives of Yirginia. Mr. Steele, 
having lost his father and mother in early 
childhood, was thrown upon his own re- 
sources at a tender age. Without the 
caressing hand, the admonishino- words 
and earnest prayers of a loving mother, he 
was compelled to steer his own bark. He 



was a native of Yirginia, born in 1840 ; 
from there he moved to Ohio, settling in 
Ross county, thence to Fayette county, 
where he engaged in farming ; thence to 
Woodford county. III, remaining there 
seven years ; he then moved to Nebraska, 
in 1871, settling in Buffalo county. He 
was here through grasshopper times ; lost 
all his crops, excepting wheat, for three suc- 
cessive years ; but, not despairing of better 
times coming, he still continued to plant, 
and from 1877 has reaped good harvests. 

In 1870 Mr. Steele was married to Miss 
Mary Frances Lucas, a native of Kentucky 
born in 1851. She is connected with the 
Methodist Episcopal church, but for yeavs 
has been an invalid, consequently unable 
to take an active part in cluirch work, but 
at home lives a life consistent with her 
profession. Their family consists of six 
boys anil one girl, viz. — Laura May, born 
August 26, 1871 ; Charlie Lee, born January 
1,1876; Bertie, born March 22, 1881; Elmer 
and Ellsworth (twins), l)orn July 18, 18S1:; 
Clifford, born Sept. 30, 1885 ; Wm. Henry, 
born, Nov. 8, 1889. 

Mr. Steele enlisted at South Plymouth, 
Fayette county, Ohio, in Compaii}' A, 
Fifty-fourth Ohio infantry, under S. B. 
Yoeman, and was in the following engage- 
ments: Shiloh, Chickasaw Swamps, Fort 
Ileinman, Corinth, Yicksburg, Atlanta 
and Jonesburg, also in a number of skir- 
mishes. At Shiloh he had the bottom shot 
out of his canteen ; also had a minie-ball 
pass through his belt, his musket knocked 
out of his hand and just escaped a spent 
cannon-ball. Notwithstanding these nar- 
row escapes, Mr. Steele passed through 
over three 3'ears of service without receiv- 
inir a wound. He was mustered out in 
1864 at Cincinnati, Ohio. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



181 



ROBERT K. POTTER is one of the 
pioneer settlers of Elm Creek 
L. township, but this of itself does 
not entitle him to mention in this compi- 
lation of memoirs; there are many who 
shared with him the experiences of pioneer 
life whose names will not be perpetuated. 
Ability wisely directed and a magnani- 
mous nature, make him deserving of 
h(;norable mention. Mr. Potter is the son 
of Wellington and Elizabeth (Ailsworth) 
Potter; the former was born in Luzerne 
county, Pa., in 1825. In 1881 he came to 
Nebraska, settling in Elm Creek town- 
ship, I'ufFalo county, and there remained 
five year's, then returned to Luzerne county. 
Pa. He is a niachinest b}^ trade, i)ut of 
late rears has been ensaijed in farming. 
Politically, he is a supporter of the repub- 
lican ticket. He was married in 1850, 
at Packsville, Luzerne county. Pa., to Miss 
Elizabeth Ailsworth, a native of the same 
count}'. They are botii members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. To them 
were born four children, viz. — Robert K., 
Ella (Mrs. Skinner), living in Elm Creek; 
Edwin W., postmaster of Elm Creek, and 
Viola (Mrs. Price), living in Kansas. The 
paternal grandfather of Mr. I'otter was 
Robert Iv. Potter, a native of Rhode 
Island; his maternal grandfather, David 
Ailsworth, was a native of Pennsylvania. 
Robert K., Jr., the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Luzerne county. Pa., in 
1852. Tie remained at home till 18Gfi, 
when he encountered the stern realities of 
life for himself. He remained in Luzerne 
county till 1878, when he came West. 
While in Luzerne county he married Miss 
M. Burnette, a native of Pennsylvania, 
born in ISSfi. She was a member of the 
Presbyterian church, not alone in name 



but in heart, evincing it by a life of good 
works. To Mr. and Mrs. Potter were born 
five children, viz. — Libbie, Chandler, 
Willie, Carrie, and one, the fifth, that died 
in infancy. In 1881 Mrs. Potter died, 
and to her death the immortal words of 
Bryant are appi'opriate. She so lived that 
when the summons came to join the 
innumerable caravan which moves to that 
mysterious realm, by an unfaltering trust, 
she approached the grave like one who 
wraps the drapery of his couch about him 
and lies down to pleasant dreams. Mr. Pot- 
ter was next married to Miss Mao-ffie Dun- 
lap, and to them have been born two chil- 
dren. Mr. Potter has been eminent!}' 
successful in his business career, his suc- 
cess being greatly due to shrewdness and 
the closest attention to business. He is 
largely interesteil in different branches of 
business and all come under his immediate 
supervision. His stock business alone ap- 
proximates $300,000 annually. He is now 
but thirty-seven years old, and although 
he settled in Buffalo county but eleven 
years ago, with only a few dollars and the 
advantages of Nebraska for a start, he is 
now one of the representative business 
men of the county. Politically, Mr. Potter 
is a stanch republican, and is now repre- 
senting Buffalo county in the legislature. 



GEORGE E. MILLER, a well-to- 
do farmer of Buffalo county, is 
the third child of George Miller, 
Sr., a native of historic Virginia. The 
father was a man possessing those virtues 
that commanded the respect of all who 
formed his acquaintance. He was a car- 
penter by trade, and also engaged in farm- 



182 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



ing. In politics he was a republican. He 
moved from Virginia to Mason county, 
111., and in 1858 was united in matrimon}' 
to Miss Isabel Smith, of Warren county, 
111., but a native of Virginia. Mrs. Miller 
was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. Mr. and Mrs. Miller's home has 
been filled with the music of five children, 
viz. — J. C, a farmer in Buffalo county; 
Ida Bell (Mrs. Smith), in Dawson county ; 
George E.; Nora (Mrs. Heaton), in Buffalo 
county, and Susan (Mrs. McNim). 

George E. Miller was born in Logan 
county, 111., in 1866. From there he went 
to York county, Nebr., where he remained 
two years, thence he removed to Buffalo 
county, his present home. At the age of 
fifteen he began life for himself. He 
started with nothing, and now owns a 
well-improved quarter section, with all the 
necessary farming implements. Mr. Miller 
is a young man, favorably known for 
thrift, honesty and sobriety. He was mar- 
ried to Miss Mollie Bartrop in 1888, Judge 
Glespie officiating. Mrs. Miller is a na- 
tive of Ohio, born in 1871. To them has 
been born one child — Marrette, December 
5, 1888. Mr. Miller is a republican in 
politics. 



J 



OHN P. AKENDT is the son of 
Michael and Mary (Ketch) 
Arendt; the former was a native of 
France, and there remained till death, 
which occurred in 1887. He was engaged 
in farming, taking special interest in rais- 
ing thorougiibred horses. Mr. Arendt, at 
the time of liis death, was in very good 
circumstances. He was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mary Ketch, and he and wife 



were members of the Catholic church. 
Charity was one of his characteristic 
graces, of which the following is sufficient 
proof: A traveler was thrown from his 
conveyance and had his leg broken ; Mr. 
Arendt took him to his home and cared 
for him as he would for his own son, and 
when he was sufficiently recovered, he 
went on his way, Mr. Arendt asking no 
compensation. Their family consisted of 
two girls and five boys — Michael, living in 
France ; John, in France ; Cristine, in 
France ; Michael died in Wisconsin ; 
Mary, living in Minnesota; llanos, lives 
in France, and John P., the subject of this 
memoir, who was born in Fiance in 1832. 
When fourteen years of age, he came to 
America, stopping in Milwaukee, Wis.; 
thence he moved to Kewaunee county. 
Wis., and there engaged in farming and 
lumbering. At the breaking out of the 
war, he was sheriff of Kewaunee county, 
but, true to the impulses of a patriotic 
nature, he resigned and enlisted in the 
Twenty-seventh Wisconsin infantry volun- 
teers, Company A, under Capt. Cunning- 
ham. On a march from Little Rock, 
Ark., to Mobile, Ala., he was sunstruck. 
from which he has suffered ever since. He 
was mustered out at Brownsville, Tex., the 
29th of August, 1865. He then returned 
to Kewaunee county. Wis., and there re- 
mained until coming to Nebraska in 1872, 
first locating on section 28, township 9, 
range 18 west. Elm Creek township, thence 
moving to Elm Creek village, where he 
engaged in the mercantile »and lumber 
business, continuing -in this business till 
1876, at which time he retired. Mr. 
Arendt laid out the present site of Elm 
Creek, platting eight\' acres. He was its 
first postmaster and also one of the first 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



i83 



commissioners of Buffalo county. He was 
married, in 1851), to Miss Catlierine Tyler, 
a native of Buffalo, N. Y. To them were 
born seven children, viz. — Mary (Mrs. 
Carey), in Overton, Nebr. ; Annie (Mrs. 
Bond), in Elm Creek, Nebr. ; Minnie 
(Mrs. Council), in Boulder, Colo. ; George, 
now in the employ of the U. P. R. R. 
Co., as agent at Elm Creek, which posi- 
tion he has filled creditably tiiree years; 
Maggie, Eva and Rose. 

In politics, Mr. Arendt is a democrat, 
anil lie anil family are identified with the 
Catholic church. 



DAVID I. BROWN, a highly re- 
spected resident of Elm Creek, 
Buffalo count}', is a native of 
Highland county, Ohio, and is the tenth 
in a family of eleven children. His father, 
Edgar Brown, was a native of Culpeper 
county, Va., born in 1796, but wiien four 
years of age, moved with his parents to 
Highland county, Ohio. Although he 
attended but three months of school, by 
economizing time and studying whenev'er 
opportunity offered itself, he became quite 
proficient as a civil engineer. He was a 
preaciier in the Quaker society for a num- 
ber of years, and in this capacity was popu- 
larly known throughout Ohio. lie was 
distinguished as a kind, hospitable and gen- 
erous man, always ready to helj) the needy. 
In ])olitics he was a su])porter of the re- 
publican platform. He was married to 
Miss Mary Huff (born, 1800, died 1874), a 
native of North Carolina, who, also, was a 
member of the Quaker society, and, true 
to tjuaker characteristics, was prompt to 



respond to calls for help in times of sick- 
ness. The following children were born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Brown, viz. — Sarali (died 
1871) ; three of the older died in infancy ; 
William (died 1870); James (lives in 
Salem, Henry county, Iowa, engaged in 
farming and stock-raising); Lydia (lives in 
Ohio); Clinton (who was a practicing 
physician, was killed by overwork, dying 
in 1871:); Elgar (died in 1884, was engaged 
in farming and teaching, and was princi- 
pal of the public schools of Rainsborough, 
and was quite a clever ])oet) ; David I, and 
Mary (Mrs. Barrerre, who was a graduate 
of the female seminary of Hillsborough, 
Ohio, and later became a teacher in that 
institution). 

David I., the subject of this sketch, re- 
mained in Highland county, Ohio, the 
place of his nativity, till 1858, at which 
time he migrated to Missouri ; there he 
engaged in teaching till the breaking out 
of the war, when he returned to Ohio. 
He enlisted at Rainsborough in 1863, in 
the Second Ohio heavy artillery, and was 
principally on garrison duty, and was mus- 
tered out at Nashville, Tenn., in 1865. 
While in the service he contracted chronic 
diarrhoea. Mr. Brown was married, in 
1862, to Miss Mare E. Davis, a native of 
Ohio, Rev. A. Shinn performing the cere- 
mony. To them have been born six chil- 
dren, viz.— Carrie, born 1863; Mary J., 
born 1866 (married March, 1890); Wash- 
ington E., born 1867; Ella K., born 1869 
(died March 4, 1876); William O., born 
1871, and Eddy, born 1873. Mrs. Brown 
was a devout member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church, activel}' engaged 
in all the departments of its woi'k. She 
departed tiiis life in 1875. Mr. Brown 
settled in section 4, township 8, range 



184 



BUFFALO rOFNTY. 



18, Elm Creek township, Buffalo county, 
and tliere remained for a few years, then 
moved to the village of Elm Creek. 

Mr. Brown is a republican in politics. 
He has at various times held different 
offices in the gift of the people. He was 
commissioner of Buffalo count\' in 1879- 
80 and 1881, and for tliirteen years has 
been justice of the peace and six years 
postmaster at Elm Creek. In 1881 Mr. 
Brown took for his second wife Miss Carrie 
P. Gile, a native of Iowa, born in 1860, 
Rev. A. Collins officiating. Mrs. Brown 
was a successful teacher for two years in 
Iowa before coming to Nebraska, then 
taught one vear in Nebraska. To them 
have been born two children, viz. — Jesse 
G. (born 1882) and Leslie M. (born 1884)- 

Mrs. Brown is a native of Allamakee 
county, Iowa, and is the fourth of a family 
of seven children, her father and motlier 
settling there in 1852. Seven children 
were born to them — Gordon H., born in 
1853, burned in a ])rairie fire in Dakota in 
1879; Edward S., born in 1865; Wells, 
born in 1857; Carrie P., born in 1860; 
Ida M., born in 1862; Pailef S., born in 
1864, and William, born in 1867. 



WILLIAM C. KEEP. Compara- 
tively speaking, few homes in 
this broad land retain for gen- 
erations family faces and kindred. In a few 
years and the "boys and girls " have left 
the home of their nativity and wandered 
into other and distant lands to make for 
themselves a home and fortune. It must 
be so, to verify the old saying that " West- 
ward tlie star of Empire takes its way." 



Among the vast number tliat has swelled 
the tide of westward emigration is the 
subject of this sketch, William C. Keep. 
He is the son of Joel Keep, a native of 
Massachusetts, and was born in 1809. 
Ilis paternal grandfather was Samuel 
Keep, also a native of Massachusetts ; his 
maternal grandfather was John Han- 
drick, a native of Massachusetts, and his 
maternal grandmother was Dortha 
( Gibbs ) Handrick, a native of Vermont. 
From Connecticut, Joel Keep moved to 
Ann Arbor, Mich., thence to Pennsylva- 
nia, where he remained until death, which 
occurred in 1881, at New Milford, Susque- 
hanna county. His occupation was fann- 
ing, but for some time he was engaged in 
the lumber business. He possessed excel- 
lent business qualities and iiis honest}' and 
generosity won the respect of all wlio 
knew him. In politics he was a republi- 
can. In 1855, he married Miss Lucj' Ann 
Handrick, a native of New Milford, Penn. 
Mrs. Keep was born in 1822, and has born 
her husband three children, two sons and 
one daughter, all of whom are living, viz. — 
William C, Edwin A. and Mary F. ( Keep) 
Very, all living in Dawson count}', Nebr., 
having come West in April, 1890, and oc- 
cupied in farming. For many years Mrs. 
Keep has been an active member and sup- 
porter of the Presbyterian church. 

William C. Keep was born in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1856. In 1879 he immigrated to 
Nebraska, locating in Elm Creek ; soon 
after he took a homestead and timber 
claim in section 24, townshi]) 10, range 19, 
Dawson county, which he still owns. 
These form only a part of his possessions. 

He is a republican in ])olitics, and at 
present a much esteemed member of the 
town council. In 1886 he was married, at 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



185 



Elm Creek, to Miss Elizabeth G. Wells, 
the ceremony being performed by Rev. 
J. G. Hurlbert. Mrs. E. G. ( Wells ) Keep 
was born in Ilarrisville, Ohio, in 1S68. 
In 1881 her home was changed to Green 
Dale, Nebr., where she resided until her 



WALTER SIIREEYE is a na- 
tive of Norwicii, England, born 
January 31, 1850, and is the 
son of Alfred and Elizabeth (Davy) 
Shreeve, also natives of England. His 
maternal grandfather was heir to a large 
fortune, but lost it all in a chancery suit 
lasting twenty years. He was a con 
tractor in mason work by occupation. 
Tiie subject's father was a laborer, fish- 
ing, in season, in the English channel off 
the coast of Yarmouth. He came to New 
York City in the fall of 1852, and was 
there robbed of everything, including 
money, by baggage thieves. After a tei'- 
rible winter of sickness in New Y'orkCity, 
he moved to Medina, New Y'ork ; while 
there, in 1861, the subject's mother died, 
and in 1864 his father married again, his 
second wife being Mrs. Susan (Wholston) 
Greengrass, a native of England. His first 
wife bore him six children, viz. — Emma 
(Mrs. William Cobb), lives in Albion, N. 
Y.; Walter (the subject) ; Nellie (Mrs. 
Mooney), deceased ; Amanley, a carriage 
painter, lives in Lincoln, Nebr.; Alva E., 
lives in Dawes county, Nebr.; Libbie (died 
in infancy). To Mr. Shreeve's second 
marriage have been born two children, 
viz. — Fred and Libbie. Both are married. 
The former, with father and mother, lives 



in Marshal county, Dak.; the latter in 
New York State. Walter Shreeve, the 
subject of the sketch, when beginning life 
for himself was first em])loyed on the Erie 
canal as driver. He tried to enlist in the 
army as drummer boy in 1862-63, but his 
father prevented. He left tlie canal at 
Albany, N. Y., and went to New Y'ork 
City and shipped on the clipper David C. 
Crockett, A. M. Burgess, captain. It was 
freighted and bound for San Francisco, 
Cal., at which place they arrived in De- 
cember, 1864:, after one hundred and seven 
days' voyage, being the quickest trip that 
year, but one. The " Sea Serpent " of the 
same line made the trip in one hundred 
days. In San Francisco he left the clip- 
per and his pa}', then due, and enlisted in 
Company B, Third United States artillery, 
February 17, 1865, stationed at Camp 
Reynolds, Angel Island, San Francisco 
harbor. It was ordered to recruit and join 
the regiment before Richmond, but Ijefore 
enough men could be raised to till the 
company the battle was won. Then he 
was transferred to Battery D, Second 
United States artillery, and soon after sent 
to Black Point, San Francisco harbor, Cal., 
at which place he served the balance of 
his time, three years. He was discharged 
at Black Point, San Francisco harbor, Feb. 
ruary 17, 186S. On the 25th of the same 
month, he sailed on a " Vanderbilt " 
steamer for New Y^ork City, by way of 
the San Juan River and Graytown route 
through New Guatemala Isthmus; from 
New York he came to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., in 1872, landing at the old Kearney 
Station, with $5.37 cash. Board was S7 
per week, but fortunately he found em- 
ployment the next morning, carrying mail 
across the Platte river to Dobytown, Fort 



186 



BUFFALO COUNTY, 



Kearney and Sydenham, then called by 
Moses H. Sydenham, Centoria, the center 
of the United States of America, the future 
capital of the state and of the United 
States. After carrying mail a month he 
filed a soldier's homestead claim on lots 1, 
2, 3 and 4, in section 6, township 8, range 
Is west, in Buffalo county, near the sta- 
tion of Elm Creek, which claim he was 
obliged to sell on account of bad luck and 
sickness. Then he filed a pre-empted 
claim on the southeast quarter of section 
30, township 9, range 18, in the fall of 
1883, on which he made final proof May 
25, 1885, and on which he still resides. 
Has been a resident of Elm Creek since 
1872, except two years during the Black 
Hills excitement, which time was mostly 
spent in tlie employ of the Black Hills 
transfer company called the Pratt & Fer- 
ris, or P. & F. Outfit, the largest company 
hauling freight to the Hills. The years 
1881 and 1882 were spent in a trip through 
Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah 
and Colorado for health. He worked 
most of the winter of 1881 for the Kufus 
B. Hatch Company in getting out material 
for the first hotel built at the Mammoth 
Hot Springs in the National Park, Wyom- 
ing. A Mr. Ilobart was foreman, a 
brother of the company's president, Mr. 
Hobart, of New York City. 



MRS. MARY BARRON. There 
is, perhaps, none more worthy 
of special mention in this work 
than Mrs. Mary Barron. Her parents 
were natives of Ireland and devoted mem- 
bers of the Catholic church, and both 



were highly esteemed by rich and poor 
alike, for their kindness and generosit}' to 
those in need or distress. The father, 
John Powers, was a thrifty, frugal farmer. 
Her paternal grandfather, Patrick Powers, 
was also a native of Ireland and a farmer, 
and her paternal grandmother, Bridget 
Cunningham, was likewise a native of the 
same country. John Powers married, in 
Ireland, Miss Kittie Kennedy, and died 
in 1864 at the age of seventy-five years. 
After the death of her husband, Mrs. 
Powers came to America and remained 
five years, then returned to Ireland. To 
iier union with Mr. Powers were born 
eight children, viz. — Edward (deceased); 
Patrick and Thomas, who live in Ireland ; 
John (died at Vicksburg, Miss.,) ; Martin, 
living in New York City ; Margaret (de- 
ceased); Bridget, living in Australia; 
Johana (deceased), and Mar}', the subject 
of this memoir. In 1863, at the age of 
seventeen, she came to America from her 
native country, stopping first in Clinton 
county, Pa.; there she remained one year, 
and after atrip west returned to Pennsyl- 
vania and was married to Mr. William 
Barron, also a native of Ireland. Mr. 
Barron was born in 1840 and when twen- 
ty-three years of age immigrated to Amer- 
ica, locating in Pennsylvania. Soon after 
his marriage he moved to Omaha, Nebr., 
and from there to Elm Creek, where his 
widow still resides. He was a devoted 
and consistent member of the Catholic 
church, and every one who knew him 
esteemed him highl}' for his kindness of 
heart antl honorable dealing. Those per- 
sons who tried to honestly help themselves, 
always found a good friend and helper in 
Mr. Barron. For fifteen years he was 
section boss on the Union Pacific Rail- 



nUFFALO COUNTY 



187 



road, but in 1872 he pre-empted and turned 
it into a timber claim, in '74, what is now 
a well improved farm. He began life 
with nothing. In politics, Mr. Barron was 
a democrat ; was a member of the Order 
of United Workmen and also tlie Grange. 
While Mr. Barron was working on the 
railroad, he narrowly escaped death at the 
hands of the Indians. One morning upon 
reaching their place of work, he and a 
few others with him, discovered that 
seven Indians, not far away, were endeav- 
oring to surround him and his companions 
so as to cut off all chance of escape. The 
section men immediately started back 
toward Elm Creek. Mr. Barron had with 
him his gun and two bullets; one he fired 
at the Indian in front of him, but did no 
serious damage ; tlie second bullet did not 
kill the Indian, for he did not fire to kill, 
but to scare away, and it did scare. They 
then made their escape to Elm Creek. 



FEEDEKICK DAUL is a native of 
Germany — a country proverbial 
for the industry, thrift and fru- 
gality of its people — and was born in the 
year 1818, in Baden. He is the son of 
Frank and Urchale (Felming) Daul — the 
former born in 1775, the latter in 1780. 
Both were natives of Germany, and mem- 
bers of the Catholic cliurch from child- 
hood. Mr. Frank Daul's occupation was 
farming. Frederick Daul came to Amer- 
ica at the age of twenty-two, locating lirst 
in York State. From there he moved to 
Wisconsin, and in 1873 came to Nebraska, 
locating on section 31, township 9, range 
18 west. Soon after, he went across the 



line into Dawson county, homesteading on 
section 2, township 8, range 19, where he 
now resides. In politics, Mr. Daul is a 
democrat. While in Wisconsin he served 
as township assessor for two years ; also 
held the office of township treasurer. Mr. 
Daul was twice married. His first wife 
was Anna Dengal ; the second is Mary 
Martener, both natives of Germany. Five 
children were born by the first marriage, 
viz.— John, living in Buffalo county; Adam, 
at home ; Anna (Mrs. Nickle), living in 
Kearney county ; Catharine (Mrs. Mil- 
bourn), living in Buffalo county ; Maggie 
(Mrs. Milbourn), living in Dawson county. 
Wlien Mr. Daul came to Buffalo county 
there were only fifteen houses in the city 
of Kearney, and the Indians and buffalo 
roamed over the prairie. 

John, the eldest son, was born in 1852, 
in Washington county, Wisconsin. When 
twenty-one years of age he came to Ne- 
braska, settling in Buffalo county. He 
now resides on section 3, township 9, range 
18 west. His farm is well stocked with 
horses and cattle, and, together with his 
father, and brother Adam, he owns over 
1,000 acres of land. Politically, he is a 
democrat. In 1880 he married Miss Addie 
Milbourn, a native of Illinois, but then 
residing in Buffalo county, Nebraska. 
Two children have been born to them, 
viz. — Johnnie, in 1881, and Freddie, in 
1884. 



GEOKGE W. WITMER is the son 
of Jacob A. and Caroline (Swan- 
ger) Witmer, the former a native 
of Blair county. Pa. Jacob A. enlisted 
at Shippensburgh, in the Third Penn- 



188 



B UFFA L CO UXTY. 



sylvania caraliy, Company BT, and was in 
the engagement at Williamsburgh and An- 
tietam and in the Seven Days' fight. He was 
injured in the back by the falling of his 
horse, when crossing a trench, and this so 
disabled him that he received his discharge. 
He next enlisted in the Twelfth Pennsyl- 
vania, and was in the engagement at Win- 
chester. He was mustered out at Phila- 
delphia in 1865. He then returned to 
Blair county. Pa., Avhere he remained 
until coming to Nebraska, in 1881, settling 
in the northern part of Elm Creek town- 
ship. He was married to Miss Caroline 
S wanger, a native of Pennsylvania, in 1850. 
She was a member of the Methodist Epis- 
coi)al church and was a kind, exemplary 
christian woman, not known to have an 
enem\^ She died in 1880, followed by her 
husband four years later. G. W. "Witmer's 
paternal grandfather was Jacob Witmer; 
his paternal grandmother was Catherine 
Airs man) Witmer ; his maternal grand- 
fatlier was Peter S wanger ; and his mater- 
nal grandmother was Mary (Donohue) 
Swanger, all natives of Pennsylvania. Geo. 
W. Witmer, our subject, was born in Cum- 
berland county. Pa., in 1853. In 1865 
he moved with his parents to Blair county, 
and for a number of years was engaged in 
the plumbing and gasfitting business in 
Altoona, Pa. At the earnest solicitation 
of his father, he came to Nebraska in 1882, 
and settled on section 2, township 9, range 
18 west, in Elm Creek township, Buffalo 
county. Mr. Witmer is favorably known 
throughout the county as an intelligent, 
hospitable and prosperous farmer. He was 
married, in 1877,to Miss Elizai:ieth Lathero, 
a native of Huntington county. Pa., Rev. 
Lackey performing the ceremony. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Witmer two children have 



been born, viz. — Frankie H., August, 1885, 
and Carrie E., born December 8, 1887. 
Mr. and Mrs. Witmer are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. Politically, 
Mr. Witmer is a democrat. 



JOHN I. ULRICH, an industrious 
and thrifty farmer of Elm Creek 
township, Buffalo county, was born 
on the third of March, 1834, in 
Prussia, of German parentage. His father, 
Joseph Ulrich, was a man wiio commanded 
the highest respect of every one. He was 
a wagon-maker by trade, and also engaged 
in farming. For over twenty years he 
faithfull}' served the public as justice of 
the peace. He was a good man, and from 
childhood was a devoted member of the 
Catholic church. In 1828, at the home of 
her father, he was married to Miss Mar- 
garitte Meir, who was born in Prussia, in 
1801, and, with her husband, was a very 
consistent member of the Catliolic church. 
She was a very kind, tender and loving 
wife and mother. 

John I. Ulrich came to America in the 
summer of 1850, and worked at his trade 
in Dayton, Ohio, and at Fort Wayne, Ind. 
When the cholera broke out at the latter 
place, he went to Green Bay, Wis., and 
there continued at his trade for sixteen 
years. In 1873 he joined tlie tide of emi- 
gration, and settled in Elm Creek, Buffalo 
count}', on section 6, township 8, range 18 
west. He shared the common fate during 
"grasshopper times," and was left so des- 
titute that he would \evj quickly have 
returned had it been possible. But he 
staid through, and since then has had 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



189 



good crops every \'ear but one. lie has 
owned 1,340 acres, including the 8S0 acres 
given to his two elder sons, and upon 
which he has built two houses, and pro- 
vided each son with all necessary farming 
implements. Politically, Mr. Ulrich is in- 
dependent. In January, 1858, Mr. Ulrich 
was married to Miss Euphrosina Karcher, 
a native of Baden, German^^. She was 
born in 1836, and came to America in 
1857, settling in Green Ba}', Wis., and 
was married at New Franken, Brown 
county, that state. Both she and her hus- 
band are devoted members of the Catholic 
church, and at the present writing. Mr. 
Ulrich is causing to be built an addition 
to the church, which has become too small 
for present use. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich are the parents of 
eleven children, viz. — Joseph, in Buffalo 
county; Caroline (Mrs. Riger), in Cali- 
fornia; August, in Buffalo county; Anna 
(died 1861); Theresa (Mrs. Swayne), in 
Dawson county ; one still-born ; Conrad 
(died 1867) ; and Mary, Ursula, Eva and 
William, still at home. 



JOHN DEMUTH was born in Prussia 
Germany, in 1855. His father, John 
Demuth, Sr., was in comparatively 
good circumstances, and was a man 
liighly respected for his manly virtues. 
He came to America in 1856, locating 
first in New York, thence moving to 
Brown county, Wisconsin. He is a stanch 
democrat in politics, and has been a 
devout member of the Catholic church 
from childhood. His wife was Elizabeth 
Lieser, before marriage, a native of Ger- 



many and also a devout member of the 
Catholic church. To Mr. and Mrs. Demuth 
have been born four children, viz. — 
Matthias, lives in Fort Howard, Wis., 
John ; Elizabeth, lives in Green Bay, Wis., 
and the youngest died in infancy. 

John, our subject, immigrated to 
America in 1867, settling in Brown county, 
Wisconsin ; thence he came to Nebraska, 
in 1878, locating on section 10, townsliip 
9, range 18 west. Mr. Demuth began life 
in Nebraska in 1878 with comparatively 
nothing, but now has three hundred and 
twenty acres of well improved land, well 
stocked and supplied with all necessary 
farming implements. His success is due 
to his giving attention to the details of 
his business, economizing time as well as 
money. In 1887 he was married to Miss 
Anna Nitshe, a native of Austria, born 
in 1870. They are botii connected with 
the Catholic church. To them one son 
has been bora — Willie John, born Decem- 
ber 27, 1888. 



GEORGE W. SNYDER was born in 
Lyons, Wayne county, N. Y., in 
1849. He is the son of Sidne}'^ 
W. Snyder, of the same place, and a res 
ident until 1850, when he moved to 
Brancii county, Mich., where he resided 
until 1876, engaged in farming and black- 
smitliing. From Michigan he moved, 
with his famil}', consisting of wife and 
two children, to Buffalo county, Nebr., 
locating on section 20, township 9, range 
18 west. For years S. W. Snyder has been 
an active member of the Methodist Episco- 



190 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



pal church and was a local preacher for 
about fifteen years. Mr. Snyder is a repub- 
lican in politics. In 1848 he was married 
to Miss Susan Gordon, a native of Lyons, 
and a very exemplary lady. She was also 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, a quiet but active christian woman. 
She was born in 1830 and is the mother 
of four children, viz. — George and Adel- 
bert, living in Buffalo county, Nebr.; My- 
ron and Sarah, who both died when young. 
George Snyder, the subject, was about 
one year old when his parents moved to 
Michigan, where they remained until 
1876. He began for himself as an engi- 
neer, when twenty-two years of age. For 
three vears he had charge of an ensrine 
in a saw-mill and then, tor four years, was 
on one of the steamers plying between 
Chicago and Buffalo. He was once on a 
vessel that was wrecked near Ashtabula, 
Ohio, and out of the crew of eight, five 
were lost. The steamer was out from 
twelve o'clock at night until three o'clock 
the next afternoon in cold November 
weather, and only one-half a mile from 
shore. Mr. Snyder is a member of the 
masonic order and, in politics, is a repub- 
lican. In 1879 he was married to Miss 
Laura Magden, of Buffalo county, Nebr. 
She was born in Wayne county, N. Y., in 
184r2, and lived there till five years of age, 
then came to Nebraska in 1878 ; has 
taught school in four states, namely — 
Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska. 
She is a member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, and a great worker in the church 
and Sunday-school. To Mr. and Mrs. Sny- 
der have been born three ciiildren, viz. — 
one that died before being named ; Robert, 
born in 1883, and Gordon, born in 1887, 
both living at home. 



DAVID McCOMB was born in 
Dane county. Wis., in 1858. His 
father, Robert McComb, was a 
native of Ireland, was born in 1807 in 
county Down, and migrated to America, 
settling in Dane county, Wis. There he 
engaged in farming until 1872, when he 
immigrated to Furnas county, Nebr. Here 
he became very prosperous in stock-raising 
and speculating, and in 1882, while on a 
business trip to Wisconsin, he sickened 
and died. For years he had been an active 
and energetic member of the Christian 
church, and his presence and counsel were 
deeplv missed. He was a good man and 
very kind to the poor and distressed. He 
was so devoted to his church that he 
would often walk six or seven miles to at- 
tend service. In 1850 he was married to 
Miss Catherine Patterson, a native of 
Pittsburg, Pa., where she resided until 
her marriage. She was born in 1824 and 
is the mother of ten cluldren,viz. — William, 
in Furnas county, Nebr., farming and 
stock-raising ; Maggie ( Mrs. Crooks ), in 
Kearney, her husband being a carpenter ; 
James, in Furnas county, farming and 
stock-raising; John,in Furnas count3',f arm- 
ing and stock-raising; Robert, living in Wis- 
consin; Nancy (Mrs. Downing), in Kear- 
ney, her husband being in the lumber and 
grain business; Cliarles, in Furnas county, 
stock-raising; Amazon (Mrs. Banister), in 
Kearney, her husband being a speculator, 
and Mary (Mrs. Tuttle), whose husband 
is in the livery business. In 1875, after 
three years of traveling, David McComb 
located in Furnas county, Nebr. In 1883 
he moved to Elm Creek, to take the man- 
agement of the Downing Elevator Com- 
pany, where he still remains. He is a 
master workman of the A. O. U. W. In 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



191 



1879, at Wilson ville, Furnas county, he 
was married to Miss Clara Backus, a native 
of Iowa and born in 1862. She had been 
a teacher for some time and was also an 
active member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. She is the mother of two chil- 
dren, viz. — Eobert, born in 1882, and 
Harry, born in 1885. 



WC. PETTETT, is a native of 
England and the fourth child of 
Herbert Pettett, a farmer who 
formerly resided near Maidstone, Kent 
county, about fifty miles from London. 
The father was born in 1830 and in 1871 
immigrated with his family to America, 
locating near Port Byron, liock Island 
county, 111. There he was one of the 
most prosperous and energetic farmers of 
the county. In 1852, under the chime of 
Marden church bells, he was married to 
Amy Ann Iloneysett, a native of Sutton, 
Kent county, England, Rev. Deeds offi- 
ciating. Mrs. Amy Ann Pettett was born 
in 1832. She is an active member in the 
Methodist church in Illinois, and is a 
woman of great perseverance and energj^; 
she is very charitable to those that are in 
need. She i.s the mother of the following 
cliildren: Harriet, who married Edward 
(iilbert, a native of England, now living 
on a farm in Illinois ; Ellen, who married 
Mr. Genung, living on a farm in Illinois; 
George, died of consumption when nine- 
teen years of age ; W. C, A. E., and Al- 
fred, living in Buffalo county, Nebr., and 
Anna, who married Mr. Sallows, a native 
of Illinois, and now living in Illinois. 
A. E. Pettett was born in England in 



1859 and came with his parents to America. 
When twenty-one years of age he began 
farming for himself, having about $1,000 
to start with. After five years' farming 
in Illinois, and with about $1,500, he came 
to Nebraska, settling on section 5, town- 
ship 9, range 18 west. He now owns a 
well improved farm of two hundred acres 
well stocked. In politics Mr. Pettett is 
independent. For years Mr. Pettett has 
been an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church and has been class leader, 
also Sunday-school superintendent for 
several years. At Fairfield in Illinois in 
1881 he w^as married to Miss Mary E. 
Flickinger, a native of Illinois, also an 
active memberof the Methodist Ei)isc()pal 
church and also church organist for several 
years. To them have been born four 
children, viz. — Charles E., born in 1882 ; 
Rosa May, born in 1884r ; Anna Bertha, 
born in 1886 ; Susie Pearl, born in 1889. 

W. C. Pettett, an older brother and 
subject of this memoir, was born July 13, 
1858, in Marden, Kent county, England, 
and with his parents immigrated to Port 
Byron, Roclv Island county. 111. In 
1885 he immigrated to Nebraska, locating 
on section 5, township 9, range 18 west, 
in Buffalo county. Proper attention to 
his business has brought to him that suc- 
cess which always attends honest effort. 
He now owns a well improved farm of 
two hundred acres, well stocked. Politic- 
ally, Mr. Pettett is independent, being a 
strong alliance man at present. For 3'ears 
he has been an active member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and also a 
trustee and enthusiastic Sunday-school 
worker. Mr. Pettett was joined in mar- 
riage to Miss Annie B. McConnell, at the 
home of her parents, in Scott county,Iowa, 



193 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



on February 23, ISSl, by Eev. S. S. Kals- 
ton. Mrs. Pettett is a native of Allegheny 
county, Pa. In 1867, when ei^ht years 
old, she was taken by her parents to 
Port Byron, Eock Island county, 111., and 
in the spring of 1878 to Scott county, 
Iowa, where she was married. 

In 1889 lier parents, Andrew and Dorcas 
McOonnell, moved from Iowa to Nebraska, 
purchasing a farm in Cedar township, Buf- 
falo county, where they now reside. Mrs. 
Pettett's ancestors were among the earliest 
settlers of Pennsylvania ; her great-grand- 
father, Joseph Worley, being taken cap- 
tive by tlie Indians. Mrs. Pettett's father, 
Andrew M. McConnell, was born in the 
year 1820. He has always been a faith- 
ful member of the United Presbyterian 
churcii. His parents are some of the old 
settlei's of Pennsylvania. His occupation 
has always been fanning. He was married, 
in 1857, to Dorcas L. Allen, also a resident 
of same place. Their occupation was also 
farming. They were members of the 
Presbyterian church. Mrs. Pettett has 
five brothers and one sister. Joseph F., 
the oldest, married Miss Delia Edgington, 
and are living at Malcolm, Poweshiek 
county, Iowa ; Robert, died when nine- 
teen months old ; the other boys are living 
at home ; their names are David A., Albert 
M. and Clarence A. McConnell; her sister's 
name was Jennie H. Siie married Joseph 
Duncan, of Scott county, Iowa. They 
have since moved to Cedar township, 
Buffalo county, Nebr. When seventeen 
years of age, Mrs. Pettett joined the 
United Presbyterian church, and contin- 
ued in membership with that cliurch until 
coming to Nebraska, when she united with 
the Methodist Episcopal church at Elm 
Creek. Mr. and Mrs. Pettett are the 



parents of four children, viz. — Jennie Flor- 
ence, born January 4, 1883, in Illinois; 
Albert Finley, born December 1, 1881, in 
Illinois; William Robert, born March 31, 
1887, and Daisy Ellen, born December 20, 
1889, at Elm Creek, Nebr. 



ROSS GAMBLE, the subject of 
this biographical notice, is one of 
>_ Kearney's foremost business men 
and her chief benefactor. He is not an 
old settler, strictly speaking, but he has 
been in Kearney long enough and identi- 
fied with lier interests intimately enough 
to rank, in point of accomplishments, be- 
yond many who came even while the 
"buffalo were here." Mr. Gamble came 
to this country in 1879, reaching Kearney 
on the fourth day of July, that year. He 
has been a resident of the town continu- 
ously since, and is one of the few men 
who have made a success of all their busi- 
ness undertakings since coming here. 
Having a good record as a business man 
prior to tliat time, his biography will be of 
value to many and will be read with inter- 
est b}' all. 

Mr. Gamble is a native of Maine, having 
been born in the village of Linneus, 
county of Aroostook, that state, August 
15, 1831. He is of Scotch extraction, his 
parents being both natives of Scotland, 
where they were married. They came to 
this country, however, when young, where 
they began life. His father was Alexan- 
der Gamble, and his mother bore the 
maiden name of Mary Reed. In 1847, 
after their marriage, they moved to Rhode 
Island, and in 1850 to Wisconsin, settling 
in the vicinity of old Fort Winneberg, 
then on the outskirts of civilization. The 





ROSS GAMBLE. 



HUFF A I. (I COUNTY 



195 



old fort is no longer remembered, but 
Portage Cit}^, which has grown up on its 
site, is a town of some pretentions, and is 
recognized as the old family seat of this 
branch of the Gamble famil}' in the West. 
There the father died in 1876, aged sixty- 
six, and tlie mother in 1883, also well 
advanced in years. There the children, 
of which they had eight, the subject 
hereof being next to the oldest, grew up, 
and from that point took their several 
starts in life. 

From the dates already given, it will be 
seen that our subject was sixteen years of 
age when his parents moved to Wisconsin. 
Two years later he left home, went into 
the pinei'ies on the Wisconsin river and 
began life for himself. He at first went 
to work as a laborer in the lumber dis- 
tricts, accumulated some capital, and after- 
wards went into business for himself. He 
spent twenty -seven years of the best part 
of his life in this locality, and engaged in 
this business. His beo-innino- was humble 
enough, but his success in the end was 
complete. He built up one of the largest 
trades in the Northwest, and at the time 
he gave up his interest there had acquaint- 
ances and business connections in every 
town from Wansaw and Stephen's Point, 
where he operated to St. Louis, covering 
an area of several hundred miles, and em- 
bracingsomeof the largest lumber jobbing 
points, as well as general business centers, 
in the countr}'. Mr. Gamble decided to 
quit the lumber business in 1879 and to 
change his place of residence. He came, 
as above stated, to Nebraska that J'ear, 
and established a ranch twent3--five miles 
northwest of Kearney, in Buffalo count}', 
on the South Loup, and stocked it with 
cattle. A year and a half later he sold 



this and established another between the 
Dismal and Middle Loup, to the north- 
west, which he conducted successfully for 
four years. In the spring of 1884, he sold 
out his entire ranching interests and also 
his lumber interests in Wisconsin, a large 
part of which he had retained up to that 
date and purchased of AViley Bros., of 
Kearney, the Buffalo County Bank. This 
bank was then a private institution, and he 
conducted it as such until July, 1886, when 
having interested others in it, he re-organ- 
ized it as a national bank, increasing the 
capital from $60,000 to $100,000. Mr. 
Gamble became president and still holds 
that position. The Buffalo County Na- 
tional Bank is one of the most prosperous 
institutions of the kind in the cit\' of Kear- 
ney. It has paid good dividends from the 
beginning, and has accumulated a surplus 
of over $50,000, besides some of the best 
business men of Kearney and Buffalo 
county are stockholders in it, and its 
board of directors is composed of men 
of unquestioned ability and integrity. 
Mr. Gamble is the recognized head of the 
institution, and to his jiulgment and good 
management is due much of the success it 
has attained. In April, 1889, Mr. Gam- 
ble, in connection with others, organized 
the Midway Loan and Trust Company of 
Kearney, with a capital of $100,000. Of 
this he was elected treasurer and now 
holds that position. July following, he, 
with others, started the Kearney Savings 
Bank, organizing it under the state laws. 
It has a capital of $100,000. He is presi- 
dent of it. The Savings Bank is compara- 
tively new, but starts out under favorable 
auspices. It occupies an elegant three- 
stor}' brick block, on the corner of Cen- 
tral avenue and Twenty-third street. This 



196 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



is one of the most commodious and strik- 
ing buildings in tlie city. In its construc- 
tion Mr. Gamble has taken a lively inter- 
est and looks with some pride, as he has 
every reason to do, on the work accom- 
plished. Besides his interests in these 
three corporations, Mr. Gamble owns con- 
siderable realty in Kearney, and some 
also in Wisconsin, having a line farm in 
Columbia county, that state, and timber 
lands on the Wisconsin river. 

From these facts it is clear that Mr. 
Gamble's life has been an active and an 
eminently successful one, far more so than 
that of the average business man. The 
secret of his success, if there be any secret 
in it, is to be found in two qualities which 
he possesses in a large measure, namely, 
persevering industry and strict attention 
to business. He was brought up to hard 
work and his whole life has been one of 
constant, unremitting labor. He has es- 
chewed politics and the fatal allurements 
of office, and all other distracting pursuits 
and diversions, and concentrated his whole 
time and thought on his own personal 
affairs. And should one step into his 
office in the bank any time, he can always 
be found at iiis desk at work, receiving 
callers, considering applications for loans, 
answering letters and "ivino- directions 
al)out the business of the bank. His life 
is a splendid vindication of the dignity of 
labor and a most excellent example of the 
success that crowns attention to details. 
Yet when this is said the best has not been 
told of him. Men may make money by 
fortunate speculation, or they ma}' accu- 
mulate it bv niggardly practices, living 
hard themselves and denying help to 
others, or they may get it by the exercise 
of the better virtues of industry, persever- 



ance and reasonable self-denial, and yet 
their lives fall short of the true standard 
of manhood and fail to teach any valuable 
lasting lesson. The proper use of money 
is the true test of wisdom and the best 
evidence of manly character. If the sub- 
ject of this sketch has established a repu- 
tation for anything in the city of his 
adoption it is for disinterested public 
spirit, benevolence, charity. Giving wise- 
ly, yet with a liberal hand, his wealth has 
blessed all on whom it has been Ijestowed. 
The evidences are on every hand. To 
mention only a few of his contributions 
to public improvements : he gave for the 
erection of the Midway hotel, $600 ; to 
the Kearney Street Railway Company, 
§700 ; to the pickle factory, §250 ; to the 
pork packing establishment, $500 ; to the 
paper mill, $200 ; to the Enterprise news- 
pa])er, $1,000, and to the First Methodist 
church, $300. In smaller amounts he has 
contributed liberally' to numberless other 
purposes, and to the poor, destitute and 
ilistressed he always extends a helping 
hand. 

Mr. Gamble has a family — a wife anil 
two sons. He was mai'ried in Jul}', 1862, 
in Portage City, Wis. His wife was 
Elizabeth S., daughter of Russell Spicer, 
and she was born and reared in Portage 
City. Mr. Gamble's sons are grown, and 
each has an interest with and occujiics a 
position of trust under him; Albert T., 
the elder, being cashier of, and Walter R., 
teller in, the Buffalo County National 
Bank. 

Mr. Gamble and family attend the 
Methodist Episcopal church, of -which Mrs. 
Gamble is a member. He was a zealous 
member of the Masonic fraternity in for- 
mer years and took all the degrees con- 



BUFFALO CorXTY. 



107 



ferred in this state. Lately, however, he 
lias not been an active worker. In per- 
sonal appearance Mr. Gamble is plain and 
unpretentious. In conversation heissorae- 
wiiat reserved, unless warmed up on a 
subject in which he feels a special interest. 
He is very conservative, and, to one who 
tloes not know him, his slowness to act 
might be taken as an evidence of indecis- 
ion of character, but it is only his habitual 
way of feeling the ground before he steps. 
He has made but few false moves in life, 
and he owes it to the fact that he has al- 
ways insisted, whatever the pressure, on 
feeling his way and being assured of the 
security of his footing. Such men are 
usually men of positiveness, men of indi- 
vitluality, men of chai-acter. They are the 
ones around whom weaker natures gener- 
allv revolve. They are a recognized force 
in affairs. They do not say or do brilliant 
things. They have not taste or talent for 
shining. They weigh and consider. They 
see events as they shape themselves with 
reference to causes. They estimate things 
at their real value. To the rash they are 
often stumbling blocks ; to the weak of 
heart and short of sight they are towers of 
strength and beacons of light. Men who 
aspire to be leaders are often found in 
council with them. Perhaps the highest 
(luality of intellect ever attributed to them 
is " level-headedness." But " level-head- 
edness" in the race of life is much, and 
this joined to the heart that beats in ten- 
tier sympathy with the wants of strug- 
gling humanity, constitutes Heaven's best 
gift to the race. In these qualities the sub- 
ject of this brief biographical notice rises 
to the full stature of man. Mr. Gamble 
has a beautiful residence on Avenue "A," 
No. 2108, where he and his family reside. 



MARION H. SMITH was born in 
Marion county, Iowa, in 18.59. 
His father, Joseph Smith, was 
born in Pennsylvania, in 1834, and moved 
from there to Indiana, and from there to 
Iowa, and thence to California, locating 
in Woodland. He was a wagon-maker 
by trade, lie married Elizabeth Neal, in 
18.54. She was a native of (_)hio, born in 
1839, and to this union four children were 
born — Jennie and Williani, who live in 
California; ifarion, the subject of this 
sketch, and Cleo, now living in Indiana. 
Marion, at the tender age of ten, began to 
do for himself. The first twelve years of 
his self-dependenc}' were spent in Missouri 
and Iowa, and from the latter state he 
migrated to Nebraska, in 1882, and 
remained in the state three years, in the 
employ of S. E. Elack ; then went to 
Denver, Colo. He spent the summer in 
Denver, and was there engaged at the 
stock -yards, at §30 per month. By addi- 
tional money, earned by doing errands, 
at the end of three months he had saved 
about §125. He decided to return home 
on a visit, but on his way was robbed of 
his money. He consequently sought work, 
and was employed by S. II. Black, with 
whom he remained for six years. He 
gained the entire confidence of Mr. Black 
and all with whom he dealt. His word is 
considered as good as a bankable note. By 
frugality and good management, Mr. 
Smith, although young, has amassed a 
competency for himself and family the 
remainder of their lives. He owns one 
hundred and sixty -five acres of excellent 
land, town property, and a well established 
business. He married Mary Cox, a native of 
Missouri, in 1888. She is the daughter of 
Noah and Louise (Packer) Cox, the former a 



198 



BUFFALO covNrr. 



native of Indiana, born in 1887 ; the latter 
a native of Illinois, born in 1836, To Mr. 
and Mrs. Smith one child has been born 
to cheer their home — Cleo, born Decem- 
ber 17, 1888. Althouo-li Mr. Smith is not 
enthusiastic in politics, he is immutably a 
republican. 



SHERMAN UPTON. The sub- 
ject of this sketch is in the 
eighth generation of the Upton 
line, which is descended from the first 
Ameican progenitor, Jolin Upton, a Scotch- 
man by birth, who came to this country 
abmit the year 1650, and settled at what was 
then known as Salem Village, but for more 
than a century past has been known as 
Danvers, in Massachusetts. The maternal 
ancestors of his grandfather, Daniel 
Upton, are in direct descent from that 
eminent Puritan, Samuel Morse, who 
came from England in 1637, and settled 
in Dedham, Mass., and his own maternal 
ancestors trace back in direct line to John 
Moss, wlio came from England about the 
same date, and settled in New Haven 
Conn., inl63i). Sherman Upton is one of 
a family of four sons and six daughters, 
all of whom, with the parents, John B. 
Upton and Julia Sherman Upton, are now 
living. John B. Upton was one of a 
family of seven sons and six daughters, 
all of whom lived to years of maturity, 
and eleven were jiresent at the golden 
wedding of their parents, celebrated Sep- 
tember 30, 1871. Tiiese venerable grand- 
parents of our subject lived to celebrate 
the sixty-sixth anniversar}' of their mar- 
riage, Sherman Upton was born in 



Batavia, N. Y., June 9, 1858 ; removed 
with his parents to Lawrence, Van Buren 
county, Mich., in 1859; changed residence 
with the family to Decatur, same count}-, 
in 1869, and there entered upon tlie earn- 
est labors of life, attending public school 
andworkingon a farm during vacations. 
In 1875 he entered Olivet college, Mich., 
where he remained two years. The fam- 
ily changed residence, in 1876, to Big 
Rapids, Mecosta county, Mich., where our 
subject joined them on leaving Olivet. 

He entered Michiyan Agricultural Col- 
lege in the spring of 1878, and continued 
the course to graduation in August, 1881. 
The vacations from tliis course were filled 
with district school work. While in college 
his love of art work was much stimulated 
by the drawings that were given to him to 
ilo in illustration of scientific works, the 
most important of these Ijeing drawings 
of dissected bees, published in a work 
on bee culture, by Prof. Cook, of that col- 
lege. He also made great proficiency in 
character drawing, and, being chosen 
class prophet, gave the subject in a series of 
drawings in ink on glass, which, presented 
by the aid of a stereoptican, gave to his 
classmates views of the future that, how- 
ever little they may be realized, will never 
be forgotten, owing to the numerous sharp 
hits given to so many personal peculiari- 
ties. Upon leaving college, portrait work 
offered inducements, as also did illustrative 
newspaper work; but trade seeming to 
promise something more substantial, Ijc 
abandoned these in 1883, and entered upon 
a clei'kship in the iiardware trade with an 
uncle in Vermillion, Dak. He engaged in 
trade for himself in May, 1887, in Elm 
Creek, Nebr., following N. O. Calkins in 
the furniture and implement business. 



BUFFALO COUNTY, 



mo 



Being a man of versatile talent, and 
liaving a keen sense of the sentiment of 
human faces, it is no surprise that he has 
added photographing and portraits to his 
regular line. Having marked ability in the 
way of reproducing the peculiar natural 
l(j()k in the human face, so dear to friends 
and so hard to be secured, it is desirable 
that this departure from the regular, 
monotonous routine of business shall be a 
success, as it undoubtedly will be when fol- 
lowed to a finish, and Elm C're(>k can name 
among lior solid men, this portrait artist 
of hiu'li rank. 



JOSH FA BOYD, one of Buffalo 
county's prosperous fai'mers, was 
boiMi in 1850, in Woodford county, 
III. His father, George Boyd, a na- 
tive of Christian county, K}'., was born in 
ISKl. 

In 184:9, he pre-empted land in Wood- 
ford county. 111., and, being industrious, 
was soon in good circumstances. For forty 
3'eai*s he was a devoted member of the 
Christian church, being one of its liberal 
supporters ; also, the temperance cause 
received his liberal support. Honesty and 
sobriety were the ruling elements of his 
life. He was allied with the republican 
party from the beginning of Lincoln's ad- 
ministration, and for a number of 3'ears he 
was supervisor of Cruger township. 

His ]iarents were Hardy and Mary 
(Tosian) Boyd, who were born in Virginia, 
east of the Blue Ridge mountains, on the 
Potomac river. In ISiO, in Ho|)kinsville, 
Ky., he was married to Eliza J. Pierce, 
also a native of the same county and 
state ; she was born in 1822, and, like 



her husband, was a member of the Chris- 
tian church. Mr. Boyd passed from earth, 
November 14, 1890. 

Mr. and Mrs. Boyd were the parents of 
nine children, viz. — Lucy Ann (Mrs. 
Major), Illinois; Joshua, John, of Illinois; 
Sarah V. (Mrs. Hedges); Alice (Mrs. E. 
M. Boyd), deceased ; Susie, of Hlinois, 
deceased ; Charlica (Mrs. Miller); Peter and 
Belle died in infancy. 

Joshua Boyd, the subject of this sketch, 
began life for himself in 1873, and started 
with fifty acres of land and necessary 
farming implements. In 1884 he migrated 
to Elm Creek, Nebr., and located on sec- 
tion 27, township 9, range IS west. He 
now owns a quarter section, most of 
which is under cultivation, valued at $40 
per acre. Mr. Boyd is engaged in the 
stock business, and is the owner of some 
of that famous stock, La Perch (Bertrand) 
and was one of tho first to embark in the 
business in Buffalo county. Mr. Boyd is 
a republican in politics, also a member of 
the A. O. U. W. Lodge ; for many years 
he has been a member of the Christian 
church, always willing to respond to the 
calls for charit}^ In 1874, at Eureka, 111., 
he was married to Miss Calista R. Gould, 
a native of Virginia, having moved from 
Bethany, Va., to Eureka, 111., with her 
parents while young. Her father, Lewis 
B. Gould, was born in Brattleboro, Vt., 
in 1820. Her mother was a native of 
Bethany, Va. 

Mrs. Boyd is a member of the Methodist 
church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Boyd are the parents of 
eight children, viz. — Clarence R., Virginia 
Belle, Vida Ellen, Edward O., Susie M;iy, 
Mima Olive (living). Jay G. and Claudius 
J. died in infancy. 



200 



BUFFALO COUXTY. 



WILLIAM II. DEMPSTEE, 
farmer of Garfield town- 
ship, Buffalo county, Nebr., 
was born in Adaras county. 111., in May, 
1851, and was reared on a farm. Ilis 
fatiier, George Dempster, was a native of 
Ohio, who, when a young man, located in 
Illinois, and after living there for some 
3'ears, married Miss Elizabeth Lewton of 
that state. Some years after marrving, he 
came to Nebraska (in 1872), and is now a 
resident of Hail count}', this state. AVil- 
liam H. Dempster is the eldest of a family 
of ten children, all of whom are living in 
Nebraska, excepting one brother, who is 
in Minnesota. William H. came to Neb- 
raska in 1872 with his parents and other 
members of tiie family, and first located 
near Hastings, Hall county, where he pre- 
empted a quarter section of land while 
yet a single man, but made no improve- 
ments thereon. In 1876 he married j\Liss 
Augusta F., daughter of William H. and 
Mary A. Denman, who came from Illi- 
nois to Nebraska in 1858. Mr. Denman, 
a cattle ranchman, was a native of Ohio 
and died in 1886, at the age of sixty- 
eight years ; his widow is now about sev- 
enty-four years old. To the union of W. 
H. Dempster and wife were born five chil- 
dren, viz. — Mattie M., Edgar, Evelyn and 
Ella, all living, and a twin to Ella who 
died at three months of age. Mr. Demp- 
ster, after his marriage, resided in Hall 
county, until fall of 1880, moved to Buf- 
falo count\', and entered a homestead 
and also a timber claim, one quarter sec- 
tion each, on the east half of section 
20, township 12, range 14, about two 
miles from what is now Ravenna, and 
has ninety acres untler cultivation in 
mixed crops ; he also is engaged in stock- 



raising. When he first came to his pre- 
sent locality there had been but little 
improvement made, but he has seen rail- 
roads come in, towns spring up and the 
prairie put under cultivation and beautified. 
In the early day trading was done at Gib- 
bon, and deer and other game was the 
chief meat supply. Mr. Dempster and 
wife are members of the Christian church 
and stand high in the esteem of their 
neighbors. In politics, Mr. Dempster is 
a republican, was the first clerk of his 
townsiiip, and has been road overseer since 
its organization three years ago. 



FRITZ STARK, miller of Garfield 
township, Buffalo county, Nebr., 
was born in Holstein, Germany, 
November 28, 1834. His father, Fried- 
rich Wilhelm Stark, was superintendent of 
a large fai-m in the old country ; he mar- 
ried Luc}' Schall,and by her became tlie 
father of five children, of whom Fritz is 
the j'oungest. Fritz Stark came to Amer- 
ica alone, landing in New York, June Ifi, 
1864; from that city he went to Daven- 
port, Iowa, and for three years followed 
his trade as miller; from Davenport he 
came to Nebraska in Februarv, 1867, and 
until the first day of May of the same 
year resided at Omaha; thence he went 
to Grand Island, where he remained until 
October, 1870 ; then he moved to Fremont 
and to Council Bluffs, being employed as 
an elevator hand at the latter i)lace ; he 
next returned to Grand Island, in April, 
1871, and later started a saw-mill on Oak 
Creek, but the mill was not profitable, 
and he passed two more years at Grand 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



201 



Island ; he then passed two and a Iialf 
years in the milling business at Gibbon, 
and in 1870 located on his present home- 
stead, it being one-half of section 2, Gar- 
field township. One quarter section is a 
liomestead and the other quarter is a tim- 
l)er claim. He has sixty acres under cul- 
tivation in mixed crops, has good build- 
ings and most of his farm fenced in. His 
i-esidence and barns are large frame 
structures, surrounded by fine orchards 
and groves. The farm shows thrift and 
good management, and is situated oppo- 
site the town of Nantasket in the valley 
of Loup liver, with water convenient for 
his stock. Mr. Stark was married at 
Grand Island, in 1877, to Miss Wilhelmina 
Gaden, a native of Germany, and two 
children bless this union — William and 
Anna. Mr. Stark has two brothers in 
this country — John C, a plasterer and 
mason, living at Grand Island ; and Carl, 
a farmer, living near Litchfield, Sherman 
county. Mr. Stark is in politics independ- 
ent and unfavorable to prohibition. He 
takes great interest in the develo])ment of 
his country, and is a true American citizen. 



OIL SMALLEY is the youngest 
child of Charles and Uelina Smal- 
ley, both natives of A''(!rm()nt. 
(Jliarles Smalley was born in 1815, at Bel- 
lows Falls. A man of irreproachable 
character, upright and honorable in all his 
dealings, he won the confidence and esteem 
of all who knew him. His occupation 
was farming, but the hard work of the 
farm did not prevent the development of 
his kind and generous nature. He be- 
longed to the republican party. In 1837, 



at Grafton, Vt., he was married to Miss 
Delina Davis, who bore him six children, 
as follows — Charles, born in Vermont, now 
in the livery business in Kansas City; Emer- 
line, died in 1885; Mary (Mrs. Zeull), whose 
husband is a foreman in a cab shop in 
Springfield, Vt.; David, in a sale stable. 
Bellows Falls, Vt.; Levi, farming in Kan- 
sas, and O. H., the subject of this memoir. 
O. H. Smalley was born in Vermont in 
1851. At the age of twenty -one he gave 
his father §5<)0 of his earnings and then 
went to Galva, III., there engaging in the 
livery business, and in this he continued 
until 1883, when he moved to Elm Creek, 
Nebr., here enjjaging in farming and stock- 
raising. At the present writing, O. H. 
Smalley owns nine hundred and seventy 
acres of good land and feeds about one 
hundred head of stock. Mr. Smalley is a 
supporter of the democrat jilatform, also a 
member of the Masonic order. In 1875, 
while at Galva, 111., he was married to 
Miss Ada Smith, a native of that place, 
born in 1856. After a course in the Knox- 
ville seminary she became a teacher and 
taught three years previous to her mar- 
riage. To them one child has been born 
— Jessie, born Januarv 30, 1878. 



JACOB L. BLUE, M. D., hotel pro- 
prietor, Nantasket, Nebr., was born 
in New Market, Middlesex county, N. 
J., February 24, 1826. . His father, 
Henry Blue, also a native of New Jerse\', 
was a manufacturer of shoes at one time, 
but afterwards became a merchant. He 
married Miss Mary, danghter of Harmon 
and Charity Staley, both natives of New 
Jersey and of German and French descent, 



302 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



respectively'. Harmon Stale\' was a 
farmer and he and family were highly re- 
spected in the neighborhood in which they 
lived. To the union of Henry and Mary 
Blue were born twelve children — nine 
girls and three boys — the subject of these 
lines being the fifth child. Henry Blue 
died in his native state in 1861. Jacob 
L. Blue was educated in the common 
schools of New Jersey, and at the age of 
fourteen years began learning the trade 
of millwright, at which he continued 
four years. He then wen t to an uncle, a 
practicing physician at New Brunswick, 
N. J., and with him as preceptor studied 
medicine, was admitted to practice and 
became a partner or assistant to his uncle 
and preceptor. In 1844 he purchased a 
farm and was married. He followed ag- 
riculture about three years, then sold and 
went to Orange, N. J., where he entered 
mercantile trade, together with building 
and dealing in real estate. Three years 
later he sold out all his possessions and 
moved to Ohio, where for two years he 
followed farming, and then for a year 
practied medicine. Again returning to 
New Jersey, he resumed the real estate 
business and was appointed marshal of 
Orange. 

September 3, 1862, he was enrolled as a 
private in Company G, Twenty-sixth 
New Jersey volunteers. For nine months 
he was on detailed duty as recruiting offi- 
cer, and after the regiment was fully organ- 
ized he was appointed librarian. But in a 
short time tlie regiment became actively 
engaged, and Mr. Blue was compelled to 
abandon the library and follow his regi- 
ment, which had been ordered to Wash- 
ington, where it was assigned to the Sixth 
army corps. He was a participant in 



some of the most memorable battles of 
Virginia, in which state the greater part 
of his duty was performed, and he served 
gallantly until the close of his term of enlist 
ment. On one occasion, he was detailed 
to take pontoon boats out of the Rappahan- 
nock river; the night being very very dark 
he was caught between two boats and was 
badly crushed, and from the internal hem- 
orrhage caused by this accident he has 
never fully recovered — neither has the 
government recognized bis claim for a 
pension. He was treated for his injury in 
the hospital at Washington, and after re- 
enlisting was employed in that institution 
during his convalescence, but was stricken 
down by typhoid fever, and had therefore 
to be treated for the complication of two 
disorders. He recoverd sufficiently, how- 
ever, to return to his post of duty, but soon 
after received his discharge. After a brief 
stay at home he revisited Washington, 
where he was employed for a month as 
gardian of public property; resigning, he 
joined Gen. Grant's engineering corps; but 
a short time afterwards returned to Wash- 
ington and was re-instated in his former 
postion, which he held until the close of 
the war. 

After another brief visit to his native 
state. Dr. Blue bought a farm in Mary- 
land, on which he resided two years, prac- 
ticing medicine. He then sold out and 
returned to New Jersey, where for a year 
he engaged in merchandising ; then for 
three years he filled a position in the state 
asylum, and, after that, passed nine 
months in the West.. On his return to his 
native state, he sold out all his effects, 
raised a colony, and in April, 1876, again 
started for the West. His first visit to 
Nebraska was in 1875 ; his second coming, 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



203 



as intimated above, was less than a year 
later. He, his famil}' and colony, number- 
ing forty-three in all, settled in Buffalo 
county, in Buckeye valley, which, since its 
oi'ganization, is known as Valley township. 
He pre-empted a quarter-section, and, like 
tiie rest of the colony, began the work of 
improvement. For three years he fol- 
lowed farming and the practice of medi- 
cine, then sold out and went to Burgh, 
where he practiced medicine and held the 
offices of postmaster and justice of the 
peace for three years; and in September, 
1882, he moved to Gibbon, where he lived 
ten months, then settled in Garfield town- 
ship, where he located his homestead in 
the northwest quarter of section 22, town- 
sliip 12, range 1-1. He here, after two 
years, relinquished the regular practice of 
his profession — attending only old friends 
and patients — and devoted iiimself to the 
ilevelopment of his farm, on wliich he 
lived five years, proved up his claim and 
still owns. In the interval, he purchased 
a iiotel property in Nantasket, and is now 
making his home in that town. He has 
been dealing to some extent in real estate 
tiie past few years, and besides iiis hotel 
property he owns over twenty-eight town 
lots and also owns and conducts a flour 
and feed store. 

Dr. Blue was first married, in 1844, to 
Olivia Stetson, daughter of Steplien Stet- 
son, a hat manufacturer of Orange, N. J. 
To this union six ciiildren were born and 
named in the following order : Alonzo, 
Caroline, Melissa, Susan, Stephen and Mar- 
tha. The mother and two of the children 
(Stej)hen and Martha), died in 1866, while 
the doctor and his family were residing in 
Maryland. The doctor afterwards mar- 
ried Miss Alice, daughter of Charles 



Crampton, of Rockaway, N. J. To this 
union have been l)orn six children, viz.— 
Ella (deceased), Lizzie, Amos (deceased), 
Clarence, Lucinda and Albert. 

While living in New Jersey, Dr. Blue 
was a member of the Baptist ciiurch, but 
on reaching Nebraska, finding no congre- 
gation of that denomination here, he 
united with the Presbyterians, and has 
always since been a faithful member. He 
has always taken great intei'est in the 
moral training of the young and has 
devoted much time to this purpose since 
he took up his residence in Nebraska. 
While living in Buckeye valley he estab- 
lished a union Sabbath-school at Burgh, and 
has been prime mover in establisliing seven 
other Sabbath-schools. For three years 
he has been superintendent of two of these 
schools, and is director of a day-school. 
He is now an eider of his church and has 
also held all the more important offices 
thereof, including those of treasurer and 
secretary. In civic matters he has filled 
the office of justice of the peace; and is at 
present the deputy postmaster at Nantas- 
ket, tlie postoffice being in his own store and 
his son-in-law being the postmaster. Mr. 
Blue is a member of the society of Ameri- 
can Mechanics, as well as of the G. A. R., of 
which last-named body he is chaplain. 
Mr. Blue has purchased a building in Nan- 
tasket, which he furnishes for churcli privi- 
leges, never charging anything for rent. 
It is needless to make any comment upon 
the career of so progressive a man as 
Jacob L. Blue. 

In politics, Mr. Blue is an active prohi- 
bitionist, striking hard blows for the cause, 
wherever he lives. 



204 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



DAVID H. HUTCHISON, farmer, 
was born in Steuben county, N". 
Y., May 4, 1849, but at the age 
of six years was taken by his parents to 
Michigan and thence to Wisconsin, and in 
the latter state lived until he reached 
manliood. When about twenty-one 
he went to Illinois and followed for a 
living common laboring work in the 
vicinity of Dixon and Chicago. Fi-om 
Illinois he went to Iowa, in 1877, and for 
five years engaged in farming on rented 
land. In March, 1882, he came to Ne- 
braska and bought from the railroad com- 
pany his present farm — the northeast quar- 
ter of section 7, township 12, range 14 — 
then all wild and raw. He has now eight}' 
acres in cultivation, raising mixed crops and 
graded live stock, including Clydesdale 
horses. On his first coming here he 
found no railroad, no town, and was com- 
jielled to go through all the hardships 
and inconveniences of pioneer life, but he 
bravely went to work and improved his 
homestead and now finds himself com- 
fortably situated, with his postofRce at 
Ravenna, one and one-half miles to the 
southeast, and railroad facilities at the 
same point. 

William Hutchison, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was also a native of 
the State of New York, was a wagon- 
maker by trade and was also engaged in 
the saw-mill and lumber business. He 
married Miss Esther Sweet, who bore him 
thirteen children. Of these David H. is 
the fifth, and beside himself there are 
three of his brothers living in Buffalo 
county, Nebi'., and there are also three of 
his brothers living in Cherry county, same 
state. In March, 1877, while in Illinois, 
David H. Hutchison married Miss Sarah. 



dauohter of Calvin and Marietta Buffing- 
ton, of Pennsylvania. The father of Mrs. 
Hutchison was a farmer, and settled near 
Dixon, Illinois, in 1856, and thei'e died 
about ten years later. To the marriage 
of David H. and Sarah Hutchison have 
been born seven children in the following 
order — Frank, Marietta, Fred, Jessie (died 
in 1883, at the age of eleven months), 
Seth, Charles and Malcolm. In politics 
Mr. Hutchison is a republican. Mrs. 
Hutchison is a member of tlie Metiiodist 
Episcopal cluirch, but Mr. Hutchison, 
although a member of the same church 
when he was a resident of Illinois, does 
not at present affiliate with any religious 
society, but his upright and moral life 
wins for him the full respect of the com- 
munity with which he has so happlily cast 
his lot. 



J 



OHN S. SxiLSBUEY, a farmer of 
Garfield township, Buffalo county, 
Nebr., was born in Saratoga county, 
in the State of New York, October 
8, 1842. His father, James Salsburj', was 
also a native of New York State, and by 
occupation was a farmer, which vocation 
he followed until his death, November 4, 
1844; but while pursuing his life-work on 
the farm, was much interested in polities, 
and was honored, b}' his fellow-citizens, 
with several positions of trust and duty. 
He married Miss Caroline, daughter of 
John W. Creal, of New York State, and 
to this marriage were born two children — 
Polly M., who died June 7, 1S44, and John 
S., the subject proper of this sketch. In 
July, 1864. John S. Salsbury married Miss 
Rachel H., daughter of John and Anna 



BUFFALO f'OVNTY. 



205 



Runnels, natives of Ohio, who first moved 
to Indiana, and then to Iowa, of which 
latter state Mr. Salsbury was a resident 
when liis marriage toolf place. To the 
union of John S. and Rachel II. Salsijury 
have been born seven children, in the fol- 
lowing order — Elmer W., Annie C, Rachel 
P., Cady M., Mary E., Roy C. and Guy A. 
Of these children, Elmer died while yet 
an infant; Cady M. died June 8, 1883, at 
the age of twelve years; Rachel P. died 
in February, 1886, at the age of seven- 
teen. 

John S. Salsbury came to Nebraska, 
January 1, 1879, and located first in Sher- 
man county. In Ma}', 1881, he changed 
to Buffalo county, and entered a home- 
stead claim on the northwest quarter of 
section 31, township 12, range 14, where 
he first built a sod house and went to work 
at getting his farm ready for cultivation, 
breaking twenty-five acres the first year. 
Pie has since built a good, large frame 
dwelling, has one hundred and ten acres 
under cultivation, lias a fine orchard 
started, and is possessed of every conven- 
ience to make a comfortable home. He 
has always been successful in raising good 
mixed crops, since his residence here, and 
live stock has received much of his atten- 
tion. On his first coming here, there 
were only three farms opened up in tlie 
townshi[), but now the whole township is 
dotted with Hourishing farms, among 
which his is one of the best, owing to his 
industry and skillful management. Rail- 
roads have come in, and towns have been 
built up, and Mr. Salsbury is now close to 
a market and a shipping point. Reared 
to be a farmer in the State of Iowa, to 
whicii state his jiarents had moved while 
he was yet but a lad, he gained a full 



knowledge of agricultural work, and hence 
comes his success in that pursuit in Ne- 
braska. Wliile m Iowa, Mr. Salsbuiw 
enlisted, in June, 1861, at Clarinda, Page 
county, in company F, First Nebraska 
infantry, and served in Missouri, Tennes- 
see, Kentucky and Arkansas ; he veteran- 
ized in January', 1861, and the latter ]iart 
of his service took place on the AVestern 
plains. He was mustered out in July, 
1866. During his service in the army he 
was transferred from the mfantry to the 
cavalrv branch of the service. At the 
fight at Helena, Ark., lie was taken pris- 
oner, and for a week or so was confined 
at Little Rock. Released on parole, lie 
went to St. Louis, Mo., and thence to his 
home, where lie was arrested as a deserter, 
but, after the Resident's pi'oclamation. 
returned to his regiment, then at Cape 
Girardeau, and served with it until the 
close of the struggle, without further mis- 
hap. On his return to Iowa, he engaged 
in building bridges, and was also engaged 
in the milling business — the latter business 
occupying his attention until the time of 
his coming to Nebraska. After his arri- 
val here, Mr. Salsbury was made the fii'St 
justice of the peace of the township in 
which he located, and served two terms ; 
subsequently he was elected supervisor, 
and in this capac it}' served also two terms. 
He has also served as assessor and road 
overseer, and in every position gave the 
utmost satisfaction to his constituents. 
Mr. Salsbury and family are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and are 
devoted in their attention to its sei'victs 
and discipline. Mr. Salsbury is also com- 
mander of Cedar Mountain Post, No. 220, 
G. A. R., in which he takes the utmost 
interest. His interest in the granuer 



206 



BUFFALO COrNTV. 



movement is likewise unbounded, and lie 
with much ability, acts as lecturer and 
state delegate for the P'armers' alliance. 
His habits are strictly temperate, and he 
is a strong advocate for the prohibition of 
the manufacture or sale of intoxicants in 
the state. His politics he confines alto- 
gether to the republican partj'. His stand- 
ing before the public is of the highest, and 
the various positions of honor and trust 
which he has held, unsolicited, give evi- 
dence of the esteem in which he is held by 
his neighbors. 



HENRY NANTKER was born in 
Pittsburg, Pa., in 1848. He is the 
sonof AVilliam and Mar}' (Laing-- 
kanip) Nuntker, natives of Holland. The 
former was born in 1816, and, when nine- 
teen years of age, came to America, set- 
tling m Pittsbui-g, Pa., where, for a num- 
ber of years, he was in the employ of 
Jones & Coole}', a firm handling steam- 
boats' supplies. Later he formed a part- 
nership with his sons in the wholesale 
flour, feed and grain trade, in which he 
continued until retiring from active busi- 
ness. In 1841:, he was married to Miss 
Mary Laingkamp, and to this union have 
been born three children, viz.^William, 
Henry and John, the first and third living 
in Pittsburg. Mr. and Mrs. JSTantker were 
both active members of the Evangelical 
church. Mr. Nantker was a democrat in 
politics and his popularity was such that 
he was elected repeatedly to the oifice of 
treasurer of South Pittsburg. Henry 
Nantker, the subject of this biographical 
notice, was engaged in the flour, feed and 



grain business in Pittsburg for a number 
of years with his father. His popularity' 
was such, while there, that he was elected 
councilman of the city, in which capacity 
he served for some time. In 1879, he 
migrated to Nebraska, settling in Elm 
Creek township, Buffalo county, first lo- 
cating on section 1, township 8, range 18 
west, there remaining four years, and then 
moving to section 36, township 9, range 
18, and remaining three years, and from 
there he moved to the vilhiiie, where he 
now resides, engaged in the (h-uggist and 
notion business. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity. Mr. Nantker married 
Miss Matilda Borman, a native of Pitts- 
burg, born in 1857. Their union has been 
blessed with three children, viz. — Addie, 
born July 20, 1877 ; William and Harry. 
Previous to coming to Nebraska, Mr. and 
Mrs. Nantker were honored members of 
the Evangelical Lutheran church. Mr. 
Nantker is a supporter of the democratic 
platform, and, since coming to Elm Creek, 
has held various offices in the gift of the 
people. In 1886 he was nominee for the 
leoislature. 



WILLIAM W. POOL, • farmer, 
and secretar}' and manager 
of the Nebraska Land and 
Cattle Company, with headquarters 
at Ravenna, Nebr., was born in 
Niagara county, N. Y., March 17, 
1844 His father,, William H. Pool, 
a native of Massachusetts, was I'eared 
a farmer, and in 1844 emigrated to 
Michigan, in which state he is still 
residing at the advanced age of eighty- 



BUFFALO COUXTY. 



207 



two years — his earliest recollection of 
any notable object being a sight of the 
soldiers of the war of 1812. He mar- 
ried Miss Irena, daughter of Obed Smith, 
and this union was blest with the follow- 
ing ciiildren — A. II. Pool, now living 
nine miles north of Kearney, Nebr. ; A. 
S. Pool, in the coal business at Chicago, 
111. ; B. F. Pool, a farmer near Romeo, 
Mich.; Harriet M. Pool, unmarried and 
living at Romeo, Mich., and William W., 
the subject proper of these lines. 

At the age of four years, William W. 
Pool was taken by his parents to Miciii- 
gan, in which state he remained until he 
was eighteen years old, when he went to 
Oil City, Pa. He was reared chiefly on 
a farm, but had a taste for general busi- 
ness, and although he received but a 
limited share of schooling, acquired later 
a practical education, which enabled him 
to transact or enter into .any branch of 
trade. In 1872, Mr. Pool married Miss 
Eva II., adopted daughter of Charles 
Williams, a foundry and millman of 
Wellsborough, Pa., who died in 1889; her 
mother, Sophia J. Iloyt, having died in 
1854, and her father, Joseph B. Hoyt, 
having been killed while serving his 
countr}' in the Union army in 1801. To 
the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Pool have 
been born four ciiildren — Ella; Bartlett 
F., who died in January, 1880, at the age 
of five years; Gertie S., and Eva I., who 
died wiien but six weeks old. 

William W. Pool came to Nebraska in 
October, 1876, and at first pre-empted a 
quarter section, in section 12, township 
11, range 15; subsequently, he secured a 
homestead claim of a quarter section, 
and a timber claim for another quarter, 
both in section 6, township 11, range 14; 



he at once commenced to improve his 
farm, erecting substantial buildings and 
farming until 1883, when he, with others, 
organized the Nebraska Land and Cattle 
Company, under the laws of the State of 
New York ; in 1889, however, the com- 
pany was re-organized under the laws of 
Nebraska. To this company Mr. Pool 
disposed of one-quarter section of his 
land, reserving one-half section for his 
home. The company owns ten thousand 
acres of land, and is engaged in raising 
and handling live stock, and its officers 
are B. F. Peck, of East Bethany, N. Y., 
president ; R. L. Downing, of Kearney, 
Nebr., vice-president ; and W. W. Pool, 
the subject of this sketch, secretaiy and 
manager, and for the last named position 
no better selection could have been made. 
In addition to stock-raising and trading, 
the company cultivate three thousand 
five hundred acres in mixed crops, and 
in 1889 grew eight hundred acres in 
wheat, with a fair y\e\A. The average 
number of cattle raised, fattened and 
shipped annually, is one thousand, 
two hundred head, and hogs are 
also handled. The average number of 
hands employed by the company is 
thirty, and it requires about one hundred 
and fifty horses to do its work. Mr. Pool 
has a fine residence in Ravenna, but pays 
daily visits to the company's ranch, and 
gives its affairs special attention. Tele- 
graphic communication is had between 
the ranch and his residence, the two 
being about five miles apart. Besides 
being the manager of this large business, 
in Avhich he has been a stockholder from 
the beginning, Mr. Pool is vice-president 
of the First National Bank of Ravenna, 
and president of the Ravenna Creamery 



208 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



Company. Since becoming a resident of 
Nebraska, he has served as justice of the 
peace, and at present is a member of the 
town board, although he is not an aspir- 
ant for office, and takes no particularly 
active part in politics. 

AVhen Mr. Pool settled on his pre- 
emption, neighbors were few and far 
aj)art, and but few improvements were to 
be seen, but soon the prairie began to be 
settled up, and was dotted with houses 
and farm impniveraents; the railroad was 
run through, the town of Ravenna sprang 
up, and the development of the country 
is still going on rapidly, and much of this 
improvement is due to the enterprise an'd 
pusii of such men as the subject of this 
sketch, William W. Pool. 



E 



PtASTUS SMITH, a retired cap- 
italist, at Ravenna, Buffalo 
^ county, Nebr., was born near 
Shelby ville, Ind., August 3, 1830, and was 
reared on a farm until seventeen years of 
age. He received his education at the 
common schools, and at the seminary in 
Shelbyville, in which latter institution he 
studied civil engineerino-, following- this as 
a profession for many years, and helping 
to locate and build a number of railroads. 
His father, Jonas Smith, was a native of 
Vermont and a farmer, who moved to 
Indiana in ISJS, and settled near Shelb}'- 
ville, where he ended his da3's in 1852. 
His wife, the mother of Erastus, was 
Abigail, daughter of Elisha Mavhew ; was 
a native of Maine, and both of English 
descent, the ancestors having come to 
America before the Revolutionarv war. 



The children born to Jonas Smith and 
wife were twelve in number, of whom 
Erastus is the fourth. 

At the age of twenty-four years, Erastus 
Smith went to Iowa and entered four hun- 
dred acres of land near Des Moines, lived 
there two years, and then sold out and 
came to Nebraska, in 1856, and located in 
Omaha, where he was eng-aged in real 
estate business until 1858. He then be- 
came a commercial traveler, and when the 
war broke out, in 1861, he was at Burning 
Springs, West Ya., in the interest of oil 
! wells. Of course, his business was 
brought to a standstill through the war. 
Mr. Smith then went to Polk county, 
Iowa, and for several vears taught school, 
and for ten years engaged in farming. 
In 1874, he came back to Nebraska and 
settled his homestead on the northeast 
quarter of section 8, township 12, range 
1-4, and at once began improving for a 
farm and cattle ranch ; he also located a 
timber claim, and bought five hundred 
and forty acres of railroad land in addi- 
tion, and continued farming and stock- 
raising in later years, keeping on hand an 
average of one hundred and fifty head of 
graded Durham cattle. January 1, 1886, 
the Burlington and Missouri River Rail- 
road Company began to push their road 
through, and the same month Mr. Smith 
sold to the Lincoln Land Company a two- 
third interest in a section of land for a 
town site, he retaining every third lot. 
The town was laid out in June, 18S6, the 
first lots were sold in July, and Mr. Davis, 
banker, erected the first building. The 
town has had a steady and healthy growth, 
the population on January 1, 1890, being 
about one thousand. The sale of lots and 
land by Mr. Smith has placed him in most 



comfortable circumstances financially, and 
he lias retired from active business, with 
the exception of looking after his town 
interests, as he has some buildings forrent 
or for sale. Mr. Smith is the jiioneer of 
his township, and about his first experience 
was the loss of his crop by grasshoppers 
in lS7-t and 1876, which disaster, at that 
time, was a serious, loss, but he possessed 
indomitable courage and energy, and went 
to work to recover his fortune, and it will 
have been seen that in this he has been 
successful. His neighbors in the early 
days were but few, and for several years 
his children were the only childi-en within 
nine square miles, with section S as its 
center. 

In 186-1: Mr. Smith was married, in 
Iowa, to Miss Mary J., daughter of Aaron 
and Mary J. (Dudley) Pearson, of New 
England. Mr. Pearson was a cattle 
dealer, and died in Iowa in 1871:. The 
marriage of Mr. Smith has been blessed 
by the birth of live children, as follows — 
Laura, who is married to Charles David- 
son ; Mary B., married to F. P. Boyd ; 
Charles D., who died in December, 1886, 
at the age of seventeen years ; Eva E. 
and Clara, at home. Mr. Smith in poli- 
tics is a republican, and while a resident 
of Iowa was a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, but the absence of Masonic 
lodges in the West caused him to become 
delinquent, and he is now non-affiliating. 

Mr. Smith does not owe his prosperity 
simply to good luck ; it is the result of 
his own foresight and prudence. His 
early experience as a civil engineer on 
railroads, and the geography of the coun- 
try before him, satisfied his mind that 
a railroad would be lun to the Northwest, 
and he located his land with a view of 



availing himself of any benefit that 
might accrue from its construction. He 
has not reasoned in vain, nor has he been 
disappointed. The road has been built, 
the town is here, and wealth has resulted 
to reward his sagacity and business tact. 



JW. IIARREL is a representative 
business man of the town of Gibbon, 
Bufifalo county. lie is not an old 
timer, and the record of his exper- 
ience does not therefore run back to the 
early days of the colony. He settled in 
Gibbon in February, 1879, and is a man 
of comparatively recent growth. As the 
common saying goes, he started "at the 
bottom round of the ladder,'" and although 
not yet rich or famous, he has secured a 
footing, and is in a fair way to get on in 
the world. Given the case of a young- 
man age twent3'-five. married, thrown into 
this new western country, amono' strantr- 
ers and without a dollar to go on, what 
will he do? His first impulse will be to 
return home. If he overcomes this im- 
pulse and decides to stay, the chances are 
that he will hear in a siiort time of some 
more attractive phice furtlier west, and, 
catching the migratory fever, will move 
on toward the front. If he "strikes it 
rich," he will settle down, but failing in 
this he goes out with the next exodus, and 
so he drifts from place to place in his 
wandering jiursuit of wealth till fortune 
graciously smiles upon him or deatli comes 
at last to his relief. The race for wealth, 
the contest for glory, become too absorb- 
ing to admit of tlie tedious process of 
growth and development, the idea being 



310 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



to get to the front, to get there on terri- 
tory, to get there in time, to get there in 
point of success, and to get there fully, 
freely and unmistakably. The subject of 
this sketch, when he decided to stay West, 
made up his mind to locate in one place 
and remain there. In April following the 
date of his locating in Gibbon, Mr. liarrel 
engaged in the mercantile establishment 
of A. D. George, in whose employ he re- 
mained for six years. Here he gathered 
the knowledge of the local trade and 
formed an acquaintance with the buying 
public which have since stood him in good 
stead. At the end of the six years he liad 
saved enough from his earnings to begin 
business for himself. He opened a gro- 
cery store in Gibbon in the spring of 1885, 
and has been engaged exclusively in the 
grocery business since. His business has 
been reasonably prosperous, and measured 
by his means and opportunities, he may 
be considered a fairly successful man. 
The secret of what success he has attained, 
if there be any secret about it, is to be 
found in his industry, economy and strict 
application to business. He has followed 
steadily one purpose — that of developing 
liis business interests in accordance with 
his means and opportunities. He has 
allowed no distracting pursuits or diver- 
sions to lead him away from this pur 
pose. 

In politics Mr. Harrel is a republican — 
a stanch believer in the principles of his 
party — but not a politician even in the 
mildest sense of the word. As a citizen 
he is alive to the welfare of his community, 
ever ready to help, to the extent of his 
means and abilit}^, any enterprise of gen- 
eral interest — a liberal contributor to all 
charitable purposes and a zealous worker 



in that most benevolent organization, the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. 

Mr. Harrel possesses an agreeable pres- 
ence. He is large of mold and generous 
of heart. He has an open, frank face, and 
a hearty manner. He is somewhat of the 
st>'le of "rough and read^'." He has his 
own opinions and speaks them freely to 
friends and strangers. He is broad in his 
views and believes in each one having the 
largest amount of personal liberty consist- 
ent with the public good. He asks noth- 
ing for himself that he is not willing to 
grant to others. He is, in short, an in- 
dustrious, useful citizen, a successful busi- 
ness man, a clever companionable fellow, 
whom everybody knows and familiarly 
greets as " Joe." 



MAURICE A. HOOVER, M. D., 
was born in Marion county^ 
Ind., near Indianapolis, April 
6, 1858, and is a son of Peri'y C. and Cath- 
erine M. (Bender) Hoover, the former of 
whom was born September 13, 1832, in 
Marion county, Ind., and is now a sub- 
stantial grocery merchant of Indianapolis ; 
the mother is a native of Boiling Springs, 
Pa., and was born November 13, 1836. 
His father is a son of Andrew Hoover, 
one of the first settlers of Indianapolis, 
Ind., whose homestead was one mile from 
the western boundary of the city. The 
section of six hundred and forty acres 
was purchased of the government by 
Andrew Hoover, and it is intact and 
owned by four of his children. The old 
deed with the president's signature is still 
in their possession. Of four children, the 




*. 







M. A. HOOVER. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



213 



subject of this sketch is the eldest, and is 
the only one residing in Nebraska. He was 
educated at Wabash College, Crawfords- 
ville, Ind., where he took, in addition to his 
literary studies, a special two-years' course 
in the study of chemistry. In 1879 he 
began reading medicine with Drs. P. H. 
& 11. Jammerson, of Indianapolis, and 
March 3, 1881, graduated, with the degree 
of M. D., from the Butler University 
Medical College of Indiana, of that city. 
He began the practice of his profession at 
Mount Jackson, Ind., but a year later 
moved to Indianapolis, and until March, 
1883, continued practice there, meeting 
with more than ordinary success. April, 
of the same year, he came to Kearney, 
Nebr., where his abilities were soon rec- 
ognized, and professional success natu- 
rally followed. It was not a long time, 
either, before his genial niannei's and 
social qualities attracted attention, and in 
the fall of 188-1: his friends elected him 
coroner of the county for the term of two 
years. 

November 3, 1883, he was married to 
Miss Eva A. Cox, daughter of B. F. Cox, 
a prominent citizen for manv \'ears of 
Crawfordsville, Ind. Dr. and Mrs. Hoover 
have one child, Bessie B., five years old. 

Dr. Hoover is one of the leading phy- 
sicians of central Nebraska, and enjoys a 
large and growing practice. He is a mem- 
ber of the Nebraska State Medical Asso- 
ciation, and was a member of the Indiana 
State Medical Association while a resident 
of that state. He is also a member of 
the National Surgeons' Society, composed 
of railway surgeons, and is resident sur- 
geon for the Union Pacific and Burlinff- 
ton & Missouri River railroads. At the 
organization of the United States Pension 



Board, in 1887, at Kearney, Dr. Hoover 
was elected secretary, and has held that 
position ever since. He was appointed 
examining physician of tlie board of 
insanity by Judge Hamer in 1887, and 
still retains that office. 

The doctor and wife are members of the 
Methodist church. Of a cheerful disposi- 
tion, he prescribes bountifully of the 
" medicine of mirth," which makes him a 
very popular guest of the sick-room. He 
is thoroughh' in sympathy with the big- 
hearted West, and gives cheerfully of his 
time and means for its development. 



AD. GEORGE. Another man who 
settled in the vicinity of Gibbon 
at an early day is A. D. George. 
Mr. George came to Buffalo county in Sep- 
tember, 1872, and located one mile east of 
the town of Gibbon, taking as a home- 
stead the south half of the southeast c|uar- 
ter of section 18, township 9, range 13 
west. To this he subsequentlv added by 
purchase the north half of the same sec- 
tion. He began his improvements soon 
after making his selection, starting in a 
humble way, as did all the old settlers. 
For eleven years he lived on his home- 
stead and followed farming and stock 
raising. During this period he passed 
through the trying times of the grasshop- 
per season and the dry years, and there 
fell to him the usual hard experiences that 
fell to the common lot of all. What 
these experiences were are known to all 
the old settlers, but not so well known to, 
or properly appreciated by, those who 
have come in at a latex' date. The case of 



•Hi 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Mr. George was even different from that 
of the average settler, and the situation 
thoi'eby rendered the more discouraging. 
Prior to coming to Nebraska he had spent 
all his maturer years in the mercantile 
business. Farming was practically new 
to him. He was in a new country and 
launched at once into an untried condition 
of atiriculture. far from market and unsur- 
rounded by any of the helps and conven- 
iences common in the old communities of 
the East. .To make a success from the 
beginning could haidly be expected. Sim- 
ply how to live, soon became a problem. 
But Mr. George had confidence in the 
ultimate outcome. He believed in the 
countr}', believed in the soil, in the climate 
and in the ability of himself and his asso- 
ciates to make something out of them. 
He never allowed his courage to weaken, 
nor his interest to flag. He stuck 
to his farm and pursued his fixed pur- 
pose to labor and to wait. The suc- 
ceedine: years brought their reward. Tiie 
logic of events has demonstrated the cor- 
rectness of his views. His present condi- 
tion — the success he has attained — is a 
signal vindication of his position and a 
befitting remuneration for his long j'ears 
of patient toil. In 1S79 Mr. George pur- 
chased the mercantile establishment of 
Henry Cook & Son, at Gibbon. Since 
that date he has been actively engaged in 
the business, being now one of the oldest 
and most successful merchants of Gibbon. 
For the mercantile business Mr. George 
possesses a special aptitude, and for its 
successful pursuit he is well qualified by 
experience. He has spent the greater 
part of his life in a store. When a lad he 
began as a clerk in Canton, Mass., and 
afterwards going to Boston, he was 



engaged as a clerk there for ten years, 
being seven years with one house, Hiram 
M. Stearnes, and three years with Newell 
& Kankin. At the end of that time he 
engaged in business for himself, opening a 
gentlemen's furnishing goods establish- 
ment in Boston. He was so engaged for 
five years. In the meantime he stalled a 
laundry business which has since grown to 
be one of the largest anywhere in tiie 
East. It was ill-health, brought on by the 
exacting nature of these business interests 
that brought Mr. George west. He never 
possessed a robust constitution. Tying 
himself down when a boy to the exacting 
duties of a clerk, the confinement told on 
his physical development, and the cares of 
his personal concerns in later years aggra- 
vated his ti'oubles. It was due to this 
fact of ill-health that Mr. George was 
never accepted for military service during 
the late war, altliough he twice offered 
himself as a volunteer and was once 
drafted. 

A. D. George is a New Englander by 
birth and in his })h3'sical, mental and 
moral make-up preserves, in a large meas- 
ure, some of the prominent characteris- 
tics of the people of his section. He was 
born in the town of Sunapee, Sullivan 
county, N. H., January 25, 1836. His 
father, Rodney George, was also a native 
of Sunapee, as was also his paternal grand- 
father. His father lived in Sunapee to 
middle age, moved thence to New Jersey, 
and later to Nebraska, Buffalo county, 
where he died in 1881, at the age of sev- 
enty-four. Mr. George's mother bore the 
maiden name of Achsa Dodge and was a 
daughter of Benjamin Dodge, of New 
Boston, N. H. She was born in that 
place and was herself a descendant of an 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



215 



old New llumpsliire family. Mr. George 
is one of a family of eitjht cliiklren, as fol- 
lows : Amanda, John A., Amos D., Mar- 
cia A., Ira P., Jason K., Alice and Mary 
il. All of these reached maturity and 
most of them became citizens of Nebraska, 
moving west about the same time the sub- 
ject of this sketch did. 

In his own domestic relations, Mr. 
George has been happy, yet he has not 
escaped some of the afHictions which fall 
to the lot of humanity. Ho was married 
in Marlboro, Mass., in November, 1S59, to 
Miss Lucy M. Ciiipman, of that place. 
This lady died in 18(59, leaving one child, 
Editii, now widow of George E. Nathecut. 
Mr. George next married November 25th, 
ISOi), Miss Abbie M. March, of Garland, 
Me. By this marriage he has an interest- 
ing family of children. 

Mr. George's career has been that of a 
business man strictly. He has devoted 
liis whole life to his own personal affairs. 
Yet he is not a man whole sole aim is to 
make money. lie is not lacking in enter- 
prise or public spirit. He possesses pro- 
nounced views on most matters of general 
interest, and while he avoids the wrang- 
lings of [)olitics, he does not neglect his 
duty as a citizen. He has affiliated with 
tiie republican party since its organization 
until the last year or two, and is still an 
advocate of its principles on national mat- 
ters. But with all its achievements in the 
way of progress and reform, he considers 
the party lacking in aggressiveness in 
dealing with some of the most momentous 
issues of the day. In other words, he is 
a progressive republican. The principal 
issue on which he differs witii his party is 
the temperance question. He is an ardent 
temperance man and believes that it is the 



duty of all good citizens and every asso- 
ciation of citizens and every pai'ty or 
organization having at heart the public 
welfare, to take a decisive stand on the 
temperance question and to labor indi- 
vidually and by co-operation for the su])- 
pression of the vice of intempei'ance. On 
this question Mr. George is outspoken, 
and, what is more, he lives up to his 
preaching in a way ecpialled by few, even 
of the most zealous advocates. He be- 
lieves that a vast number of the men who 
are lured into the paths of drunkenness 
start with the smaller vices and approach 
their ruin imperceptibly. For this reason 
he opposes the use of tobacco, and altlu>ugh 
he has been in the mercantile business for 
years where the luindling of tobacco might 
be profitable, he has not suffered a pound 
of the article to be sold in any shape over' 
his counters since the year he opened busi- 
ness. As might be inferred from this, 
Mr. George is a man who takes the live- 
liest interest in the welfare of his fellow- 
men. He is a man of the broadest chari- 
ties, the most benevolent impulses. He 
has been almost a life-long member of the 
Baptist church, taking an active interest 
in all church work. In the matter of 
education he has exhibited equal zeal, and 
his efforts have not failed of the reward 
the}' merited. He was one of the organiz- 
ing members of the First Baptist church 
of Gibbon and has, since the date of the 
founding of that church, been one of its 
chief pillars. While the State Baptist 
seminaiy was located at Gibbon, Mr. 
George occupied the responsil)le position 
of treasurer of the institution, and during 
the last term it was in operation he bore the 
entire expense of running it. He is a lib. 
oral contributor to all charitable purposest 



211! 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Personally, Mr. George is modest and 
unassuming, and lias no desire lo make 
a fuss in the world. Wliat he does as a 
citizen is simpl}' the outgrowth of his con- 
victions. He is not the apostle of any new 
faitii nor the exponent of any new polit- 
ical idea. He works along the lines pur- 
sued by the wortiiies of the past. The 
most notable feature of his faitii and the 
distinguishing trait of his character is that 
he believes in the philosopiiy of things 
well done — the gospel of true labor — as 
contradistinguished from pretense and 
profession. For church, for school, for 
home, for all that helps to keep men and 
women from the slippery paths of sin and 
win them to lives of usefulness, sobriety 
and iiappiness, fitting them for the best 
possible life here and liereafter, tlie name 
of A. D. George stands pledged, and in 
all these things he himself rises to the full 
stature of a man. 



H 



GRACE P. SMITH is one of the 
young,intelligent and progressive 
farmers of Gibbon township,Buf- 
falo count\', who, having come into the 
county at a com])aratively recent date, 
and availing himself of his opportunities, 
has secured a good start and is in a fair 
way to grow into a land-holder of means 
and a citizen of influence. Mr. Smith 
came to Buffalo county in October, 1878, 
looked over the country, went back home 
and returned in the spring of 1879 and 
located. He bought a small tract of land 
in section 27, township 9, range 14 west, 
lying three and a half miles .southwest of 
the town of Gibbon, on which be settled 



and made improvements. Mr. Smith 
came west with limited means, and his 
first purchase of land was, accordingly, 
not large. He has added, however, to 
this by subsequent purchases, until now 
he is the ow^ner of three hundred and sev- 
enty acres, all of which is under cultiva- 
tion except a tract of eighty acres 
reserved for hay-laud. Mr. Smith has 
made the money with which he has 
bought this land by his own labor. The 
improvements on it he has also placed 
there. It is well improved, desirably 
located, and, better than all, is paid for. 
This, of course, has not been done with- 
out much labor ; it represents also good 
management. Mr. Smith is an industri- 
ous, thrifty, economical farmer, looks 
after the details of his affairs wifh great 
care, and studies the condition of his soil, 
its necessities and capabilities. He keeps 
considerable stock and sells but little raw 
material. He is careful to see that his 
annual income exceeds his annual expen 
ditures by as large a margin as possible, 
and judiciously avoids debt. He has the 
proper material in his make-up to succeed. 
This material is not altogether a personal 
trait. To some extent it is a hereditary 
gift. He comes of good stock, and he has 
been properly trained. His ancestry will 
bear historical research. 

Horace P. Smith is a son of George T. 
and Sarah (Farnham) Smith and a grand- 
son on his paternal side of Parsons and 
Nancy (Waters) Smith. His grandfather, 
Parsons Smith, whose name in part he 
bears, was a native .of Massachusetts, a 
son of a revolutionary soldier, and him- 
self for twenty-one years in the service of 
the United States government. He was 
in the war of 1812, serving with credit to 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



21^ 



himself and fidelity to his country during 
that war, and afterwards continuing in 
tlie service in the regular army for j'ears, 
a large part of which time he was in the 
United States arsenal at Watertown, 
Mass. After a life of great activity and 
usefulness, the best years of which were 
spent m behalf of his country, he died at 
the advanced age of seventy-four. 

Mr. Smith's paternal grandmother, 
Nancy Waters, whose father was also a 
revolutionary soldier and was killed at 
the battle of Bunker Hill, was a native of 
Massachusetts. She was born in a iiouse 
which stood iialf in old Ciiarlestown and 
half in Cambridfje, and first saw lio-ht on 
the moiMiing of tiie memorable day on 
which the battle of Bunker Hill was 
fought. It is a tradition of the family 
that only a half-hour before she was born 
a tliirty-two-pound shot from a British 
cannon tore its way through the upper 
])art of the house in which her mother lay 
and lodged in a beam overhead. Mr. 
Smith's lather, George T.Smith, was born 
in the United States arsenal at Water- 
town, Mass., September 7, 1818, lived 
there till thirty years of age, going thence 
in 1847 to Maine, where in February of 
the following year he married Sarah 
Farnliam, of the town of Mercer, Somer- 
set count}', and there lived till 1806, ex- 
cept the time he was in the army. He 
went into the service late, enlisting March 
17, 1864, and entering Company K, 
Tiiirty-first Maine infantry. His regi- 
ment was organized in March and April 
of 186-4, and leaving the state the 18th of 
the latter month, it proceeded at once to 
Ale.xandria, Va., where it was assigned to 
duty in the 2d bi'igade, 2d division, 
9th corps. In less than a month after 



it left home it went into action at the 
Wilderness and following that the en- 
gagements at Spottsylvania, Bethsaida 
church. Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Poplar 
Springs church, and all intermediate af- 
fairs, in all of which its losses weie heav}'. 
In less than one year's time the Thirty- 
first Maine lost six hundred and seventy- 
four men, killed or wounded in action, 
three-fourths of this loss occurring in May, 
June and Jul}', 1864. Mr. Smith's father 
followed the fortunes of the fi'jhtino: 
Thirty-first till the close of the war. being 
mustered out July 17, 1865. In 1866 he 
moved west and settled in Illinois, where 
he lived till 1882, when he came to Buffalo 
county, this state, following his son, 
Horace P., and settling where he now re- 
sides, in Gibbon township, on an adjoining- 
farm to the subject of this sketch. 

Mr. II. P. Smith's mother, who bore tlie 
maiden name of Sarah Farnham, was born 
and reared in the town of Mercer, Somer- 
set county, Maine, and is a descendant of 
a respectable, well-to-do family of that 
place. She is also yet living. 

To George T. and Sarah (Farnham) 
Smith have been born a famih' of eight 
children, as follows — Waitstill J., Mai'V 
M., Horace P., whose name heads this 
article; George W., Tena A., Cora E., 
William A. and Nellie M. These have 
all reached maturity, and most of them are 
now married and are themselves the heads 
of famil}'. 

Horace P. Smith and Mai-y L. Mercer 
were married m February, 1881, Mar}' L. 
Mercer Smith being a daughter of Vei'uon 
T. and Nancy llebecca Mercer, whose 
biograpliies will be found in this woik. 
Mrs. Smith was mainly reared in Buffuhi 
county, this state, her parents coming here 



218 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



in 1871. She has by long usage become 
familiar with farm life, and especially that 
part of it that relates to household affairs, 
her recollections running back to the sod 
shanty of the "seventies," when what are 
necessities now Avere luxuries then, and 
the housewife's ways and means of getting 
on with her economic duties were by no 
means what they ai-e now, albeit the\' are 
none too luxurious at this time. 

Mrs. Smith is a lady of intelligence and 
kindness, and possesses the greatest of all 
virtues, genuine hospitalit}'. 



WN. JACKSON. A man 
of good personal record 
as a citizen, of exception- 
ally good record as an old soldier, and 
withal, one of the old settlers of his 
locality, is "W. N. Jackson, of Gibbon 
townshi]i, Buffalo county. Mr. Jackson 
settled in Buffalo county in the spring of 
1871 — tlie date, it will be remembered, 
that the Soldiers' Free Homestead Colony 
was located at Gibbon and the settlement 
of the county properly begun. He filed 
a soldiers' homestead claim on the north- 
east quarter of section 28, township 9, 
range 14 west, lying three miles west 
and south of the village of Gibbon. 
There he located, and there he has con- 
tinued to reside since, except during tem- 
porary absence at intervals. He improved 
his homestead in accordance with the law 
and secured a patent for it. One hun- 
dred acres of it are now under cultivation, 
and the remainder in hay-land, pastures 
and groves. It is provideil with com- 
fortable and commodious buildings for 



man and beast, and in every respect gives 
evidence of the industry, thrift and good 
management that have prevailed there. 
The land lies well, being every foot sus- 
ceptible of cultivation, is in a good neigh- 
borhood, has at hand good school and 
church facilities, and is convenient to 
market. The place is richly worth $50 
an acre, and [)robably could not be 
bought for tha^t. Mr. Jackson has been 
farming since coming to Buffalo county, 
and is recognized as one of the jirosperous, 
well-to-do agriculturists of his localit3'. 

Mr. Jackson came from Elmira, N. Y., 
to Nebraska, having been a resident 
of New York state some years prior to 
moving west in 1871. He is a native of 
Canada, iiaving been born in the ]irovince 
of Ontario, in March, 1838, and was 
reared there to the age of twenty. He 
then came to the States, locating in New 
York. His parents were both Canadians 
by birth — his father of English extrac- 
tion and his mother of German. These 
are still living in Canada, and are named 
David and Debby (Huffman) Jackson. 

Mr. Jackson passed his youth and part 
of his maturer j^ears in York state, and it 
was there that he met and married the 
lady who has borne him companionship 
for nearly twenty-five years. This lady's 
maiden name was Susan Ann Davis, a 
daughter of Henry E. and Jane (Coi'- 
ruthers) Davis, of Elmira, N. Y. Mrs. 
Jackson is a native of Ulster county, 
N. Y., and is a descendant of an okl York 
state family. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were 
married in August, 1-803. The}^ have but 
one child, William E. Jackson, born in 
Bradford county. Pa., July 9th, 18(!(>. 

When the country was torn asunder 
with civil discord, and the hydra-headed 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



210 



monster, treason, was threatening the 
destruction of our institutions, Mr. Jack- 
son was one of the men who shouldered 
iiis musket and patriotically marched to 
the front in defense of tiie common gootl. 
He enlisted for two years in the service, 
in April, ISfil, entering Company K, 
Thirty-fifth (Jefferson county) New York 
volunteers. His command served with 
the Army of the Pqtomac. Mr. Jackson 
was present and participated in the fol- 
lowins: en(ja":emcnts — The second Hull 
Run ; Fredericksburg ; second Manassas ; 
Fairfax court house ; Culpeper court 
house; Cedar mountain and Rappahan- 
nock stati<;n, besides numerous smaller 
ones. After the expiration of his term of 
enlistment in the Thirty -fifth New York, 
he re-enlisted, entering the Fifth Now 
Jersey independent battery of light 
artillery in September, 1803. This com- 
mand had six light twelve-pound guns 
and one hundred horses. It participated 
in the followino-enoufroments — Howlett's 
house. May 9, lS<i-4; Clover Hill sta- 
tion, May 14, 1804; Drury's bluff, May 
15, 1864; Petersburg, June 8, 1804; 
Bermuda Hundred, June 10, 1804; Deep 
Bottom, July 10, 1804 ; Dutch gap, 
August 13, 1804; Ilarehouse battery, 
near Petersburg, September 2 and 10, 
1804, and Darbytown road, October 7, 
1804. 

Mr. Jackson entered this command as 
a private, was ])romoted to corpoi'al 
December 4, 1803, and to sergeant, 
August 23, 18G4. During his first term 
of service he was twice wounded — once 
in the left side and once in the riffht leg. 
These wounds wore received at the second 
Bull Run. He lost the hearing of his 
right ear in the battery service at Drury's 



bluff. He was mustered out of the ser- 
vice in June, 1805. Comment on these 
facts is unnecessary. The}- speak for 
themselves. They show how faithfully 
Mr. Jackson discharged his duty to his 
country in its time of need. He bears on 
his person the marks of his heroic efToits 
and patient endurance. 

With such a record, aiul the mental 
constitution which Mr. Jackson has, it 
would be next to impossible for him to 
be anything but a republican in politics. 
At any rate, he is a stanch sujiporter of 
the republican party, and has been a firm 
adherent of that party since the date of 
its organization. He cast his first vote 
for Abr.aham Lincoln when he was a can- 
didate the first time for the presidency, 
and he has voted the straight ticket 
since. 

Mr. Jackson is a man of plain manners, 
and has led an unassuming life. He is 
hard-working, frugal in habits, and strictly 
attentive to his own jiersonal concerns. 
He is progressive in his ideas, public- 
spirited and generous with his means, 
possessing a kind and benevolent disposi- 
tion. 



PE. FOXWORTHY. An old set- 
tler of Buffalo county, althougii 
not one of the first, is P. E. Fox- 
worthy of Gibbon township. He moved 
into Buffalo county, in June, 1876, and for 
a short time rented a place north of the 
town of Gibbon, but in July following 
settled on the east half of the west li:ilf 
of section 35, townshi)) 9, range 14 west, 
being part of the old Fort Kearney mili- 
tary reservatioH. He simply squatted ou 



220 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



this claim, as the reservation had not then 
been thrown open to settlement, but as 
soon as it was opened he made his filing, 
improved his claim and got his patent to 
it, and has since resided there. His place 
lies on the lower bottomland of the Platte, 
river and is more suitable for grazing and 
hay-making than foragricultm-al purposes. 
Mr. Foxworthy has not, therefore, broken 
out a great deal of it. Besides, hay has 
always been a commodity in good de- 
mand in local markets, whereas the sov- 
ereign pi-oduct, corn, has not. Putting 
these things together as a sensible farmer 
would, Mr. Foxworthy has devoted his at- 
tention mainly to stock-raising and hay- 
making. At this he has succeeded reason- 
ably well. Like most of the farmers who 
settled in Buffalo county twelve and four- 
teen j'ears ago, Mr. Foxworthy began on 
limited means and the first few 3'ears of 
his residence were marked more for their 
hardships and privations than for the 
progress the\' witnessed in the way of 
making a home. What these hardships 
and i)ri\\ations were need not here be re- 
counted. They have become part of the 
histor\' of those times and it will do the 
subject of this sketch sufficient justice 
from a historical point of view to say that 
he passed through those times, bearing 
his full share, and more, of the suffering 
that fell to the comnion lot. One instance 
which will be decisive on this point, may 
here be given. Mr. Foxworthy relates 
that when he and his family reached the 
county the\' had just $18.00 in money and 
a limited amount of household goods and 
wearing apparel. With these they began 
the struggle for existence in the last and 
liardest year of the grasshopper season. 
The fact that he has succeeded as well as 



he has, is an admirable tribute to his pluck, 
energy and patient self denial, extending 
thi'ough long j'ears of discouraging vicis- 
situdes. But Mr. Foxworthj' was and is 
the man to endure such trials. He comes 
of an ancestry that heroically fought simi- 
lar, or, perhaps, more fiercely contested, 
battles on the frontier before him, and his 
own early training and personal experi- 
ences well fitted him for an undertaking 
of this character. 

P. E. Foxworth}" is a son of Phillip A. 
and. Martha (Evans) Foxworthy. His 
father, a native of Virginia, went to Ken- 
tucky when a young man, married there, 
and not long afterwards moved to Indiana 
and settled in Morgan county in territo- 
rial days. He made that his home until 
his death in 1875, in the eighty -third 3'ear 
of his age. In his earlier years he fol- 
lowed the business of a carpenter — later 
he devoted himself to farming. He led 
the life of the average farmer and met 
with a fair degree of success. 

Mr. Foxworthy's mother, who bore,the 
maiden name of Martha Evans, was a 
daughter of Andrew Evans, who moved 
from Kentucky to Indiana at an early 
day and settled in Owen county. She 
died in Morgan county, in September, 
1843. Her husband had been marrietl 
prior to his marriage to her and married 
again also after her death, but it is not 
deemed necessary to encumber this arti - 
cle with the details of these two marriages. 
The subject of this sketch is the only ofi"- 
spring of the marriage to Martha (Evans) 
Foxworthy, and with his history and life- 
work we are more especially concerned. 

P. E. Foxworthv was born in Morgan 
county, Ind., in September, 1843. He 
had the great misfortune to lose his 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



221 



mother in his infancy, she living when he 
was but two weeks old. His earlier years, 
however, were watched over by a kind 
father and he grew up under as good 
training as could be had at the hands of 
one ]iarent. Mr. Foxwortli\' had just 
turned into his eighteenth year when the 
clouds of civil war burst over this country 
and he, like thousands of other patriotic 
young men when the call was made for 
volunteers to defend the Union, quit his 
plow and bravely marched to the front. 
He enlisted in August, 1861, as a private 
in Comjiany H, Thirty-third Indiana vol- 
unteer infantry, commanded by Colonel 
Coburn, of Indianapolis, and was assigned 
to duty as a drummer. His regiment left 
Indianapolis in September, IStJl, and 
mw^ed across the line into Kentucky. It 
saw its first service at Wildcat, Kentucky, 
and was in a series of skirmishes about 
Cumberland gap, finally driving the con- 
federate forces from their position there, 
and after foraging: for more than three 
months, holding the advantages thus 
gained, it was forced back across the Ohio 
I'iver for supplies. Returning, it was 
engaged during the winter of 1862-63 in 
chasing the wilv cavalry ciiieftain and 
guerrilla, John Morgan, over the moun- 
tains of Kentucky. It then liioved into 
Tennessee, and at Franklin, that state, 
was formed part of the brigade 
sent out to capture Van Dorn's mounted 
infantry. In the affair at Thomi)son 
station, March 4 and 5, 1863, its casu- 
alties were thirteen killed, eighty-five 
wounded and four hundred and seven 
missing. Almost the entire regiment was 
capturetl ; Mr. Foxworthy, however,luckily 
escaped. In January, 1864, the regiment 
veteranized, was placed in the Twentieth 



(Hooker's) corps, and immediately en- 
tered on the Atlantic Ciim])aign. Mr. Fox- 
worthy was then carrying a musket. Be- 
ginning with the engagement at Resaca, 
he was in tiie continuous series of engage- 
ments down to Kenesaw mountain, where 
he was wounded June 23d, having a rib 
of his left side broken and an ugly hole 
made through him by a ball fi'om the 
enemy's guns. He was sent back to 
Nashville for hospital treatment, and from 
there, as soon as able, secured a furlough 
and went home. When his wounds had 
sufficiently healed he started back to his 
command, which was then under Shermnn 
on his " March to the Sea." But at Chat- 
tanooga, Mr. Foxworthy met Thomas on 
his return into Tennessee and was placed 
in Thomas' army and j)articipated in the 
remainder of that campaign. After the 
defeat of Hood at Nashville he was en- 
gaged till the following spring in chasing 
fragments of confederate forces around 
through Tennessee, Georgia and Alai)ama. 
In March, 1865, he was ordei'cd to join 
his own command, which was then on the 
Carolina campaigns. Going around by 
way of Washington he reached Sherman's 
army at Goldsboro, N. C, just before the 
surrender. He was present when the capit- 
ulation took place between Sherman and 
Johnson, returned home with his regiment 
and was mustered out at Indianapolis in 
June. 1865. The Thirty-third made a 
splendid record during its term of service, 
and inasmuch as Mr. Foxworthy was witli 
it nearly all the time and helped to make 
that record, another fact or two of general 
interest in connection with the history of 
his regiment ina}' be given here: At the 
date the Thirty-thirty veteranized it re- 
enlisted four hundred and sixty men, 



222 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



being the largest re-enlistment by more 
than twenty men made by an3^ Indiana 
regiment. Its loss in killed and wounded 
was one hundred and sixteen ; its loss by 
disease, accident and deaths in prison was 
one hundred and eighty-two ; maiving a 
total loss of two hundred and ninety-eight. 
Elofjucnt figui'es, tliey speak volumes for 
the courage, endurance and heroic bearing 
of the " Fighting Thirty-third." 

At the close of the war Mr. Foxworthy 
resumed the peaceful pursuits of life with 
the same' courage and sense of duty that 
distinguished him on the battle-field, and 
being then a 3'oung man with but little to 
go on he resoluteh' set about to make his 
way in the world in a manner becoming a 
man. He married in September, 1S6G, 
Miss Elizabeth Applegate, a daughter of 
Ilezekiali and Margaret(Whittaker)Ap])le- 
gate, of Owen county, Ind. Mrs. Fox- 
worthy is a native of Owen county, and is 
one of four children born to her parents, 
the others being John M., a farmer of 
Buffalo count\' ; James, of Owen county, 
Ind.; and Juliet, wife of William Mj'ers, 
of Colorado. Mrs. Foxworthy's parents 
were both natives of Kentucky, and were 
among the first settlers of Owen county, 
Ind., where iier father died in 187-i at the 
age of fifty-four, and where her mother yet 
continues to reside. 

Mr. and Mrs. Foxworthy have been tlie 
parents of five children, three of whom 
are now living. These children in the 
order of their ages are as follows — John, 
who died in infancy ; OUie, who died July 
4, 1888, at the age of eighteen ; Clara, 
Alice and Cora. 

Mr. and Mrs. Foxwortliy are members 
of tlie Christian church, and, having been 
reared in a knowledge of the great truths 



of the gospel themselves, they are bring- 
ing up the little ones committed to their 
charge in the same knowledge, thus fitting 
them for the greatest usefulness and hap- 
piness here and hereafter. 

It seems natural and in every way be- 
coming that a man of Mr. Foxworthy's 
histor3% experience and family traditions 
should be a republican in politics. Ills 
fii-st vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln 
when he was a candidate for the presi- 
dency' the second time, and lie has voted 
the straight ticket since. 

All in all, it can be recorded of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, without any stretch of 
language, that he is not only an old sol- 
dier of good record, but a citizen distin- 
guished for his integrity, industry and be- 
nevolent christian character. 



OE. THOMPSON, of Shelton 
townsliip, is one of the oldest 
settlers of Buffalo county and one 
of its most intelligent and best informed 
citizens. He accompanied his parents to 
Nebraska in October, 1857, being then a 
mere lad. For two years and a half they 
resided at the village of Genoa, at the 
mouth of Beaver creek on Pawnee I'eser- 
vation, coming in March ISfiO to what is 
now Buffalo county, and settling on "Wood 
river, one mile west of the present town of 
Slielton, since which time he has resided 
in that vicinity excepting temporary ab- 
sence when he was- away in the United 
States service or scouting among the 
Indians on the plains. Thirty years in 
Buffalo county, Nebr., and the West! 
Let the reader take up a state map bearing 



B UFFA L f'O VNTY 



223 



the above date and one of the present 
time, and after refreshing liis memory on 
the liistorical incidents connected with the 
nialving of this portion of the great West, 
h^t iiim reflect for a moment wliat a world 
of observation and an unlimited wealth of 
experience a man must have had who has 
lived for the last thirty years as far west 
as I'uffalo county, this state. The bare 
mention of the fact suggests to the imag- 
ination an historical perspective seldom 
met with even in the lives of the oldest 
pioneers. Thirty years ago Nebraska had 
been but recently organized as a territory. 
The permanent settlements were confined 
to the Missouri river trading posts and a 
few inland points, while the vast territory 
comprised within the central and western 
part of the state was one unbroken 
prairie, threaded b}"^ a few streams and dom- 
inated i)y the aboriginal red man and roam- 
ing herds of buffalo. The county of l]uf- 
falo had not then been marked on the ma]i. 
All that was known of its geological boun- 
daries and physical features was known 
of it as part of the great valley of the 
Platte, which in turn formed a part of the 
great ])lains over which the persecuted 
Mormo7T and the venturous gold-scekei', 
bound for the Pacific slope or Pike's Peak, 
toiled their weary way, long before the 
I'ailroads had belted the continent with 
their glittering bands of steel, or even 
the lumbering stage-coach had developed 
into the institution which it subsequentl}' 
proved to be. " Life on the Plains ! " 
What memories are awakened by these 
words. The literature of the country has 
been flooded for the last quarter of a cen- 
tury with descriptive articles, personal rec- 
ollections, incidents of travel, jioemsand 
novels, all seeking to portray some ))hase 



of the pioneer's life in the West. But who 
yet knows what it was save the pioneer 
himself:' "I came on the plains in the 
fifties or sixties," arc woi'ds whic^h when 
spoken by the sturdy old pioneer mean 
a vast deal more than the man of this day 
can understand. When Mr. Thompson 
settled on Wood river there was a stage 
station at Shelton, a few families scattered 
along the river in that vicinity. To the 
west, north, south and one might almost 
say to the east, the country was simjily 
part of the unknown world so far at least 
as the abodes of white men were con- 
cerned. The Union Pacific railroad had 
not tiien been projected, this part of the 
great public domain had not then been 
surveyed, and the country at large was 
considered worthless exc^ept as a hunting- 
ground for the Indians. These were 
present in great numbers and comprised 
some of the most powerful and warlike 
tribes on the continent. The Che3'ennes, 
Sioux and Pawnees roamed over this part 
of the country then, and they not un fre- 
quently left the evidences of their savagery 
in murdered men and women and in deso- 
lated homes. To people of a later gener- 
atiim, not one in ten of whom, probably, 
ever saw a " painted red devilj" it is hard to 
convey an adequate idea of the teri-or these 
prowling bands of savages spread through 
the country, and the constant strain under 
which the settlers labored in consecjuence. 
Not the Indians, liowever, nor tluiir free- 
booting white brothers of the plains 
formed the greatest imjiediment to the 
settlement of this country nor scattered 
the greatest desolation, suffering and death 
among the early pioneers. The invisibh; 
forces of nature and the hardships and 
privations almost inseparably connected 



2M 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



with the opening of a new country formed 
the greatest obstacles to the advance of 
civihzation, and called for the exercise of 
more heroic qualities than did the warding 
off of Indian forays and the attacks of 
pillaging bands of free-booters. Little do 
the people of this day know of the want, 
suffering and heart-aches which the first 
settlers were called on to endure. And 
what is here said of the old settler in 
general applies with special force and sig- 
nificance to the subject of this sketch. 
All that others saw and endured he saw 
and endured. He was among the first and 
he has stuck steadfastly to the home of 
his adoption even up to the present time. 

As noted above, when Mr. Thompson 
came to Nebraska he was small and came 
with his parents. Let us take up his his- 
tory and give its brief outlines. 

Oliver Edwin Thompson was born in 
Warwickshire, England, September 16, 
1846, and is the second of three children 
— Hannah, Oliver Edwin, and Johnnie, 
born to William and Jane (Matthews) 
Thompson, natives of the same place. His 
parents immigrated to America in the 
spring of 1850, and settled in St. Louis, 
Mo., where the fatlier died, August 4th, 
that year, followed later b}' the youngest 
child. The mother was re-married in 1855, 
being married to a countryman of hers, 
Henr}' Dugdale, now remembered by the 
old settlers of Buffalo countj' as one of the 
pioneers of central Nebraska. The family 
came to Nebraska, settling, after a tem- 
porary residence on the Pawnee reserva- 
tion, in Buffalo count}', where the subject 
of this sketch was reared and began the 
race of life. His earlier yeai'S were spent 
on the old home-place west of Shelton, and 
he grew up as a boy on the frontier might 



be expected to, alternately engaged in the 
stirring sports of the field with the stern 
contest for bread and butter. He traveled 
extensively, being out with freighters and 
scouts, and ranged all the way from cen- 
tral Nebraska to the Rocky mountains. 
December 26, 1862, being then in his seven- 
teenth year, he entered the United States 
army, enlisting in Company K, Third 
California infantry, at Camp Douglas, 
Utah. He served in Utah, Colorado and 
Idaho, being in the frontier service and 
engaged in keeping down Indian and 
Mormon troubles. It was his command 
that fought the famous battle at Bear 
river, Idaho, on the 29th of January, 1863, 
where the United States troops, one hun- 
dred and fifty cavalry and ninety infantry, 
fought the Indians and Mormons, killing- 
three hundred Indians out of three hundred 
and six engaged. Mr. Thompson gives an 
interesting description of that battle, 
fought, as it was, amid the mountains, 
with the snows two feet deep and hun- 
dreds of miles fi'om civilization. He gives 
the Indians credit for having displayed a 
vast deal more courage and manhood tlian 
the Mormons; for, he says, the former 
fought bravely, even the squaws, old men 
and children bearing a pai't in the battle, 
while the latter, after having instigated 
the Indians to the contest, refused to give 
them aid. Mr. Thompson was in the 
United States service on the frontier till 
October 31, 1865, being mustered out at 
that date at Denver, Colo. He served as 
a private, entering as a fifer, but after two 
months taking a gun, which he carried till 
the expiration of the term of his enlist- 
ment. 

Returning to Buffalo county in the fall 
of 1865, he settled down to farming and 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



225 



stock-raising, and followed the uneventful 
life of a frontier bachelor till 1871, when 
on the 6th day of August that year, he 
married Miss Clara Lew, a young lady who 
had come to the county that spring with 
the Gibbon colony. Having previously 
taken a homestead in Shelton township, 
two and a half miles south and east of the 
budding town of Gibbon, Mr. Thompson 
settled there, and began the serious duties 
of life in earnest. lie began on limited 
means, as did all the old settlers, and, 
although he had previously seen much 
hardship, all his ways were not ways of 
pleasantness, nor were his paths all paths 
of peace. He had his struggles with the 
grasshoppers, drouth, hail and hard times, 
and he had his courage and endurance 
tested to their utmost stretch, like all his 
neigiibors who remained through all those 
drearv years. Mr. Thompson, however, 
i-emained steadfastly by the home of his 
adoption, and the gradual improvement of 
the country witnessed a gradual improve- 
ment in his condition. He is to-day one 
of the best fixed and most prosperous 
farmers in the count\'. He owns four hun- 
dred acres of land lying in Shelton town- 
ship, all of which is susceptible of cultiva- 
tion, and most of which he has improved 
and well stocked. He is one of the few 
men of the township who never gave a 
mortgage, who is out of debt, and whose 
paper is good in any bank in the countv 
without collateral security. 

It could hardly happen that a man who 
has resided in the county as long as Mr. 
Thompson has, and who jiossesses tlie 
sound intelligence and business qualifi- 
cations tliat he does, should not have been 
called on to fill some positions of a public 
nature. He was appointed sheriff of Buf- 



falo and Dawson counties, in February, 
1870 ; served out an unexpired term, and 
was elected in the fall of 1871, and served 
two years, during which time he served 
also as register of the count}^ having 
received the ajipointment to that ofiice in 
the meantime. He has never aspired to 
anything like a public life, being content 
to pursue his own personal affairs, in 
which he finds his greatest pleasure, as 
well as his highest reward. 

Tins sketch, long as it is, would not ije 
complete without further mention than 
has been made of tlie excellent lady whom 
Mr. Thompson selected to share his life's 
fortunes. Like himself, she is something 
of a historical character in Buffalo county. 
She came to the county in April, 1871, as 
a member of the old Soldiers' Free-Home- 
stead Colony, being one of the two un- 
married ladies of that colony. She came 
from West Farmington, Ohio, where she 
was born and reared, accompanying to 
this state some old friends and neighbors. 
She is descended from pioneer ancestry, 
and is, in every essential, a pioneer herself. 
Her father, Joseph Lew, was a native of 
New Yoi'k, having been boi-n near the 
present city of Rochester. He immigrated 
to Ohio, and settled on the Western 
Reserve, in 1832, where he some years 
afterwards married a lady. Miss Martha 
Hatch, and there lived till his death. 
Mrs. Thompson's mother, who is still 
living, being a member now of her daugh- 
ter's household, is a native of Vermont, 
and a descendant of New England ances- 
tors. Her father moved to Ohio in 1834, 
and settled on the Western Reserve. Mrs. 
Thompson was the only child born to her 
parents. She grew up in her native place, 
and received a good common school train- 



226 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



ing; also attended the Western Reserve 
seminary, West Farmington, Ohio, taking 
a three years' course ; commenced teach- 
ing at the age of fifteen, closing her 
twenty-third term of school the day before 
starting for Nebraska ; so that when she 
came to Nebraska, in the general division 
of labor among the colonists, the position 
of teacher naturally fell to her. She 
taught the first school in the county, 
taking it in the summer of 1871. She 
taught in a sod school-house, one mile 
west of the present town of Shelton, her 
district embracing all the surrounding 
country, she even having pupils from Hall 
county and old Fort Kearney', across the 
Platte river. She only taught one session, 
marrying, as already noted, in the summer 
of 1871, after which she joined her husband 
on the farm. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have a pleasant 
home, to which they welcome friend and 
stranger with that warmth, hospitality 
and tender touch of nature that makes all 
the world akin. They both possess intelli- 
gence and culture, and their home, con- 
duct and conversation, give evidence of 
refinement not met with among all of the 
" old timers." Their friends are num- 
bered by their acquaintances, and even 
the casual visitor retains a happy recol- 
lection of thera. 



WILLIAM W. GIBSON. One of 
the oldest settlers of Gibbon 
township, as he is one of the 
most industrious and higiily esteemed cit- 
izens of the township, is William W. Gib- 
son, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Gib- 
son is a brother of A. F. Gibson, of the 



town of Gibbon, a sketch of whom appears 
in this work, in which sketch will be found 
the facts pertaining to the ancestral his- 
tory so far as they are of interest or value 
to this record. 

AVilliam W. Gibson was born in Law- 
rence county. Pa., August 7, 1845, anil 
was reared in his native place, growing up 
on the farm, receiving a common school 
education in the district schools of the 
community where he was reared, and 
being trained also to the habits of indus- 
try and usefulness that mark the farmer's 
life. He enlisted in the Union army at 
the age of twenty, entering February 1, 
1805, as a member of Company B, One 
innulredth Pennsylvania infantiy. He 
saw his chief service in front of Peters- 
burg, Va.,' participating in the siege of 
that place and taking part in the mine 
engagement. In this siege he was severely 
wounded in the right wrist by a fragment 
of a mortar shell. He was in the service 
till July 27, 18(35, being mustered out at 
Ilarrisburg on that date. lie served as a 
private and had the good fortune never to 
be captured or wounded. He belonged to 
a historic regiment, the old Hundredth 
being known also as the " Roundheads " 
and proving themselves worthy upon 
many a battle-lield of their historic name. 
The regiment was present at twenty-three 
of the principal battles of the war, in only 
four of which it did not take an active 
part. It lost in killed and wounded eight 
hundred and eight^'-seven men out of a 
total enlistment of two thousand and four- 
teen, all but twent^^-nine of its losses 
occurring in actual conflict in the field, 
twenty-nine being the number that was 
lost in Confederate prisons. The number 
killed outright in open engagements was 



BUFFALO COUXTY 



227 



two luindred and twenty-four, being a 
little over eleven per cent. It fought in 
widely separated localities and made long 
journeys by sea and land. 

Returning to Lawrence county when 
the war was over, Mr. Gibson settled 
down to farming and remained there till 
the spring of 1S71, when he in company 
with his brother, A. F. Gibson, joined the 
Soldier's Fi'ee Homestead Colony and 
came to Nebraska, settling in Gibbon 
township, where he took a homestead and 
has since remained. Mr. Gibson's place 
lies about a mile north of the town of Gib- 
bon, being the northeast quarter of sec- 
tion 12, township U, range 13 west. lie 
has resided on this place for more than 
nineteen 3'ears, taking it when it was a 
raw prairie beai'ing fresh marks of the 
buifalo, wiiicli had only a few years ]ire- 
viously roamed over it undisturbed. It is 
now well imi>i'oved, half of it being under 
cultivation and the remainder in pasture, 
furnished with comfortable buildings and 
ornamented with groves, natural and arti- 
Jicial. For several 3'ears after coming to 
the state, Mr. Gibson lived a bachelor, 
having too much regard for the tender 
feelings and gentle natui'e of the opposite 
sex to ask an}^ woman to share with him 
the har/:lsliips and privations which fell to 
his lot in the earlier years. But with the 
imjn'ovement of his worldly condition, 
the gradual settlement of the country and 
the appearance of better times, he got the 
consent of his mind to change his lot of 
single blessedness, and, as was most nat- 
ural in such a case, his eyes reverted to 
his old home in Lawrence county. Pa. 
In 1878, February 13th, he led to the 
marriage altar Miss Virginia McGary of 
that county, a lady whom he had known 



from earl}' childhood, she, like himself, 
being a native of that county. Mrs. Gib- 
son comes of Pennsylvania parentage, his 
father, John McGary, having been born 
and reared in Lawrence county, where he 
always lived and where he died in 1875 at 
the age of sixty-two, and her mother, a 
native of Armstrong county and still liv- 
ing, being a resident of Lawrence count}'. 
Mrs. Gibson is one of a family of twelve 
children, of whom, besides herself, two 
daughters and one son reside in PulTalo 
count}"-, viz. — Mrs. Mary Thompson, Miss 
Nan E. McGary, and James McGar}'. 
Mr. and Mrs. Gibson have only one child, 
John M., a bright, intelligent bo}', around 
whom their chief hopes and ambitions 
gather, and who gives every evidence of 
being the realization of their fondest ex- 
pectations. 



WILLIAM ROACH. A man 
who has lived in (iibbon town- 
ship, Puffalo county, suffi- 
cient 1}^ long to be called an old settler 
and a man who has been one of the most 
successful, as he is one of the most higlily 
esteemed, citizens of the locality where he 
resides, is William Roach, the subject of 
this biographical notice. Mr. Roach is an 
Englishman by birth, having been born 
and reared to the age of seventeen in 
that famous island, whicli has furnished 
the world more navigators, expUjrers, jno- 
neer settlers, empire makers and city 
builders than any other spot on earth. 
He comes of good old English stock, the 
Anglo-Saxon strains running through his 
ancestral line from time immemorial. He 
is a native of Cornwall, and was born 
October 20, 1830. His father was Thomas 



228 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Roach, a native also of Cornwall, and his 
mother bore the maiden name of Jennie 
Hare, being a daughter of AVilliam Hare, 
and a native of the same county. His 
parents immigrated to Canada in 1847, 
bringing their family, but remained there 
only about one year, when they came 
across into " the states," settling in Erie 
county. Pa. There, after a residence of a 
few years, the mother died, leaving, sur- 
viving her, her husband and nine children, 
her father, accomjianying his .son, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, to Nebraska, died here 
the 12th of June, 1888, at the advanced 
age of sevent^'-nine. He was a plain 
man of quiet tastes and orderly habits, 
having led an industrious, upriglit, useful 
life. 

William Roach, our subject, was reared 
on the farm and adopted farming as the 
calling of his life. He married in Erie 
county. Pa., having grown to maturity in 
that county, the lad}' Avhom he selected 
for a life companion being a native of 
Pennsylvania, reared mainly in Erie 
county — Miss Caroline Ames. As his 
family began to grow up around him, like 
a thoughtful parent solicitous for the wel- 
fare of his children, Mr. Roach decided to 
move West, where opportunities were bet- 
ter for getting on in the world than in the 
more thickly settled communities of the 
East. He came to Nebraska in the fall 
of 1871, settling in Gibbon township, 
where he took a homestead about three 
miles north of tlie town of Gibbon, and 
where he has since I'esided. Starting with 
the limited means at his command, Mr. 
Roach has steadily progressed from year 
to year in spite of the obstacles, failures 
and discouragements that fell to his lot in 
common with most of the old settlers at 



an earl}' day, and also since, until now he 
is one of the best-to-do farmers in Buffalo 
county, owning more than seven hundred 
acres of land, mostly in this county, a 
large part of which he has under cultiva- 
tion, well stocked and otherwise well im- 
proved. He gives particular attention to 
the raising of horses, having several Nor- 
man and Clydesdale thoroughbreds and a 
number of high-grade animals on his 
place. He is a thoughtful, industrious, 
progressive farmer and deserves all the 
success he has attained. 

Mr. Roach has a pleasant home, and is 
surrounded by an interesting family of 
children, having been the father of eight 
— Charles, George, Frederick, Julia, Perry, 
Mark, Clinton and Pearly. Of these, 
three are deceased. The third, Frederick, 
was born in Erie county. Pa., September 
1, 1SG8. Coming to Nebraska with his 
parents in 1871, he has been reared 
mainly in this state, growing up on the 
old home place in Gibbon township, Buf- 
falo county. He has received a good 
common-school education and has been 
reared to habits of industry and useful- 
ness. He has always taken great interest 
in farming and stock-raising, being a great 
fancier of good horses; and with the en- 
ergy, thrift and self-reliance born to his 
nature and encouraged by the judicious 
training of his father, he began to accum- 
ulate when small, and his savings have 
gradually grown until now ; although he 
is but little past his twenty-first year, he 
is in a much better condition financially 
than the majority of men who are many 
years his seniors in age. He is a sober, 
intelligent, hard-working young man, and 
will one day be a man of wealth, position 
and influence. 




D. P. ASHBURN. 



B UFFA L CO UNTY. 



231 



DP. ASIIBUIIN came to Buffalo 
county, Nel)rasl«a, April 4, 1871, 
as a member of the Soldiers' Free 
Homestead Temperance Colon\^, and set- 
tled at that date at Gibbon, where, with 
the exception of temporary absence, he 
has since resided. He has been yilentified 
with tlic leading interests of his locality, 
material, political and social, and is prob- 
ably one of the best known, as he has been 
one of the most active and useful men, not 
only of his township, but of his county 
and state. 

Mr. Ashburn is a native of Ohio, having 
been born and reared in Trumbull county, 
that state. lie was brought uji on the 
farm, and has always been more or less 
interested in agricultural pursuits, having, 
also, in liis earlier years, followed the car- 
penter's trade. He married in his native 
county, and resided there till coming to 
Nebraska. His original homestead, where 
he settled on coming to the county, lies 
only about a mile west of the town of 
Gibbon, he still holding the title to it, and 
having resided there, more or less, since 
living in the county. Mr. Ashburn has 
been, and is now, a man of diversified pur- 
suits and manifold interests, and has spent 
not a little of his time in the public ser- 
vice. For the first few years after he 
located in Gibbon, he was mainly engaged 
in contracting and building, and farming. 
Then, when the grasshopper invasion 
came, followed by the dr}^ years, and the 
problem of life narrowed down to a 
struggle for bread and butter, he was for a 
few years in the employ of the Union 
Pacific Railway Company as express 
messenger, running west from Omaha. 
Resuming his farming pursuits, with the 
return of good crops, in 1870, he was so 



engaged till 1879, when he left the farm, 
and, moving into Gibbon, began the grain 
trade, building a grain elevator, which he 
subsequently sold to the parties who built 
and operate the present one there. In 
1881 he built the Gibbon creamery, which 
he continues to own and operate, and 
which bears the distinction of being one 
of the most successful enterprises of the 
kind in central or western Nebraska. 

Mr. Ashburn has filled a number of 
public offices, and has done a vast amount 
of labor of an official and semi official 
nature. He was elected justice of the 
peace of Gibbon township in the fall of 
1871, and held that office for one term. 
In the fall of 1872 he was placed in the 
field by his friends as the republican can- 
didate for the legislature, against the then 
well-known frontiersman and since cele- 
brated showman, " Buffalo Bill," demo- 
cratic candidate. Mr. Ashburn received 
a majority of the votes cast, but by mis- 
take, the returns from Franklin and 
Harlan counties were sent to the cit}' of 
Lincoln instead of the county seat of 
Lincoln county (North Platte), as the law 
I'equired, and these returns were not 
before the canvassing boaril. The remain- 
ing returns showed a majority for " Buffalo 
liill," and he received the certificate of 
election. Mr. Ashburn brought a con- 
test, and, producing the returns of all the 
counties in the district, ])roved his major- 
ity and was seated by a unanimous vote of 
the house, " Buffalo Bill " not appearing 
or claiming the seat. His district, the 
twenty-sixth, embraced all that jjortion of 
the state lying west of a line extending 
through the state from north to south, 
parallel with the east line of Buffalo and 
Kearney counties, thus giving him a large 



232 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



area of country to look after. He took 
an active part in tlie general legislation 
before the house and in the committee 
rooms. During the last session of the 
legislature, he was selecteti by his county 
board as a delegate froui his county to 
act in connection with others similarly 
selected to consider the revision, and pro- 
pose measures for the recasting of the 
township laws of the state, and at the 
first meetmg of those delegates, held at 
Columbus, he was made chairman of the 
convention, and at the second meeting, 
held at Lincoln, he was sent as a delegate 
froni that convention, to urge before the 
legislature the passage of the measures 
proposed by the convention, nine out of 
twelve of which measures were passed and 
became laws. He also had in charge a 
measure from the Nebraska State Dairy- 
men's Association, asking for an annual 
appropriation of $1,000, for which he 
drafted a bill and secured its passage. 
He has been particularly active in behalf 
of the dairying interests of the state, 
being now president of the State Dairy- 
men's Association. He has served his 
township on the county board of super- 
visors, being the pi-esent member of the 
board from Gibbon township, and has 
been a member of the town council of 
Gibbon several terms, and active in its mu- 
nicipal affairs. In Januarj', 1889, lie was 
admitted to the Buffalo county bar, hav- 
intr since given some time and attention 
to the practice of law, and, in July. 1889, 
he was appointed postmaster at Gibbon, 
an office which he continues to hold. 

With these interests and pursuits, Mr. 
Ashburn's life has been and continues to 
be, an active, not to say laborious, one ; 
yet, as exacting as bis duties have been 



and are, he has discharged them with 
entire satisfaction to those concerned, and 
has succeeded in his own personal affairs 
far beyond the average of business men. 
It would be doing injustice to his most 
excellent and deserving wife not to say in 
this connection, that in his labors, both of 
a public and private nature, he has been 
materially assisted by her, and not a little 
of the success he has attained has been 
reached through her efficient labors and 
zealous co-operation. As has alread}' been 
noted, Mr. Ashburn married in his native 
county, in Ohio. The lady whom he 
selected to share his life's fortunes was 
Miss Emily Amanda Brown, v/ho was 
reared in Trumbull county, Ohio, but was 
a native of New York. ]\Ir. and Mrs. 
Ashburn were married August 3, 1862, 
since which time they have borne each 
other the cherished companionship which 
they sought with each others' hands, and 
have reared, almost to maturity, an inter- 
esting family of children. For these 
duties, as well as for those in the more 
extended sphere, in which she has been 
called in connection with her husband's 
business, Mrs. Ashburn is admirably fitted, 
being a lady of not only sound intelli- 
gence, but of an abundance of jiractical 
sagacitv, discriminating judgment and 
business methods and accomplishments, 
possessing, witlial, a well-cultured mind 
and a nature rich in the treasures of her 
sex. 



ID. LaBARRE, the first man who 
ever sold a dollar's worth of goods in 
the town of Gibbon, is still a resident 
of that place and is j'et engaged in mercan- 
tile business there. He settled on the 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



233 



present town site of Gibbon on April 7, 
1871, being a member of the Soldiers' Free 
Ilomesteati Temperance Colony, b}' which 
the village of Gil)bon and most of Gibbon 
township was settled. Most of the mem- 
bers of tliis colony, as appears in tlie his- 
tory thereof, were from Ohio, but it was 
recruited by volunteers from other states 
who fell in at different points, there being 
in all representatives of more than twenty 
states. Mr. LaBarre came trom New 
York, of which state he is a native. He is a 
descendant of two old York state families, 
the advent of whose ancestors on this con- 
tinent runs back into the mists of the 
past, and he is of French extraction and 
Huguenot stock on both sides. The familj^ 
name is variously spelled and abbreviated, 
appearing as La Bar, De LaBar, LaBarre 
and LaBaire, and representatives of the 
name are now found in many parts of the 
United States, especially scattered over 
tlie states of New York, Pennsylvania 
and western states. Mr. LaBarre's father, 
grandfather and greatgrandfather were 
natives of York state, and it is highly 
probable that his first ancestors on Ameri- 
can soil were as man\^ as four or five gen- 
erations removed from himself. The La- 
Barres, DuBoises, LeFevers and Beviers 
were early settled families of New York, 
as appears from the mention of their 
names in connection with the first settle- 
ment of the French Protestant refugees 
there. Whether his people belonged to 
the Ulster County colony or the Staten 
Island colony is not known, but in either 
case his ancestry would run l)ack to the 
earh' part of the seventeenth centur}', 
as these colonies were settled about the 
same time the colony at Jamestown 
was. 



I. D. LaBarre is the second of seven 
children born to John and Rosetta 
(Walker) LaBarre and first saw light 
August 4, 1831:, in Hartford, Washington 
county, N. Y. He was reared in Wash- 
ington and Essex counties, which join, 
and was brought up as a sailor on Lake 
Champlain and LIudson river and off the 
coast of New Y'ork. He married in Janu- 
ary, 18.56, Miss Mary W., a daughter of 
Minus Winter, his wife having been born 
and reared in the same community with 
himself and being like himself a descend- 
ant of old settlers of the northern part of 
Y^ork state. He engaged in business in 
his native county and in Essex, and was 
so engaged when he ilecided to move west. 
The circumstances which led to his com- 
ing to Nebraska were such as have hap- 
pened to many others and doubtless have 
been given to print man\' times before. 
He became dissatisfied with the over- 
crowded condition of things in his own 
state and wanted to get into a new country, 
where oppoi'tunities for getting on in the 
world were better than the}' were where 
he was. He cut loose from friends, rela- 
tives and business connections in the spring 
of 1871, and started west, not knowing at 
that time where he would cast his lot. 
He left AVashington county in compan}"^ 
with Dr. I. P. George, who will be remem- 
bered by all the old settlers, and as above 
stated fell in with the Old Soldiers' Home- 
stead Colony and became one of the 
founders of the town of Gibbon, Buffalo 
county. Mr. LaBarre's first experience as 
the first merchant f>f Gibljon was suffi- 
ciently novel to satisfy the taste of an}-- 
lover of pioneer methods. He opened his 
first stock of gootis in a boxcar, on a part 
of tlie train which was side-tracked where 



234 



B UFFA LO CO UNTY. 



Gibbon now stands and used by the colon- 
sits until houses were erected, and this 
stock of goods he brought with him and 
began selling the day after his arrival. 
As soon as the town site was located lie 
secured a lot and built a store house and 
moved in, becoming one of the fixtures of 
the place. This lot adjoins the one on the 
west of that on which his store now stands. 
Business, never very prosperous in the 
early days, grew distressingly dull after 
the first year or two. The men who set- 
tled in Gibbon and vicinity, like the early 
settlers of all new countries, were men of 
brawn and brain, but not men of means. 
They came west to better their condition. 
Their wants were few and their ability to 
buy limited. In the early days, at least, 
the town was not a place where small 
tradesmen could soon bloom out as mer- 
chant jn'inces. The tradesman shared the 
lot that fell to the average citizen. In 
many instances he fared worse. When 
the hard years came, the years when the 
grasshoppers and drouth spread suffering 
over the land, the shopkeeper found it as 
difficult to maintain his foothold and keep 
starvation from his door as did the poor 
homesteader. Yielding to the pressure of 
hard times Mr. LaBarre went out of busi- 
ness in 1874, and remained out till the 
return of good crops brought a revival of 
trade. With the exception of this period 
of general distress, when all of the old set- 
tlers had to resort to one makeshift and 
another to live, hardly anyone remaining 
at his accustomed business, Mr. LaBarre 
has been engaged actively in the mercan- 
tile business in Gibbon since the date of 
the founding of the colony in 1871 to the 
present time. His is the oldest establish- 
ment of the kind in the place and he is in 



point of residence Gibbon's first merchant. 
He has seen all the changes which have 
marked the growth and development of the 
town and vicinity — has seen a countr}'^ 
which twenty j'ears ago was one unend- 
ing stretch of prairie rapidly settled up 
with a thrifty class of citizens and become 
dotted over with peaceful and happy 
homes. lie has seen the spot where the 
pioneers of Buffalo county first pitched 
their tents grow from a train of box cars 
to a prosperous town of several hundred 
people, having all the conveniences and 
comforts of an eastern village, and he has 
seen many of the first settlers, whose 
earlier years on the plains were marked by 
a prolonged and arduous struggle for 
bread and butter, become well-to-do citi- 
zens, owning broad acres, well improved 
and furnished with commodious and ele- 
gant buildings. Thousands of dollars' 
worth of goods have been brought to Gib- 
bon, sold and consumed, since Mr. LaBarre 
sold his first article of merchandise from a 
box car in 1871. Store buildings have 
been erected by the score and merchants 
have come and gone, many of whom are 
not now remembered. Through all the 
changing years and all the varying seasons, 
except only the grasshopper period, the 
subject of this sketch has remained prac- 
tically on the spot where he built his first 
building and has continued to supply the 
local trade with whatever was wanted in 
his line. 

Mr. LaBarre, alihough an old-timer, is 
not a type of the Western rustlers in busi- 
ness such as have i>assed into common 
fame and newspaper notoriety. He is 
destitute of the grasping, money-getting 
spirit characteristic of the avei'age West- 
erner. The restlessness, scheming, worry 



B UFFA L CO VNTY. 



2.15 



and anno3'ance tbat come of lliat spirit 
he is singularly exempt from. He believes 
to tiie fullest extent m the maxim, " Live 
and let live.'' He believes in accumulat- 
ing by natural but not bv artificial means. 
As a merchant he sells to supply demand, 
but does not seek to create a demand by 
clap-trap advertising, or otlier means, that 
he may supply it. For this spirit of fair- 
ness, his equanimity and settled habits, he 
is largely indebted to heredit}'. The peo- 
ple from whom he is descended were dis- 
tinguished for their liberality, their large- 
ness of thought and fairness in dealing; 
for their settled convictions, the evenness 
of their temper and the general serenity 
of their lives. Strongly religious and 
shockingly persecuted for religion's sake, 
they learned to deal with others in a spirit 
of charity unequalled by any other sect. 
They exemplified in their daily lives in 
a trul}' admirable manner the whole- 
someness of the maxim, " Live and let 
live." 

It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. 
LaBarre has never mixed in politics. He 
has no taste for the wranglings of public 
life. He held the position of postmaster 
at Gibbon during Grant's administration 
— the only position of a public nature he 
lias ever tilled. He is a republican in pol- 
itics and a strong believer in the teachings 
of his party. In the matter of religion, 
he adheres to the doctrines of his fathers, 
being a member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. 

Mr. LaBarre has but one child, a dausrh- 
ter grown and mai-ried — Mrs. Cora La- 
Barre White, wife of Alva White, of 
Gibbon. 

Socially, Mr. LaBarre and his family are 
among the foiemost of the community. 



GEORGE H. SILVEENAIL is one 
of the old settlers of (ribbon 
townshit), Buffalo county, having 
come with the Soldiers' Homestead Colony 
in April, 1871. He is a native of Geauga 
county, Ohio, and was born in July, 1845. 
He comes of pioneer stock ; his parents 
were born in New York, but settled early 
on the Ohio frontier. His father, Calvin 
Silvernail, and his mother, Abigail Rath- 
burn, are still living, being residents of 
Gibbon and now well advanced in years. 
Besides himself there were six children in 
the family to which the subject of this 
sketch belongs, the full list being — Eliza- 
beth, George H., Eugenia R., John H., 
James, Eliza and^Fredei-ick. 

The subject of this notice, George H., 
was reared in his native county to the age 
of sixteen, moving thence in 1861 to Wis- 
consin. There, in September, 1804, at the 
age of nineteen, he enlisted in the Union 
army, entering Company K, Fifth Wis- 
consin, on its reorganization, and serving 
with it until the suri'ender. He took part in 
all the battles in which his regiment par- 
ticipated, chief among them being those 
at Petersburg, Hatcher's run and Appo- 
mattox. He was mustered out in Septem- 
ber, 1865, at Ball's Hill, Wis. The fol- 
lowing six years he lived in Wisconsin and 
Michigan, coming to Nebraska, in Ajiril, 
1871. He was accompanied to this state 
by his brother John H., now of Ivearne\% 
and two others, Daniel R. Davis ami 
Samuel Mattice. In the choice for home- 
steads these four cast their lots together 
and agreeii to locate as near each other as 
possible, one man to draw, as was the 
arrangement, for the entire four. iMr. 
Silvernail drew for his comrades and him- 
self, getting the twenty-eighth choice 



He and his friends took claims on the 
south sitle of Wood river, a short distance 
west of the town of Gibbon, but not hie- 
ing the soil they gave up their claims 
tliere and selected otliers in section 10, 
just nortli of the river. There they lo- 
cated, and our subject, being the only old 
soldier in tiie crowd, got one hundred and 
sixty acres while the others took eighty 
each. He filed on the southwest quarter 
of the section, improved it and lived there 
till 1SS3, except one year he resided in 
Gibbon. • Selling this he afterward moved 
to his present place of residence, four 
miles north of Gibbon, in Valley township. 
He has been steadily engaged in farming 
and has filled the usual number of local 
offices, having been the first precinct 
assessor (elected in the fall of 1871), one 
of the organizers of his school district and 
for several years a member of the school 
board and more recently clerk of Valley 
township. 

Mr. Silvernail was a single man when 
he came to Buffalo county, but married in 
the fall of 1872, November 17th, taking 
for a companion a young lad_v who, like 
himself, braved the hardships and priva- 
tions of frontier life at that date iu search 
of a home — Miss Marcia E. Howe, a native 
of Newport, N. H., her father, George W. 
Howe, and her mother, Sarah M. Carr, 
both being natives of Newport ; the father 
died in the town of Marlow, that state, in 
1881, at the age of seventy-three, but the 
mother is still residing there. Mrs. Sil- 
vernail is one of a famil}' of six children, 
two of whom besides herself were among 
the early settlers of Buffalo county, Nebr.; 
these being Mi-s. E. C. Griffin, now of 
Gibbon ; and Mrs. Dr. Ira P. George, of 
Elkins, Colfax county, N. M. Mrs. Silver- 



nail came to Buffalo county in the fall of 
1871. Three children, all boys, have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Silvernail — Merton 
L., Ei'rol H. and Halbert G. Among the 
few remaining old settlers of Gibbon 
township, those who came earl}' and in 
the arduous undertaking of subduing na- 
ture and planting the seeds of civilization, 
" bore the heat and burden of the day," 
none have been more faithful in the task 
imposed on them and none are more 
high!}' esteemed than George H. Silver- 
nail and his estimable wife, whose mem- 
ory and the part they took in the settle- 
ment of their ado])ted home are here com- 
memorated. 



DE. M. V. CHAPMAN, veterinary 
surgeon and farmer, of Gibbon 
Buffalo count}', is a native of 
the town of Worcestor, Otsego county, 
N. Y., and was born June 16, 1834. 
He comes of York state parentage, his 
father and mother, Jonas and Polly B. 
Chapman, both having been born and 
reared in the " Empire State." The 
father was killed by the explosion of a 
steamboat boiler while returning from 
New Orleans, in 1840, and the mother 
died in Pennsylvania in 1870. Thei'e 
were six children born to these, all of 
whom reached maturity, and five of whom 
are now living, the full list being— Leonoi'a, 
now wife of Huron Daniels ; Orcelia, 
deceased ; Eosabella, wife of L. Close ; 
Andrew Jackson ; Stephen Ma^'ne and 
Martin Van Buren. ' 

The subject of this notice, the youngest 
of the above children, was reared to the 
age of twenty years in Otsego and Cayuga 
counties, N. Y., coming West at that 



BUFFALO CO U KIT. 



237 



date, and settling in Steuben count}'', 
Ind. There, on tiie 20th of April, 
1855, he married Miss Delia McLouth, 
daughter of Rev. B. McLouth, of that 
county, and settled down to the pursuit 
of agriculture. In December, 1SG3, he 
entered the Union army, enlisting- in 
Company F, Twenty-seventh Michigan 
volunteer infantr^^ His was one of the 
historic regiments of the Union army and 
did excellent service during the two years 
it was in the field. It took part in seven- 
teen strongly contested engagements, and 
lost, in killed and wounded, over eight 
hundred men out of one thousand, four 
hundred and eighty-five. Those actually 
killed in battle were two hundred and 
twenty-five, being over fifteen per cent. 
Its heaviest losses occurred at the Wilder- 
ness, Spottsylvania, Bethsaida church 
and at Petersburg, it being in the assault, 
the mine explosion and the trenches at the 
last named place. Our subject was not 
witii his regiment, however, during its 
entire term of service. During the latter 
part of the war he was on detached duty. 
After the surrender he was assigned to a 
place in the department of the Freedman's 
Bureau, being assistant superintendent 
and provost-marshal for Halifax county, 
Va. He quit the public service in Octo- 
ber, 1805, and returned at that date to 
Steuben county, Ind., where he resumed 
farming and his other private pursuits. 
Being a great fancier of horse flesh, a 
man of close observation and studious 
habits, our subject began, when only a 
youth, to give his attention to veterinarv 
matters, reading such books as fell into 
liis hands, and "doctoring " his own and 
neighbors' horses. With the increase of 
years, he gathered increased knowledge 



and experience, and discovered in himself 
a growing taste for the profession of a 
veterinary surgeon, until at last he made 
up his mind to perfect himself for this as 
a pursuit and did so, having followed it 
successfully for some years. He came to 
Nebraska in 1878 and purchased land 
north of Gibbon in Buffalo county, locat- 
ing there and residing in that vicinity 
since. He has at difi'erent times been 
largely interested in Buffalo county real 
estate, but has recentl}' closed out most 
of his interests of this nature. He is also 
interested in the state bank of Gibbon 
being a stockholder therein. He has a 
pleasant home one mile north of the town 
of Gibbon, lying on the banks of Wood 
river. Having had the misfortune to 
lose his wife in 1871, Dr. Chapman mar- 
ried again in August, 1872, the lady whom 
he selected as a companion the second 
time being Miss Mary Stiles, of Sauk 
Center, Minn. He has had bora to him a 
number of children ; three surviving of 
his first marriage, and six of the second. 
In private intercourse. Dr. Chapman is 
pleasant and affable, being of a quiet, 
txnobtrusive disposition and verv thought- 
ful for the feelings and welfare of others. 
He is a man of good intelligence and pos- 
sesses a large fund of general information. 
He has never aspired to public office, 
being content to pursue the even tenor of 
his way as a humble citizen of the com- 
munity where he has lived. In politics 
he is independent, though he formerly 
affiliated with the republican jiarty and 
still votes that ticket in national elections, 
but for local men and measures he follows 
his judgment, believing in the survi- 
val of the fittest, regardless of i)art\' 
affiliations or personal predilection. 



238 



BUFFALO COUXTY. 



A 



EDDY, an old settler of Gibbon 
township, Buffalo count}', a prom- 
inent and successful farmer, and 
as kind-hearted a christian gentleman as 
lives in the State of Nebraska, is A. Eddy, 
the subject of this short biography. Mr. 
Eddy has been- a resident of the locality 
where he lives since May, 1874, and he has 
been identified with the best material, 
social and moral interests of that locality 
since settling there. lie is well known 
throughout the county, and those who 
know him never mention his name but to 
speak his praise. 

Mr. Eddy is a native of Wyoming county, 
N. r., and comes of two of the early settled 
families of western York state. His father, 
John Eddy, was born in Rhode Island, 
December 9, 1795, and was taken to 
western New York by his parents when a 
lad, settling in Genesee count}', where, 
December 17, 1817, he married Caroline 
Ward, and there subsequently lived and 
died. He was a farmer, a man of plain 
tastes, settled habits and uneventful life. 
He died, February 14, 1881, after a long 
life of great activity and usefulness. His 
wife, mother of our subject, was born 
January 6, 1799, and died October 29, 
1881, after a life of pious, christian en- 
deavor. 

In the family to which Mr. Eddy be- 
longs there were eleven children, as fol- 
lows—Alfred, born November 2, 1818, 
married February 21, 1843, died October 
2, 1887; Lydia, born May 20, 1820, 
married to Lewis W. GUI October 7, 
1811; Laura, born February 1, 1822, 
married to George Nichols February G, 
1851 ; Asahel, subject of this sketch, born 
October 2, 1823, and married January' 
1, 1845; Parthena, born September 



27, 1825, and married September 28, 
1842, to Joseph Dickerson ; Edwin, born 
March 30, 1829, and married Mai'ch 10, 
1850 ; James, born May 30, 1832, and 
married February 19, 1857; Caroline, 
born June 13, 1834, and married. May 
14, 1856, to Elliott Barber; John, Jr., 
born October 7, 1836, married March 
23, 1859, and killed May 31, 1862, at the 
battle of Fair Oaks, Va.; Eachel, born 
January 22, 1840, and married, January 
6, 1861, to Abram Thompson ; and 
Spaulding, born Januar\' 5, 1843, and died 
July 25, 1843. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
mainly in his native count}', passing his 
niaturer years in the county of W3'oming. 
He was brought up on his father's farm, 
I'eceiving as good common-school training 
as could be had in the public schools of 
those days, and being brought up to the 
habits of industry and usefulness common 
to farm life. January 1, 1845, he married 
a neighbor girl, Sarah Cook, a daughter 
of Samuel and Chloe (Warner) Cook, 
early settlers in western New York. Mrs. 
Eddy, born August 10, 1825, is a native 
of Vermont, as were also her parents, but 
was reared in York state. Her father and 
mother died in Buffalo in 1831, during the 
great cholera scourge. Mr. Eddy settled 
down to the pursuit of agriculture after 
marriage, and followed it successfully a 
short time in Wyoming county, but moved 
West, without any family, and settled in 
McHenry county, HI. He was residing 
there when the trouble came on that re- 
sulted in the great Civil war, and like the 
the patriot he was, when the call was made 
for volunteers to defend the Union, he 
shouldered his musket and went to the 
front, enlisting August, 1862, in Company 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



239 



E, Ninety-fifth Illinois volunteer infantry. 
He served with the army in the West and 
took part in the Vicksburg campaign, 
being ])resent at the engagements at and 
around Vicksburg, continuing actively on 
the front for one year, when, on account 
of failure of health, he was compelled to 
take a ]>lace as prison guaril, in which 
ca]iacity lie served till the end of the war, 
at Kock Island, III. 

Returning to Illinois he resided there, 
engaged in farming,till the spring of 1874r, 
when his mind once inore luj-ned towards 
the great West and he decided to take up 
his aboile on the rich prairies west of the 
Missouri river. He landed at Gibbon, 
Buffalo county. May 1st, that year. He 
at once purchased a place, buying the his- 
toric tract of land known as " Boyd's 
Ranch," lying about a mile west of Gib- 
bon on Wood river, and there located and 
has since resided there. Mr. Edtly has 
bouglit and sold several tracts of land 
since he made this purchase, owning now 
as much as four hundred acres in Buffalo 
countv. He has been steadily eno:ao;ed in 
farming and stock-raising, at which he 
has been successful far beyond the average 
old settler. His home place is one of the 
most desirable places in the famous Wood 
River valley, noted as that valley is for its 
man\' line farms. He has his entire farm 
under cultivation and it yields him an 
abundance of Nebraska's sovereign pro- 
ducts, corn and hay. It has an abundance 
of native timber, and, lying on the banks 
of Wood river, it is furnished with an 
ample sufficiency of flowing water. It is' 
in as moral a community as there is in 
Buffalo count}'; being only one mile from 
the town of Gibbon it has ail needful mar- 
ket, school, church and social advantages. 



Mr. Eddy is the father of nine children, 
eight of whom, four boys and four girls, 
are living and married. These are 
Amanda C, born July 13, 1847, and mar- 
ried October 2, 18C6, to A. Watcnpaugh; 
Spaulding, born November 14, 1840, and 
married August 9, 1871, to Amanda E. 
Norton; Henry A., born February 14, 
1852, and married March 9, 1887, to 
Rebecca Peoples ; Laura Belle, boi'n June 
17, 1854, and married July 2, 1873, to L. S. 
Buck; Caroline E., born April 15, 1857, 
and married Jul}' 2G, 1875, to E. B. Dun- 
kin; George A., born August 2, 1859, and 
marrieil November 21, 1881, to Martha 
Trout; Frank D., born December 2, lS(il, 
married January 2, 1887, to Mary E. Hays; 
Mary R., born October 27, 1806, and mar- 
ried May 10, 1887, to Bailey E. Yesey. 
Mr. and Mrs. Eddy's first child, a son 
born February 1, 1846, died in infanc}'. 

In politics Mr. Eddy was reared a dem- 
ocrat and voted the tlemocratic ticket up 
to the war. He then affiliated with the 
republican party and for many years voted 
that ticket straight through on all national 
and state issues. Of late years, however, 
he has been an independent rei)ublican 
with decided convictions on the {jrohibi- 
tion of the drink traffic. He possesses 
strong temperance views and is outspoken 
in his opinion on temperance issues. He 
is active in his efforts towards temperance 
reform, and now has enlisted in the great 
uprising of the farmers to free us from the 
corporate rule into which the old parties 
political have fallen and which legislate 
for the few at the expense of the many. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edtly are both members 
of the Baptist church, having belonged to 
that church for many years and reared 
most of their family in that church. 



240 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



CC. HOLLOWAY. It must not 
be inferred from the great num- 
ber of sketches of old settlers 
of Buffalo county, which appear in this 
volume, that all the positions of trust 
and emolument, and all the avenues of 
success, have been monopolized by the 
first settlers, and that they onl}' have done 
things worthy of preservation in a memo- 
rial record like this. There are numbers 
of young men and new recruits, as it were, 
to the army of workers, who, for the 
length of their residence, and measured 
by their means and opportunities, have 
accomplished quite as much, since casting 
their lots in the county, as the majority 
of the old timers. While yielding, there- 
fore, to the pioneers the prominence which 
is due them, by reason of the greater 
length of their residence, and the hard- 
ships which fell to them in the earlier 
years, it is still in keeping with the char- 
acter and purpose of this volume to give 
a fair share of space to the 3'ounger men 
and the new-comers, in order to tell some- 
thing of their accomplishments here, and to 
preserve for those of heir name, who may 
in after 3'ears read this record, an account 
of their ancestral and personal history. 
One of the men of this class deserving 
of mention in this connection, is C. C. 
Holloway, cashier of the State bank of 
Gibbon, Buffalo countv. Mr. IloUoway 
came to Gibbon in May, 18S6. His father, 
Ira Holloway, had previously made invest- 
ments in Gibbon, and it was to take charge 
of these investments that the subject of 
this sketch became a resident of the place. 
The interests here referred to, consisted 
mainly of stock in the State bank, of 
which Mr. Holloway's father was one of 
the founders. The State bank, one of the 



institutions of the town of Gibbon, was 
organized July 1, 1885, under the state 
banking laws, succeeding at that date, a 
private banking firm. It was organized 
with a capital of ^50,000, the charter 
members being Ira Ilollowa}'^, H. F. Flint, 
C. E. Woodruff, D. M. Fulmer, F. C. 
Hitchcock and W. H. Morrow. Ira Hol- 
loway became president ; H. F. Flint, vice- 
president, and F. C. Hitchcock, cashier. 
Several changes have since taken place in 
the official organization and working force 
of the bank. At present, C. E. AVoodruff 
is president ; C. M. Beck, vice-president, 
and C. C. Holloway, cashier; Mr. Hollo- 
way having the general supervision and 
practical management of the institution 
and its concerns. The bank was started 
with a view of meeting the demand for 
local banking facilities. Its business has 
increased with the general increase of 
business of the town of Gibbon and vicin- 
ity, and its affairs are now in a fairly 
prosperous condition. Being organized 
under the state banking law, it is founded 
on a sufficientl}' solid basis to insure its 
permanent existence, and being backed by 
men of recognized means and al)ility, its 
affairs are managed in accordance with 
the best business princijiles and methods. 
It has, for the past year or two, had to 
divide business with the First National 
Bank of Gibbon, which has been started 
since the State bank was organized, but it 
has nevertheless held its own, and has gone 
steadily forward in its career of jirosperity. 
Mr. Holloway is a banker somewhat by 
accident. He was not trained to the busi- 
ness, but took it up on locating in Gibbon. 
He was a teacher b}' profession prior to 
coming to Nebraska, having received a 
thorough education in his youth, graduat- 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



241 



ing from the Normal School of Milan, 
Erie county, Ohio, and for a number of 
years being actively and successfully 
engaged in school-room work. In many 
respects he is admirably qualified for the 
profession of teaching, being a good 
scholar, the first recjuisile. lie has re- 
ceived the necessary training to enable 
him to impart his knowledge in a clear 
and concise wa\', is a hard worker, pos- 
sesses executive abilitv above the average, 
and is painstaking and systematic in his 
methods. And he is, withal, an ardent 
advocate of thorough training for the 
3'oungand a warm sym|)atliizer witli youth 
in its struifijles for the rudiments of knowl- 
edge. These qualities have also helped 
to make him a success in his present busi- 
ness and would go far towards helping him 
on to success in any business he might 
choose. They are not qualities necessarily 
peculiar to him, but are qualities held in 
common by the great mass of successful 
business men. In a general way they are 
(pialities characteristic of the average 
Amei-ican. It is the possession of these 
qualities that enables the general man of 
atfairs to turn his hand with equal facility 
from one business to another and to prose- 
cute all with a fair degree of success. 
Besides the excellent school advantages 
enjoyed by Mr. IloUoway in his3'outh, he 
gained a jjood insight into the affairs of 

o o o 

tiie world through his father, who was a 
highly successful business man. The elder 
IloUoway was a native of New York state, 
but moved to Huron county, Ohio, when 
a lad, where he settled, married and sub- 
setjuently lived until 1883, when he re- 
moved to Lenawee county, Mich., where 
he resided until his death, September 3, 
1887, al the advanced age of seventy-five 



years. He was variously engaged during 
his earlier years, but retired in late life. 
He was distinguished for his industry' and 
conscientious devotion to his own personal 
matters, and much of the success that 
crowned his life was due to the possession 
of these admirable qualities. He died 
about two years ago, somewhat advanced 
in age, but retaining up to the close of his 
life the full possession of all his faculties 
and exhibiting the same marked interest 
in his business matters and the success and 
welfare of his famdy that distinguished 
him in the more active years of his career. 

Mr. Holloway's mother bore the maiden 
name of Achsa Broughton. She is still 
living. She was born in Lorain county, 
Ohio, of which her parents wereamongthe 
first settlers. 

Mr. IloUoway himself is next to the 
youngest of a family of ten children, all of 
whom reached maturity and most of whom 
are now living. He was born in the 
town of Peru, Huron county, Ohio, and 
there raised. He lived there and in ad- 
joining counties till coming to A'el)raska 
four 3' ears ago, and, as already stated, was 
engaged in teaching. He was married in 
Lucas county, in Se])teudjer, 1880, the 
lady of his choice being Miss Ruth Smith, 
of that county. 

If more of Mr. IloUoway need be said, 
what he is and what he has done may be 
summarized in the statement that he is an 
honest, industrious, capable man of busi- 
ness; an enterprising, intelligent, useful 
citizen and a pleasant, genial gentleman — 
a valuable acquisition to the community 
where he has cast his fortune, and one 
whom his fellow-citizens rightly appre- 
ciate and will willinglv indorse what is 
here said of him. 



242 



B UFFA L O'^CO UNTY. 



WL. E AND ALL. A young 
man in years but a compar- 
ativel}' old settler and one of 
the most progressive, enterprising and 
public spirited man of his locality, is W. 
L. Randall, the famous, one-price, cash 
merchant of the town of Gibbon, Buffalo 
count}'. Mr. Randall came to the county 
when about seventeen years of age ; while 
therefore he is hardly "to the manor 
born" he is nevertheless almost a jiroduct 
of the soil, having grown up in the com- 
munity where he resides and having been 
identified with the best interests of that 
community from his earliest days. He is 
a son of a former well-known citizen and 
old settlor of Gibbon township, now de- 
deceased, and before entering on the rec- 
ord of the subject of this notice it will be 
proper to refer to a few facts of his father's 
history. 

John D. Randall was born in New 
York and was reared there to the age of 
seventeen, being brought thence to Ohio 
by his parents, who settled in Clermont 
county. There he grew up and married 
a neighbor girl, Jane Beatty, a daughter 
of John Beatty, one of the first settlers of 
that county, and settled down to the 
peaceful pursuits of agriculture. He was 
so engaged till the clouds of a civil war 
burst over his unhappy country. Then, 
with an alacrity born of the patriotism in 
him, he offered his services for the preser- 
vation of the Union, enlisting in Septem- 
ber, 1861, in Company C, commanded b}' 
his brother, W. S. B. Randall, Second 
Ohio volunteer infantr}', commanded by 
his brother-in-law. Col. William T. Beatty- 
His regiment was assigned to dutj' in 
the western department, and, beginning 
its services in Kentucky, it was in the en- 



gagements at Perryville, that state ; Ivy 
mountain and Stone river, Tennessee ; 
Chickamauga, Lookout mountain and 
Missionary ridge, and then, entering the 
Atlanta campaign, down to the taking of 
Atlanta. He entered as a private and 
was discharged as a sergeant, having 
served out the term of his enlistment 
Returning to Ohio he resumed farming 
and continued there so engaged till 1877, 
when with his famih' he moved to Ne- 
braska and settled in Gibbon township^ 
Buffalo county, four miles west of the 
town of Gibbon, where he lived till his 
death, which occured July 23, 1887, he 
having attained his seventieth year. He 
never had any aspirations for jiublic life, 
but filled a number of loc il offices both in 
Ohio and this state with credit to himself 
and satisfaction to his fellow-citizens. He 
was a man of plain tastes, quiet habits and 
settled disposition, leading an active, in- 
dustrious, useful life, and laying down his 
burden at the end of his journey with a 
consciousness of duty well done, and bear- 
ing with him to his grave the sincere re- 
gret of those whose friendship and esteem 
he had enjoyed while living. He was for 
many years a zealous member of the 
Methodist church and a liberal contributor 
to all charitable purposes. Being an old 
soldier, he took much interest in Grand 
Army matters, and no man had a warmer 
])Iace in his bosom for an old comrade 
than he. He left surviving him a widow 
and six children, one having preceded 
him to the unknown world. His widow 
is still living at Gibbon, and his children 
are all married and are themselves the 
heads of families. These are Mrs. Jane 
Seeley, wife of C. G . Seele}' of Goshen, 
Ohio ; Mrs. Lida Osborn of Wilmington, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



243 



Ohio, ^vife of I. II. Osboni, who moved 
to Gibbon, September 11, 1890; Mrs. Caro- 
line Schooley, wife of N. Schooley, of Gib- 
bon, Buffalo county, this state ; Mrs. Kate 
Huffman, wife of Amos Huffman of Wil- 
mington, Ohio; John E. of Buffalo county, 
and William L., the subject proper of 
this sketch, the one that died beingFrank, 
tiie second ciiild in point of age. 

William L. Randall was born in Cler- 
mont county, Ohio, September 5, 1860. Ke 
was reared in that and Buffalo county, this 
state, growing up on his father's farm and 
receiving a fair common-school education. 
His earlier pursuits were of an agricult- 
ural nature. He quit the farm, however, 
in 1884, and after spending two years in 
the Gibbon creamery and running the 
Commercial hotel of that i)lace, he went 
to Wood River, in Hall county, where he 
besan the mercantile business. Returning 
to Gibb(m in July, 1889, he opened his 
present store, inaugurating- at that date 
the well remembered era of low prices for 
people of that vicinity. Having been 
brought up on the farm and having si)ent 
the greater part of his life among the 
farmers, he knows their wants perfectly, 
and is in entire sympathy with them, and 
is therefore prepared to furnish them what 
they need and do it at living prices to 
them. Mr. Randall has built up an 
immense trade for the time he has been in 
Ijusincss and the volume of his business is 
constantly increasing. He is no resi)ecter 
of persons or prices when they conffict 
witii liis sense of justice to his patronage. 
He reserves the right to buy where he 
can get the best for the least money and 
to sell at such figures as he sees fit to put 
on his goods. He is thoroughly independ- 
ent, and is a man of good intelligence. 



shrewd and practical, attending strictly to 
his own affairs but disciiarmn'r his duties 
as a citizen with promptness and fidelity. 
He has a family, having married April 19, 
1882, the lady whom he selected for a 
wife being Miss Emma AVescoatt, daugh- 
ter of Riley Wescoatt, a merciiant of 
Wood River, Hall county, Nebr., and a 
native of Albia, Iowa, but reared mainly 
in Hall county, whither her parents moved 
in 1876. Mr. Randall has a pleasant 
home and a host of warm friends. He 
was elected member of the board of trus- 
tees in April, 1890, and took his seat as 
same the first Monday in ]\Iay, 1890. He 
has enlarged his store to double its former 
capacity and now carries tiie largest and 
best assortment of general mercliandise in 
the city. He also runs a large stock of 
general merchandise at Wood River, Hall 
county, he having bought his father-in- 
law's stock at that place. 



Mil. NOBLE. Tlie observation 
is frequently made that the 
second crop of settlers in a new 
country always reap the fruits of the 
labors of the pioneers. Strictly speaking 
this is not correct, but the general state- 
ment contains considerable truth. The 
(lualities that make a good pioneer do not 
necessarily make a successful man of tlie 
world, and it is a fact that, as a new coun- 
try becomes settled up, the old-timers, as 
a rule, move on to the more sparsely set- 
tled districts while the new-comers pick 
up the desirable locations and not unfre- 
quentl}' monopolize the most lucrative 
professions and absorb the best paying 
business enterprises. There is something 



244 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



in the free and easy way of living prac- 
ticed by the old settlers that seems to 
unfit them for coping successfully with 
the aggressive forces that come with the 
better settlement of the country. On the 
other hand the more newly arrived settler, 
fresh from the over-crowded communities 
of the East and thoroughly' practiced in 
all the approved methods of getting on in 
the world, feels freer for his change and 
sees opportunities where his discouraged 
neighbor can not, and not being slow to 
avail himself of the opportunities he soon 
forges to the front and begins to attract 
attention as a man who " has come in 
recently but is making it pay right 
along." 

One of the citizens of Buffalo county 
who falls within the designation of " sec- 
ond-crop of settlers " is M. H. Noble, a 
representative business man of the town 
of Gibbon. Mr. Noble came to Buffalo 
county July 31, 1879, more than eight 
years after the town was located and the 
county properly opened to settlement. 
He had friends who were residents of Gib- 
bon and who were among the first settlers 
of the place, and it was from a knowledge 
of the country gained through thera that 
he decided to make his home in Nebraska. 
On his arrival here Mr. Noble went to 
work in the Gibbon mills, where he 
learned the business of milling. He was 
in the emj)loy of the Gibbon mills for 
three years and a half, the last year of 
which time he was first miller. From the 
mills he went on the ranch of I. N. Davis 
in Valley township, four miles north of 
Gibbon, and there remained two years 
and a half. He put up the buildings on 
this ranch, did a large part of the fencing 
and superintended tiie breaking out of a 



considerable portion of it. He raised 
three crops and was getting in a fair way 
to make of the place one of the best 
ranches in the county, when, on account 
of failure of health of wife, he was forced 
to give up. He moved into Gibbon and 
bought out the half interest of James A. 
Kelsey in the drug house of Kelsey & 
Murnen, entering into partnership with 
Mr. Murnen, the firm becoming Murnen 
& Noble. Later he bought out his part- 
ner's interest, since which time he has 
been alone. He has the best drug house 
in the town of Gibbon and one that would 
do credit to a town twice the size of Gib- 
bon, carrying a clean, neat, well-selected 
stock and sufficiently large to meet all 
local demands. He drives a prosperous 
business and may be set down as one of 
the money-makers of his town. 

Mr. Noble received exceptionally good 
training for the mercantile business in 
youth and doubtless his success is due, in 
no small measure, to the knowledge he so 
acquired and the methods he learned. For 
five 3'ears prior to coming to Nebraska he 
was in the mercantile establishment of 
William Bell & Co., of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
entering that establishment as cash 
boy and quitting it as cashier. Dur- 
ing this time he had abundant opportuni- 
ties to learn all the " ins and outs " of the 
mercantile business — wholesale and retail 
— city and country. He availed himself 
of these opportunities as a quick, active 
young fellow might be expected to, and 
he came away from Cincinnati with the 
foundation of a successful business career 
well laid. 

Mr. Noble is a native of Clermont 
county, Ohio, and was born October 4, 
1858. He is a son of Alfred and Susan 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



245 



(Longstreth) Noble, his father being a 
native of Virginia and his mother a native 
of Indiana. His father was a pli\'sician 
of excellent attainments, being thorougldy 
enamored of his profession and enjoying 
an extensive practice. Unfortunately for 
his family and for the community where 
he lived, he was cut ofif in the midst of an 
enviable professional career and in the 
prime of life. He died July 2G, 1858, at 
the age of fifty -five. 

Mr. Noble's mother was a daughter of 
AVilliam Longstreth, of Phihuleli)liia, Pa., 
an old, honored and useful citizen of that 
county. She is yet living, and is the sec- 
ond wife of Di-. Noble, he having been 
previously married and having by his 
former marriage two children, both of 
whom are now living. These are Alfred 
B. Noble, now a resident of Hamburg, 
Iowa, and Mrs. Addie Bell, wife of Will- 
iam II. Bell, of Knightstown, Ind. To 
Dr. Alfred and Susan (Longstreth) Noble 
were born a family of seven children. 
These were Julia, wife of L. C. Simpkins, 
of Cincinnati, Ohio ; John, now a resident 
of Ft. Wayne, Ind., and an electrician 
of some note ; William, a resident of Col- 
orado ; Adelia, wife of M. S. Cook, of 
Gibbon, Nebr.; Frank, of Rome, Ga.; 
Charles, of Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Milton 
II., whose name is placed at the head of 
this article. The last two are twins. 

Milton IT. Noble was reared in his native 
county, and received an ordinary common- 
school education. What his career might 
have been had his father lived to superin- 
tend his training and counsel him in the 
selection of his life-work, can not now of 
course be told. So far as this is con- 
cerneil, only the sad fact remains to be 
recorded that he never saw his father, and 



that what training he got in 3'outh was 
such as fell to the average boy ; all he has 
and all he is he owes to himself, aided, as 
he was in his earlier years, by a kind and 
faithful mother. 

In his domestic life Mr. Noble's lines, 
like tliose of many others, have fallen 
partly in sunshine and partly in shadow. 
He was married, in Sei)tember, 1882, to 
Miss Ida E. Day, of Alfred, Me. This 
lady died in January, 1883. He married 
again July 15, 1884, his second wife being 
Miss Blanch Seaver, a daughter of Parley 
Seaver, of Stockholm, St. Lawrence 
county, N. Y., in which city Mrs. Noble 
was also born. 

Mr. Noble has never aspired to be more 
than a man of business. He has devoted 
himself strictly to the pursuit of his own 
personal affairs, to the discharge of his 
duties as a citizen and to those dependent 
on him. He is a iiberal-mindeil, open- 
handed man, ready to help any worthy 
enterprise or deserving person to the ex- 
tent of his means in an honest purpose or 
endeavor; and this is not the opinion of a 
stranger to him, but it is the report given 
of him by his neighbors and accpiaint- 
ances who have lived by him and have 
done business with him for years, and 
whose opinions are therefore entitled to 
consideration on this point. 



VT. ]\[ERCEK. An old settler 
and highl}' esteemed citizen of 
Gibbon township, Buffalo county, 
is \. T. Mercer, the subject of this notice. 
Mr. Mercer is a native of Delaware county, 
Pa., and was born in July, 1828. He is 



246 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



next to the j'oungest of a family of eleven 
children born to Euclid and Mary (Watts) 
Mercer. His father was also a native of 
Pennsylvania, was reared and married 
there and moved from there to Ohio, set- 
tling in what was then Guernsey, now 
Noble county, from which, after a resi- 
dence of some years, he moved to Fulton 
county, 111., where he died with the cholera. 
He was an industrious farmer and an hon- 
ored and useful citizen. Mr. Mercer's 
mother was a native of Maryland, moving 
with her parents when young to Pennsyl- 
vania, where she met and was married to 
Euclid Mercer. She survived her husband 
twenty-eight years, dying also in Fulton 
county, ni. Of the eleven children born 
to them six were boys and five girls; all 
of them reached maturity, and, with the 
exception of thi-ee, are now living. Their 
christian names in the order of their aires 
are as follows: John, Elizabeth, Richard, 
Job, Chalklev, Hannah, Julia Ann, Sarah, 
Susan , Vernon T. and Hiram B. 

Vernon T., the subject of this sketch, 
was reared mainly in Guernsey (after- 
wards Noble) county, Ohio. He was 
brought upon the farm and trained to the 
habits of industry and usefulness common 
to farm life, receiving during the winter 
months, according to the custom of those 
(lays, the rudiments of a common-school 
education by attendance at the country 
schools of the neighborhood. In 1860 he 
married Nancy Ilebecca Waggoner, 
daughter of John and Elizabeth Wag- 
goner, of Noble county, she being a native 
of that county and a young lady whom he 
had known from early childhood. He 
settled down to the pursuit of agriculture 
and was so engaged when the Civil war 
came on. He entered the Union army in 



1864, enlisting in Company F, One Hun- 
dred and Seventy-fourth Ohio volunteer 
infantry, his regiment being attached to 
the Army of the Cumberland, with which 
he served, being mustered out in May, 

1865. Returning to Ohio he remained 
there, engaged in farming, till the sjiring 
of 1871, when he moved to Nebraska, set- 
tling in Gibbon township, Buffalo county, 
in June that year. He took a homestead 
in section 26, township 9, range 14 west, 
being 162.88 acres and embracing a frac- 
tional part of the old Fort Kearney mili- 
tary reservation. There he located and 
has since resided, having been steadily 
engaged in farming. He has one of the 
best places in Gibijon township. It lies 
only about two miles from the corporate 
limits of the town of Gibbon ard is thus 
sufficiently near mills, markets, schools 
and churches. Every foot of it is sus- 
ceptible of cultivation and it lies near 
enough to the Platte bottoms to place it 
in reach of an abundance of hay and graz- 
ing land. It has growing on it an excel- 
lent grove of trees, the result of Mr. Mer- 
cer's industry and foresight, and is sup- 
plied with all other needful conveniences. 
Mr. Mercer has never aspired to be more 
than a humble citizen of the community 
where he resides, being content to follow 
the even tenor of his way, finding therein 
his chief pleasure as well as his highest 
reward. He has reared up around him- 
self an interesting family of children, all 
of whom are now grown and some of 
whom are married and are themselves the 
heads of families. His children are — 
Charles Wilbur, MoUie L. (now wife of H. 
P. Smith, a sketch of whom appears in 
this work), John B. and Flora K. 




F. G. KEENS, 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



249 



FG. KEENS came to Kearne}' in 
July, 1872, and is, therefore, 
one of the earliest settlers. 
The town site was not surveyed until the 
Scptcniher following, nor the town organ- 
ized until January, 1873. But it is not 
this fact alone that entitles him to special 
mention in this volume. There are Inm- 
<lreds who settled in Kearney during the 
years of 1S72-3, whose names will never 
find their way to honorable mention in 
this or in any other collection of bio- 
graphical sketches. It is a significant 
fact, that a majority of the heavy capital- 
ists and representative business men of 
Kearney, to-day, were not among the first 
who cast their lots here. The " old timer" 
has either "moved on," like the red man 
and the buffalo, whose trail he has covered, 
or he lias comjjlacently settled down on 
his original lot, and has devoted his ener- 
gies in his own way to the solution of the 
bread and butter question. All the more 
credit, therefore, is due to the old settler 
who has stuck it out and has risen to some 
eminence, here and there, among his com- 
rades of former 3'ears, who has shown him- 
self keenl\' alive to the advantages of his 
earW o[)portunities, who has grown as the 
country has grown, and more especially, 
who has had the jjluck, energy and pi'ac- 
tical wisdom to enable him to hold his 
own amidst the inrolling tide of brains 
and capital from the older states and 
countries of the East. 

F. G. Keens is one of the pioneers of 
Buffalo county and of the city of Kearney, 
who has achieved marked success. Con- 
sidering his advantages, none have excelled 
him. Measured by dollars and cents, he 
has outstripped b}' far an v of his associates 
of former days, many of whom started 



in the race far ahead of him. There is a 
lesson in such a life, for it can be laid 
down as a fixed fact that such success 
could not have been achieved without the 
exercise of some of the best virtues of the 
race. Mr. Keens' has been a long and 
arduous struggle, beginning under the 
most discouraging circumstances, and pur- 
sued at each step, until late years, against 
obstacles that would have weakened any 
but the most dauntless spirit. He liter- 
ally began his career afoot, and all that 
he is and all that he has he owes to his 
own unaided efforts. He was born in 
Exeter, England, November 7th, 18.53 ; 
came to America in April, 1809, a lad, 
unaccompanied by friend or relative. He 
had no money, no trade. He stopped in 
Ilillsboro, 111., and went to work in a 
woolen mill. Later, he picked up a knowl- 
edge of a trade, and starting West, he 
took a steamboat from St. Louis to 
Omaha, and reached Lincoln, this state, 
in June, 1870, riding into that town on a 
load of lumber, ahead of the railroad then 
building. After a sojourn there of two 
years, during which time he busily worked 
at his trade, he, in July, 1872, footed it 
into Kearney, coming in advance of the 
B. & M. R. R., which was then building 
into this place. Having accumulated 
some money, he put up a store buikiiiig, 
which was the first erected on the town- 
site of Kearney, and began to sell goods. 
A year and a half later, the county seat 
having come to Kearney, he was appointed 
deputy county clerk, and later still, dep- 
uty county treasurer, serving in the two 
offices three j'ears. He then started the 
insurance and loan business. His business 
in this line prospered, and he invested his 
surplus funds, as he accumulated from 



250 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



year to year, in land and town lots. He 
believed in tlie future of Kearne}' and 
Buffalo county, and he steadfastly held 
on to all he acquired in the way of realty. 
The lapse of years and the logic of events 
have demonstrated the correctness of his 
judgment, and he otves a portion of what 
he is worth to the rise in real estate 
values. He owns a large amount of town 
property, and owns and gives his atten- 
tion to the management of thirty-five 
farms. His wealth in real estate alone 
runs up into the neighborhood of one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars. He has 
a good loan business — real estate — oper- 
ating largely on his own funds. His 
insurance agency has kept pace with the 
progress of the town, and has gradually 
grown to be one of the largest and strong- 
est agencies in central Nebraska. It is 
composed of twelve of the leading com- 
panies of the world, representing a total 
capitalization of several million dollars 
and assets amounting to many millions 
more. He writes fire, life and accident, 
and has placed more risks in Kearney and 
Buffalo county than any other man in it. 
To this branch of his business, like all 
others, he gives his personal attention. 
In January, 1889, Mr. Keens, in connec- 
tion with other representative men of 
Kearne\% organized the City National 
Bank of Kearne}', of which he was 
elected president, and now holds that 
position. The City National has a capital 
of $100,000.00. Among its stockholders 
are some of the best business men of 
Kearney, and its board of directors is 
composed of men of recognized ability 
and integrity. Mr. Keens, as head of the 
institution, gives considerable attention 
to its affairs. And to his clear and dis- 



criminating judgment, wise and conserva- 
tive council, is due much of the success it 
has so far attained. Mr. Keens is not a 
boomer. He is a grower, a developer, a 
constructor. His name is not, therefore, 
found among those of the professional 
"rustlers." He has but little faith in 
artificial surface development. He believes 
in natural growth, and for the natural, 
real, substantial growth and development 
of Kearney, he has always been ready to 
help, giving liberalh' of his time, money 
and own personal efforts. He was one of 
the originators of the Kearney Canal and 
Water Supply Company, to the success of 
which much of Kearney's recent prosper- 
ity' is lUie. and to which it chiefly owes its 
name abroad. He was a director in and 
secretary of this company from the date 
of its organization till its sale and capi- 
talization recently, and as such was 
active!}' identified with all its affairs. He 
was also grand secretary' of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Good Templars from 
1873 to 1880, and chief secretary of the 
entire order from 1880 to 1884. Mr. 
Keens' career has been strictly a business 
one. He has never been afflicted with 
the itch for office, and even when taking 
part in movements of a semi-public nature, 
he has accepted positions of trust where 
he could be useful rather tlian where he 
could shine. He was formed by nature 
for a man of affairs, and his own self- 
training has serveii to perfect his natural 
endowments. He possesses untiring 
industry', is as tenacious as a Scotch 
thistle, and is the embodiment of order 
and system. He is neat and prompt in 
his work, dispatching each day's business 
in the time allotted to it, doing a large 
portion of it himself and personally see- 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



251 



intr that what is assigned to others is 
done in the time and manner outlined by 
him. Ho sees clearly, thinks rapidly, and 
acts promptly. lie is capable of doing 
any amount of work himself, being of 
that compact, closely-knit structure that 
will stand wear and tear for days and 
weeks without giving an\' perceptible 
sign of Ijreaking down. The most strik- 
ing thing about him to a stranger is the 
immense amount of reserve force which 
he seems to have. He looks like a bundle 
of physical and mental vigor. His seems 
to be one of those natures which hard 
work only serves to develop into greater 
robustness. The strong points of an 
Englishman and an American are admir- 
ably blended in him. To his thorough- 
going, sturdy, self-reliant English make- 
up he has added the shrewdness, the 
practical sagacity and dispatch that char- 
acterizes his *' smart "' American associates. 
All in all, for a clever, level-headed, suc- 
cessful business man, Mr. Keens would be 
hard to equal. He is passionately fond of 
ti'avel, having crossed the Atlantic five 
times besides traveling extensively in old 
Me.xico, and in Alaska. In his domestic 
relations he has been happy. He mar- 
ried, in November, 1875, Miss Nellie 
Grant, of Romeo, Mich., and has one of 
the finest houses, lovliest grounds and 
most pleasant homes in the city of Kear- 
ney. He has three bovs, to whom he is 
devotedly attached, and in whose rearing 
and training he finds his chief pleasure. 
He is in every way a man eminently 
fitted for the task ; for he has led an 
exceptionally systematic, temperate, moral 
life, and can, therefore, add to the strength 
of his teaching the force of a most 
wholesome example in his own person. 



JD . DRURY. One of the most 
industrious and most deserving citi- 
zens of the town of Gibbon, Buffalo 
county — a town noted for its many 
industrious and deserving citizens — is 
James DeLoss Drur\', the subject of this 
sketch. Mr. Drury came to Buffalo county 
in October, 1871, since which time he has 
been a resident of the county, iiaving 
passed through all the trials and hardships 
that the earlier settlers were called on to 
undergo, making his way, as most of them 
did, against great odds through many 
long 3'ears of patient toil and heroic en- 
durance. Mr. Drury came to Nebraska 
direct from his native jilace, Erie county. 
Pa. His parents still reside in Erie count}', 
his mother having been born and reared 
there and his father having passed all his 
maturer years there. His mother's maiden 
name was Mary Ann Sheppard, being a 
daughter of Jacob Sheppard. His father, 
Peter Drury, was born in Wesleyville, 
N. y., followed the business of a sailor on 
Lake Erie for some years, and afterwards 
settled in Erie county. Pa., where he 
married and has since resided. Only two 
children were born to these — William C. 
and James DeLoss, both now residents of 
the town of Gibbon, Buffalo county. 

James DeLoss Drury was born April 
19, 1850. He was reared in his native 
place, growing up on his father's farm, 
receiving a good common school training 
and afterwards learning the trade of a 
barber. January 13, 187(i, he married 
Miss Ida Ames, daughter of Alva Ames, 
of Erie county, Mrs. Drury being a native 
of that count}' and she and her husband 
having passed their younger da^'s together 
as school-mates. Of the five children born 
to Mr. and Mrs, Drury, three are still 



253 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



living, viz. — Mabel A., born September 
25, 1873; Dollie F., born August 31, 1875, 
and Willie V., born March 20, 1880. The 
two deceased were Lillian G., born De- 
cember 25, 1870, in Erie county, Pa., and 
died April 8, 1879, and Gertrude, born 
December 9, 1877, and died July 13, 1879. 

October 26, 1871, Mr.Drury took a home- 
stead in the northwestern part of the 
township, filing on the northeast quarter 
of section 8, township 9, range 1-1 west, 
and after spending the winter of 1871-2 
in Gibbon, he moved out on to his claim 
the followmg spring and began active 
operations as a farmer. 

What has been said in this volume of 
the ti'ials and hardships of numbers of 
other old settlers is true in an even greater 
deofree of Mr. Drurv. The first few vears 
of his residence in Buffalo county were 
filled with struggles, often of an appar- 
ently hopeless nature, and nothing but the 
pluck, energy and endurance which he 
brouofht to bear in the contest would have 
brought him through them. His crops 
were swept away year after year either 
by the grasshoppers, hail or drouths. And 
then on top of these discounigements 
there came family sickness, extending 
throue:h the long and wearisome months, 
ending at last with the visitation of the 
grim monster death, robbing him of two 
little ones, first pledges of his early mar- 
ried life. But Mr. Drury never^ gave up. 
He labored hard and trusted to the future. 
Oftentimes he would work all the week 
on the farm, turn his team out on Satur- 
day afternoon, walk into Gibbon, six miles, 
and work till midnight at his barber's 
chair, returning home in the eai'ly morn- 
ing hours, frequently having to lie down 
by the wayside to rest, not reaching home 



till Sunday morning. Through such toils 
and hardships he labored for nearly ten 
years, slow^ly accumulating some means 
and reaching a position Avhere he could in 
some degree become master of his circum- 
stances. In the spring of 1882 he gave 
up his farm, bought property in Gibbon 
and went tiiere to reside, his family follow- 
ing in August. His first step was to 
build, erecting at that date a building on 
the lot he had purchased, where he opened 
a barber shop and billiard room, since 
continuing at the same place and at the 
same business. He has improved his 
property, owning now one of the best 
business houses in the town, it being a two- 
story fi-ame with a basement, located on 
Railroad street, opposite the Union Pacific 
depot. Mr. Drury has confined himself 
strictly to business, attending to his own 
personal affairs, and finding in so doing 
his greatest pleasure as well as his high- 
est reward. He has many friends and is 
universalh' liked, being regarded as an 
energetic, progressive, hard-working man, 
who is deserving of the best that the 
future may have in store for him. He has 
a pleasant home — the good wife who gave 
up the home and friends of her youth to 
share his fortunes in the rugged life of the 
West still abiding with him and bearing 
liimthecherished companionship which he 
sought with her hand. 



JB. AVHEELER. An old settler of 
Buffalo county and a man of good per- 
sonal record, and one, therefore, de- 
serving of recognition in this volume, is 
J. B. Wheeler, of the town of Gibbon. Mr. 
Wheeler came to Buffalo county in Oct. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



253 



1873, and settled on the southeast quarter 
of section 28, townsliip 10, range 14 west, 
lying in Valley township, on which quarter 
section he filed a soldier's homestead claim, 
lie made his improvements, secured his 
patent and lived on his homestead, en- 
gaged in farming for a period of nine 
years, at the end of which time he sold 
his place and moved in September, 1882, 
into the town of Gibbon, where he has 
since resided. He has been variously 
engaged in recent years, among other 
things having held the otiice of constable 
of Gibbon township for six years, having 
been appointed to that office in 1884 to 
fill a vacancy and subsequently elected 
and re-elected till the beginning of the 
])resent year. He has also been the 
auctioneer of the town and township for 
more than four years, in which capacity 
he has done a vast amount of work of an 
official and semi-official nature. 
« It is needless to rehearse the incidents 
attending Mr. Wheeler's settlement in 
Buffalo county at an early date, and the 
subsequent trials through which he passed 
in Ills efforts to make for himself and fam- 
ily a home in the West. It will be suffi- 
cient to say that since he cast his lot in 
the county he has been a resident there, 
and that he passed through the season of 
grasshoppers and dry years and the hard 
times which these brought, enduring as 
much of the hardships and privations as 
any, and fighting the battle as heroically 
to the end as did even the most courage- 
ous. Men are to be measured b\' theiv 
means and opportunities, and praise and 
blame are to be apportioned according to 
one's chances and endowments. So judged 
it may be recorded that the subject of this 
sketch has borne his part in the settlement 



of his adopted county, and, if he has not 
succeeded quite so well financially as 
others, he has the satisfaction of knowing 
that he has made the best of his oppor- 
tunities for himself, and in so doing has 
well served the common good. 

Mr. Wheeler is the only representative 
of his family in the county or even in the 
state; it will be well, therefore, to record 
some of the facts of his earlier personal 
career and his ancestral history for the 
benefit of those of his name who may 
have to resort to this volume in years to 
come as the only existing repository of 
these facts. 

Jervis B. Wheeler is a New Englander 
by birth and a descendant of l^uritan stock. 
His people have been natives of Massa- 
chusetts for several generations. His 
father, Avery P. Wheeler, was born and 
reared in Acton, Mass., and lived there 
most of his life. He was a mechanic and 
led an honest, industrious, useful life. He 
died at Dracut in his native state, in 1887, 
at the advanced age of eightv-four. Mr. 
Wheeler's mother bore the maiden name 
of Adeline Bates, and she was born and 
reared in Bellingham, Mass., of old Bay 
State stock ; Avas a woman of great 
strength of character and kind christian 
impulses, being a life-long member of the 
Methodist church. She died in July, 
1883, at the age of seventy-six. These 
were the parents of nine children, all of 
whom reached maturity, became the heads 
of families, and are now living. These 
are — Avery Gilbert, Jervis B., Albert B., 
Cephas E., Adelaid and Adtline, twins ; 
Darwin E., Sybil and Sarah. The second 
of these, Jervis B., with whom this sketch 
is especially concerned, was born in Men- 
don, Mass., November 14, 1833. He was 



254 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



reared in Mendon, South Brookfield and 
Hopkinton, Mass., mainly, however, in 
the hxst-mentioned place, and subsequently 
lived at Fraraingham and Yarmouth, the 
same state, being a resident of Hopkinton 
in 186'2, when he went into the army. 
Mr. Wheeler was only one of the many 
gallant men whom the patriotic old Bay 
State furnished for the defense of the 
Union, but inasmuch as the command in 
which he served has a record distinguished 
for gallant fighting and heroic endurance 
above the ordinary, which record he 
helped to make, it will be ap|)ropriate in 
this sketcli to give the outlines of his mili- 
tary career somewhat in full. Mr. Wheeler 
enlisted in the service August 7, 1862, 
going into the First Massachusetts heavy 
ai'tillery. The history of his regiment 
shows tiuit it was recruited in Essex 
county as the Fourteenth infantry. It 
left the state in August, 1861, proceeding 
to Washington, where it was placed on 
garrison duty. It was changed to heavy 
artillery in January, 1862, receiving new 
recruits for each company of the original 
organization, and two new companies, of 
one of which Mr. Wheeler was a member. 
The first battalion was ordered on field 
service at Maryland Heights, but the 
regiment proper did not go to the front 
till May, 1864. It then served as an in- 
fantry command to Grant's Virginia 
campaign. It joined the Army of the 
Potomac, May 17, 1864, having been 
assigned to Tyler's division of heavy 
artillery, then serving as infantry. It was 
in the engagements at Spottsylvania, Cold 
Harbor and Petersburg, and intermediate 
smaller afifairs, sustaining heav}' losses in 
each. At Spottsylvania it suffered a loss 
of fifty killed, three hundred and twelve 



wounded and twenty-eight missing, and 
at Petersburg its loss in killed was thirty- 
one, wounded two hundred and twenty- 
two, and missing, one hundred and ninet}'- 
four. Mr. Wheeler's term of enlistment 
having expired in July, 1864, he did not 
serve after tliat date. But it may be 
added tiiat his command, which thus gal- 
lantly began its duty in the field, contin- 
ued to the close of the war gathering new 
honors for itself in each succeeding en- 
gagement. It was one of the nine heav}' 
artillery regiments of the Union array 
that sustained a loss of over two hundred 
men actually killed in battle. It was one 
of the sixtv regiments, out of the entire 
two thousand of the Union army, tliat 
sustained the greatest losses in confeder- 
ate prisons, its loss b}' incarceration being- 
one hundred and two men. Its total loss 
in killed, wounded, captured and missing 
was nine hundred and eight-four men out 
of a total enrollment of two thousand 
five hundred and twent\'-four. These 
figures are eloquent. They speak volumes 
for the living and for the dead of the gal- 
lant First Massachusetts heavy artillery. 

At the close of his term of service, Mr. 
Wheeler returned to Massachusetts, where 
he lived engaged in various occupations 
till coining to Nebraska in 1873. 

One more fact, without which this 
sketch would be incomplete, must now be 
recorded — the fact of Mr. Wheeler's mar- 
'riage. He was united in matrimony 
March 30, 1858, to Paulina Walker, of 
Wareham, Mass. Mrs. Wheeler was born 
at Plymouth, and is a daughter of Elijah 
and Hannah (Vaughn) Walker, her father 
being a native of Vermont and her mother 
a native of Massachusetts. Her father 
was a farmer in earlier vears and worked 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



255 



in the iron foundries in late life. lie was 
a sober, industrious, upright man, greatly 
devoted to his family and setting before 
them in his own life an example of indus- 
try, sobriety and self-help worthy of 
tlieir following. He died in Massachu- 
setts, where he had lived the greater part 
of his life, in the fall of 1887, at the age of 
eighty. Mrs. Wheeler's mother, who was 
a kind-hearted christian woman, died in 
her native state in the fall of 1888, at the 
age of eiirhty-four. These were the 
parents of eight children, of whom Mrs. 
Wheeler is the sixth, the others being — 
Sarali, Elizabeth, Annette and two boys, 
who died in early childhood, and Hannah 
A. and Rebecca. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler 
are the parents of four children, whose 
christian names are — Willie C, Harry E., 
Edith A. and Lena A. 

It would be next to impossible for a 
man of Mr. Wheeler's personal history and 
family traditions to be anything but a 
republican in politics. He has voted that 
ticket since the formation of the party and 
is a stanch believer in the principles of his 
party. He and his wife are zealous mem- 
bers of tlie Methodist church and con- 
tribute in accordance with their means to 
all charitable purposes. 



NELSON W. SHORT. An old set- 
tler of Gibbon township, Buffalo 
county, an ok^ soldier with an 
honorable record, and a citizen of exem- 
plary habits and blameless private life, is 
Nelson W. Short, whose eventful career 
this article is designed to commemorate 
Mr. Short is a native of Ohio, and is a 



descendant of two of the first settled 
families of that state, his grandparents on 
both sides being pioneers of the " Bucke\'e 
regions" of the Nortliwest Territory. 
His paternal grandfather, Eliliu Short, 
moved from Delaware into Ohio, in 1810, 
and settled in Perry county, where he 
lived for several years, tiien moved to 
Sandusky county, where he subsequently 
lived and died. Mr. Short's father, Moul- 
ton H. Short, was born in Delaware but 
reared mainly in Ohio, being eleven years 
of age when his parents moved to tliat 
state. He grew up on the borders of civi- 
lization, as it were, and being fascinatetl 
with the free life of the frontier he in turn 
became a pioneer, becoming one of the 
first settlers of Fremont, Ohio. He died 
there in 186-1, at the age of sixty -five years. 
He was an industrious farmer and led the 
plain and uneventful life common to his 
calling. Mr. Short's mother, Matiliia 
Tracy, being a (Uuighter of Phillip and 
Nancy Tracy, was born in Cumberland 
county. Pa., and was brought by her 
parents, when a child, to Ohio, settling in 
Sandusky county, where she was reared 
and where she afterwards lived and died. 
Her father was a Pennsylvanian by birth 
and her mother a native of Germany. To 
Moulton II. and Matilda Siiort were born 
a large family of children, thirteen of 
wiiom reached maturity,these being— Celia, 
Susan, John, Phillip, Elihu, Rachel, Nelson 
W.. George, Mary, Frank, Sarah, Matilda 
and James. 

The subject of this notice, Nelson W., 
was born in Ohio in March, 1835. He 
was reared in his native place and married 
tiiere in 1856, and shortly afterwaids 
immigrated West and settled in Missouri, 
where he was residing when the war came 



256 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



on. With an alacrity born of the patriot- 
ism in him — a patriotism charactei'istic of 
the sons of Ohio — he offered liis services 
to the Union cause, enlisting in 1862 in 
Company H, Third Missouri state militia, 
and served in this command till local 
troul)les were quelled and confidence was 
established in the Union cause, and South- 
ern sympathizers were either driven out 
of the country or forced to go into the 
Southern ranks. He then entered the 
volunteer service, enlisting in Company 
K, Forty -seventh Missouri infantry, being 
at once elected second lieutenant of his 
company and going to the front with his 
regiment to take part in the stirring scenes 
then being enacted at tlie theater of war. 
His regiment covered a wide area, serving 
in Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missis- 
sippi, Kentucky and Alabama ; it helped 
to repel the several raids made into Mis- 
souri by Price, Marmaduke and Jeff 
Thompson, and it took part in the hard- 
fought battles at Franklin and Nashville, 
Tenn., it being ordered there to re-enforce 
Tiiomas. Mr. Short served till the sur- 
render, being mustered out at St. Louis in 
April, ISGo. For the next six years he 
lived at St. Louis, Mo., Columbus, Ky., 
and intermediate points, being engaged at 
the Kingman iron works, Carondelet 
dry docks, and other places. In the fall 
of 1871 he came to Nebraska, reaching 
Gibbon, where he now resides, October 
6th. He selected a homestead at once in 
the northwest part of the township, taking 
eight}' acres in the southeast quarter of 
section 3, township 9, range 14 west, which, 
however, he afterwards sold, buying an- 
other eighty acres in section 35, township 
10, range 14: west, in Valley township. 
He lived on the farm till October, 1880, 



when he moved into Gibbon, where he 
has since resided and has been variously 
ensraged. He has held a number of local 
public offices and is at present marshal of 
the town of Gibbon and overseer of the 
village highways. Mr. Short is an indus- 
trious, useful citizen and an honest, up- 
right, capable public officer. Like most 
of the old settlers, he has seen many hard- 
ships since coming to the county, but he 
lias borne them with the courage and for- 
titude becoming an old soldier. He has 
many friends, and with the better class of 
society— the intelligent, law-abiding, home- 
loving citizens — he is very popular. He 
has a family himself — a wife and four 
children — having married, as before noted, 
in his native county in Ohio. His nup- 
tials were celebrated August 3, 1856, the 
lady whom he selected to share his life's 
fortunes being Miss Maria Gray, daughter 
of George and Xancy M. Gray. Mrs. 
Short's parents were natives of New York. 
They moved to Ohio in 18-14 and settled 
in Sandusky county, where the father 
died in July, 1871, then in his seventy first 
year, the mother surviving him some 
3' ears, dying at the home of Mrs. Short in 
Gibbon, February 16, 1888, being near her 
eighty-first year. Mrs. Short was born in 
Oswego county, N. Y., and was a child 
when her parents moved to Ohio, she being 
reared in Sandusky county. She is one of 
eight children, all of whom reached 
maturity and are now living. Mr. and 
Mrs. Short have had born to them a family 
of five children, all boys — Clarence (now 
deceased), Gilbert,- Frank, Yernon and 
Archie. 

In politics, Mr. Short was reared a 
democrat, but, differing widelj' with that 
party on the war issues, he cast his lot 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



257 



with the republicans and affiliated actively 
witii them for some j^ears and still votes 
tiieir ticlcet occasionall}^ ; but, being a 
strong temperance man he has in recent 
times given his support to the proliibition 
ticket, especially in local and state elec- 
tions. Mr. Short believes in temperance, 
sobriety, in preserving the purity of the 
moral atmosphere where he lives, and in 
defending the sanctity of home and the 
innocence of youth and the helplessness 
of women, and for these reasons he favors 
strong laws and their strict enforcement 
against the liquor traffic. 



JOHN W. FORREST, farmer of Gib- 
bon township, Buffalo county, was 
born in Delaware county, N. Y., and 
is a son of William and Jennette 
(Miller) Forrest. His parents were both 
natives of Scotland and came to America 
when children, aged three and five respec- 
tiveh'. They were reared in Delaware 
county, N. Y., where their parents settled. 
There they were married and thence 
moved to Ashtabula count}', Ohio, where 
the father died in April, 1886, at the age 
of sixty-nine, and the mother in 1860, at 
the age of forty-four. They were the 
parents of eight children, as follows — Wil- 
liam, Grace, John W., Robert, Walter, 
Jane, Andrew and Thomas. The eldest 
of these died in the Union army from the 
effects of exposure, being a member of 
the Seventh Kansas cavalry. 

The third, John W., the subject of this 
notice, was born in January, 1843. He 
was reared in his native county and in 
Ashtabula county, Ohio, whither his par- 
ents moved when he was young. He 



enlisted in the Union army in August, 
1862, entering as a member of Company 
A, Fiftieth Ohio volunteer infantry, and 
served with the armies of the Ohio and 
the Cumberland. During the first six 
months of his service he was on postdut}' 
in and around Louisville. His regiment 
during the summer of 1863 guarded the 
L. & N. R. R. bridges and built the forts 
at Big Run trestle. Crossing the Cum- 
berland mountains in tiie winter of 1863- 
6-1, his regiment was sent to Knoxville, 
Tenn., where it built Fort Strickland, 
named after the colonel of the regiment. 
His command then entered the Georgia 
campaign and was in all the engagements 
from Resaca down to Atlanta. Returning 
with Thomas on his campaign into Ten- 
nessee, Mr. Forrest was in the battles of 
Franklin and Nashville, followed Hood to 
the Tennessee river, where his regiment 
was put aboard a boat and sliij)ped to 
Washington, N. C, and thence to Wil- 
mington, N. C, and over land to Golds- 
boro, where it joined Sherman's army. 
He was mustered out June 25, 1865, but 
not paid off and discharged till July 17th, 
following. He served as a private, but 
was never captured nor ever wounded. 
Returning to Ohio, he married, in Novem- 
ber, 1868, Sylvia, daughter of Albro 
Woodruff, of Ashtabula county, settled 
down to farming and lived there till 1871, 
when he came to Nebraska as a member 
of the Old Soldiers' Homestead Colony. 
He settled in Gibbon township, Buffalo 
county, in May of that year, and there 
made a homestead filing on the south half 
of the northeast quarter and the north 
half of the southeast quarter of section 4, 
township 9, range 14 west, wiiere lie now 
lives. One hundred acres of this he has in 



258 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



cultivation and otherwise well improved. 
He also owns eighty acres across the town- 
ship line in Valley township. He raises 
considerable live stock and is an enter- 
prising, successful farmer. He has voted 
the straight republican ticket since the 
formation of the party. He is an intelli- 
gent gentleman, a kind, good neighbor 
and a worthy citizen. 



HP. KOGERS, farmer of Gibbon 
township, is one of the oldest 
settlers of Buffalo county, and 
is one of that county's most successful 
and highl}' esteemed citizens. Mr. Rogers 
located where he now lives, four miles 
northwest of the town of Gibbon, on 
April 7, 1871, and there he has since 
resided, and during all the years that have 
elapsed since that date he has been 
actively identified with the best interests 
of his communit\', and has succeeded far 
beyond the average of old settlers. Mr. 
Rogers came from Pennsylvania to 
Nebraska, coming directly from Bradford 
count}', the place of his birth. He was 
born on the ninth day of April, 1846, and 
is next to the youngest of a family of five 
boys, born to Hiram and Mary (Chandler) 
Rogers, his mother having been previously 
married, and having had, by her former 
marriage, three sons. His father has 
resided all his life in Bradford county, 
where he has been engaged in the pursuit 
of agriculture. His mother died there in 
1870. The subject of this sketch grew up 
in a household of eight boys; three half 
brothers — Daniel, Edwin and Marshall, 
and four brothers of the full blood — 



George, Lorenzo M., Murray and Frank ; 
our subject, Horace P., being next to the 
j'oungest of the second set. Of these 
eight boys, five served in the Union army, 
namely — Edwin, George, Lorenzo M., 
Murray and Horace P. 

Horace P. Rogers was reared in his 
native place, growing up on his father's 
farm. On February 10, 1864, he entered 
the army, enlisting in Company K, One 
Hundred and Sixty first New York 
infantry. His regiment served in the 
department of the Gulf, was in the Red 
River campaign under Banks, and took 
part in all its engagements in Louisiana 
and Arkansas. Mr. Rogers served as a 
private, and was discharged December 12, 
1865. He bears to this day, the marks of 
his service, having contracted a lung 
trouble in the performance of his duties. 

Returning to Pennsylvania, when he 
was mustered out of the service, he 
resumed farming. On December 21, 
1870, he married a neighbor girl, Miss 
Cassandra Crum, a daughter of Harri- 
son Crum, of Litchfield, Bradford county, 
she being a native of New York 
state. The year following, that is, in the 
spring of 1871, Mr. Rogers came to 
Nebraska and settled as above noted in 
Gibbon township, where he has since 
resided. His beginning on settling, in 
accordance with his means, was modest 
enough, he taking only a homestead. He 
has added to this, however, by purchase, 
until he now owns three hundred and 
sixty acres in one body, one hundred and 
twenty acres of which he has under plow. 
It all lies on the banks of Wood river, and 
is highly productive. With that industry 
and commendable foresight which char- 
acterizes the good husbandman, Mr. 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



259 



Rogers planted out a large grove around 
his homestead when he first located on it, 
consisting of box elder, walnut, cotton- 
wood, maple and ash, and this has become 
one of the handsomest artificial forests in 
the county, and is not only yjleasant to 
the eye, but is a source of profit. Mr. 
Rogers is not only an intelligent, ener- 
getic farmer, but he is a progressive, pub- 
lic-spirited citizen. He has served his 
township in a number of local offices, and 
he has done it creditably. lie is a stanch 
republican, and takes considerable interest 
in pul)lic matters, never to the extent, 
however, of seelcing public office for him- 
self. He has a pleasant home and a gi'ow- 
ing family of children, around whom he 
find.'s his interests and sympatliies draw- 
ing closer and closer as the years roll by. 
These are Virgil, Cora, Nora, Herman, 
Jennelte, Lizzie and Roy and Gertrude. 
Of one son, Rutherford, he has been 
bereft. 



MARTIN Y. ESLER was born in 
Columbia county. Pa., July 18, 
1S44. His father, Frederick 
Esler, was a native of France, born No- 
vember 11, 1796, and came to this country 
in 182G, locating in Pliiladeljjhia, where 
lie began the manufacture of glass (at 
which business he lost §80,000), and after- 
wards located on the Susquehannah river 
aiul engaged in the manufacture of soap 
and candles. Our subject's mother, Eliza- 
both (AuU) Esler, was a native of Ravaria, 
born in 1809. Martin remained at home 
helping his father until twenty-four years 
of age, at which age he emigrated West 
and located at Belleville, St. Clair county, 



111. He engaged as traveling salesman 
for Johnson, Iluntly & Co., agricultural 
implement dealers of Brockport, N. Y., 
and traveled for five years over the state 
selhng their goods. He then bought a 
farm in St. Clair county and tilled it for 
one year, but was taken sick and for four 
years his health was such that he was un- 
able to do any work. He then moved 
back to Pennsylvania, residing there three 
years and working on a farm. He again 
emigrated West in January, 1878, and pre- 
empted one hundred and sixty acres in 
section 8, town 10, range 17, Buffalo 
county, Nebr., on wliich he still resides. 
He had on arriving here but $7.35 in 
money, and constructed a cheap dug-out 
in which he resided for two years, after 
which he built a more convenient house 
out of sod. When he first located in that 
section, deer and antelope were numerous. 
He has seen as many as nine deer \n a 
bunch around his stable. The country 
about him was mostly raw and his nearest" 
neighbors lived several miles distant. He 
borrowed money at 3 percent, per month 
with which to buy a team, and on account 
of the failure of crops was unable to pay 
it back for thiee j'ears. He now has one 
hundred and sixty acres of the best land 
in the Wood River valley and has it all 
under cultivation except fifteen acres. Mr. 
Esler was married December 25, 1869, to 
Elizabeth Aull, who was born in St. Clair 
county. 111., December 29, 1850, and is one 
of eleven children born to Frederick and 
Elizabeth (Schragg) Aull, both of whom 
were natives of Bavaria, the former hav- 
ing been born in 1813 and the latter in 
1829, and came to this country in 1833. 

To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Esler have 
been born the following children : Fred- 



260 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



erick, born October 5, 1870 ; Dora E., born 
January 17, 1872; Catherine A. (deceased), 
born March 6, 1874; Emma G. (deceased), 
born March 8, 1878; Rosa E. (deceased), 
born March 8, 1878 ; Mary F., born Feb- 
ruary 15, 1879; Henr}' A., born April 
19, 1881 ; Roy A., born November 26, 
1884:; Daniel 11., born March 20, 1887, 
and May V., born June 19, 1889. 

In the sprino; of 1879 Mr. Esler secured 
by petition tiie establishment of a post- 
office at Green Dale, in Buffalo county, 
and was appointed the first postmaster at 
that place April 26th of the same year, 
and served until June 30, 1883, when he 
resigned in favor of Edward Haase. March 
3, 1890, Mr. Esler relinquished farming 
entirely and settled in Kearney City 
where he employs his time in removing 
cancers. 

Mrs. M. V. Esler had four bmthers in 
the late war. Of these, Daniel, a member 
of Company F, One Hundred and Thir- 
tieth Illinois volunteer infantry, was killed 
at the battle of Vicksburg, Miss., and 
Jacob, a member of Company C, Twentv- 
sixth Illinois volunteers, died at Scotts- 
boro, Ala., of congestive chills contracted 
from exposure a few months before the 
expiration of his three years' term of en. 
listment. 

In politics Mr. Esler is a prohibitionist 
and an Alliance man. 



JAMES H. DAVIS, president of the 
First National Bank at Gibbon, Buf- 
falo county, is a native of the town 
of Whitingham,Windham county, Vt., 
and was born May 6, 1843. He comes of 
New England parentage, his father, Amiel 



K. Davis, and his mother, whose maiden 
name was Betsey Saunders, both being 
natives of Vermont, where they alwa3's 
lived and where they died, the father in 
1885 at the age of seventy-one years, and 
the mother in 1873 at the age of sixty. 
Mr. Davis is the third of a family of eight 
children born to his parents, the others 
being Lucy, George, Fi'ancis, Amelia, 
Romanzo, Flora and Reuben. He received 
the meager rudiments of a common-school 
education, leaving home at the age of nine 
and going out into the world to make his 
way alone. He sought his first employ- 
ment in the northwestei'u part of Massa- 
chusetts and was there in 1862, when in 
August of that year he entered the Union 
army, enlisting in Company B, Fifty -sec- 
ond Massachusetts infantr3^ He served 
in this command for nine months, when 
the term of his enlistment having expired 
he returned to Massachusetts and re- 
mained there till August, 186-1. He then 
entered the service a second time, enlisting 
in the Second Massachusetts light artil- 
lery, but that command being full he was 
transferred to the Sixth Massachusetts 
battery. With this he served until the 
surrender, being mustered out in June, 
1865, at New Orleans, La. Returning to 
Franklin county, Mass., he was for two 
years engaged as manager of a grist mill 
at Colerain,that county, and two years in 
the general mercantile business at the 
same place. Moving thence to Milford, 
that state, he entered the employ of 
Davis cfe Eastman, manufacturers of boot 
and shoe boxes, learned the business with 
tiiem, became their second manager and 
remained with them between three and 
four years. Then, in July, 1873, he came 
to Nebraska and settled at Gibbon, Buf- 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



261 



falo counU', where he immediately began 
the erection of the Gihbon flouring mills. 
He operated this mill for a period of 
twelve years, it being one of the first mills 
built in central Nebraska and having a 
reputation all over the central and western 
part of the state not only as pioneer mill 
but as turning out the best milling pro- 
ducts to be found any where west of tlie 
Missouri river. Quitting the mill in 1885 
on account of a failure of health, Mr. 
Davis started a private bank at Gibbon, 
which he continued up to August, 1888. 
At that date he organized the First 
National Bank, of which he became pres- 
ident and to which he has given iiis atten- 
tion chiefly since. The First National 
Bank has a capital of §50,000. It has 
done a steadily increasing volume of bus- 
iness since it was organized, and its affairs 
are in a prosperous condition, which fact 
is due in no small measure to the influence 
and juilicious management of its chief ex- 
ecutive. Mr. Davis has considerable real 
estate and stock interests in Buffalo 
county and is thoroughly identified with 
the farmers and stock-growers of his 
community. He has devoted himself 
strictly to the pi'osecution of his own per- 
sonal affairs and yet it could not happen 
that a man of his interests and business 
([iialillcations should escape being called 
u|>()n t(j lill public office. In the fall of 
1879 ho was elected to tlje legislature 
from Buffalo county and served one term, 
taking an active part ih the general course 
of legislation before the lower house and 
doing a large amount of efficient work as 
a member of the several committees on 
which he served. One measure of signifi- 
cance for which the people of Buffalo 
county have special cause to remember 



him was the bill which he secured having 
enacted into a law, locating the State 
Industrial school at Kearney. For the 
passage of this bill he was a tireless 
worker and it was due mainly to his 
efforts that Kearnev and Buffalo county 
secured the much coveted prize. To the 
discharge of his general duties as a legis- 
lator he brought the same zeal, energy and 
sound and discriminating judgment which 
had characterized him and yet continues 
to characterize him in his conduct of his 
own personal affairs. In the growth and 
development of his own locality he has 
exhibited equal zeal and fidelity. He has 
been a member of the village school board 
of Gibbon for more than fifteen years, he 
has served as a member of the village 
council when called on for that purpose 
and he has been among the first, both with 
money and with personal influence and 
effort, in securing and promoting indus- 
tries, enterprises and interests of a local 
nature for his town and community. He 
is a man of progressive ideas, broad and 
liberal in his views and practical in his 
methotls. Honest and frank by nature, 
generous in disposition, he is not without 
friends and admirers and his influence is 
sought by those who know his ability and 
who prize his judgment. 

Mr. Davis married in August, 1864, 
taking for a companion Miss Emily M. 
Avery of Franklin county Massachusetts, 
who like himself is a descendant of old 
New England stock, being a daughter of 
James Avery, a native of tlie " P>ay 
State. " Two children have been the 
result of this union — a daughter, Emma L., 
now wife of Charles Galloway, of Broken 
Bow, Nebr., and a son, Roy. 

In politics Mr. Davis is a republican, a 



262 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



stanch believer in the teachings and 
methods of his party. He is a zealous 
mason, having taken all the degrees up to 
and including that of Knight Templar, 
being also a member of the Mystic Shrine. 



THOMAS W. ELDRED, the sub- 
ject of this biographical memoir, 
is one of the most prosperous 
farmers and perhaps the largest stock 
raiser in Grant township, Buffalo county, 
Nebr. He was born at North Kingston, 
R. I., December 1, 1837, comes from a 
long hne of New England ancestry, and 
has the pluck and energy which is charac- 
teristic of that people. 

His father, James EJdred, a contractor 
and mason by trade, was a native of 
Rhode Island, born June 29, 1809. There 
were ten children in the family — seven 
boys and three girls — of whom Thomas 
is the third. Having first obtained a 
somewhat liberal education in the common 
schools, Thomas W. Eld red for two years 
attended a seminar}^ at East Gi'eenwich, 
R. 1., and later graduated from East- 
man's Commercial College at Poughkeep- 
sie, N. Y. He then engaged in the gro- 
eery business at Providence, R. I., for two 
years. Disposing of his business, he 
began the manufacture of spinning rings 
for cotton-mills, which he continued with 
considerable success for two years, when 
he sold his establishment and engaged in 
buying, sorting and selling cotton waste. 
At this business he continued for a period 
of eight years, accumulating, in the mean- 
time, quite a fortune. During a big real 
estate boom in Providence, R. I., and 
while he was j'et engaged in buying, sort- 



ing and selling cotton waste, he made 
heavy investments in realty. Contrary to 
his expectations, the boom collapsed, and 
realty depreciated to such an extent that 
he lost every dollar he possessed. This 
circumstance, instead of robbing him of 
his ambition, only served to nerve him for 
the conflict of life; and instead of sink- 
ing into a state of lethargy, as many an 
individual under similar circumstances 
would have done, he set to work once 
more with an invincible determination to 
retrieve his lost fortune. 

To Mr. Eldred's reverse in fortune is 
due the fact of his location in the West- 
After earning a considerable sum of 
money, he made a trip to the Red River 
country, Dakota, \vith a view of locating 
there ; but, not liking its general appear- 
ance, he came south into Nebraska and 
decided to locate in Buffalo county. He 
came to this country July 9, 1879, and 
pre-empted the northeast quarter of sec- 
tion 24, Grant township ; moved his fam- 
ily here February 14, 1880, and here he 
still resides. He first built himself a sod 
house, which he occupied for four j'ears. 
The country was new at the time of his 
coming and very sparsel}^ settled, there 
being but one frame house for seven miles 
in the direction of Kearney ; the balance 
were sods and dugouts. In 1880 he broke 
and put out thirty-five acres of wheat, 
from which he harvested and thrashed 
only seventy-three bushels. Corn, oats 
and potatoes were also a failure, there 
having been no rain to speak of from 
September 1, 1879, to June 8, 1880. From 
that time to the present he has had abun- 
dant crops and has been prosjierous. The 
old sod house has been replaced by a 
large and commodious frame, and a me- 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



263 



diiira-sized barn, together with other out- 
buildings, attest the fact of his pi-ospei'ity. 
Of late years he has engaged on a large 
scale in the raising of fine Poland-China 
stock hogs, which he sells and ships by 
express to all parts of Nebraska. lie now 
has some two hundred head of these 
stock hogs on his farm. 

Mr. Eld red was married January 20, 
1864, to Carrie Pitcher, daughter of John 
.and Isabella (Greene) Pitcher, both na- 
tives of the state of Rhode Island ; the 
former was born September 14, 1819, and 
the latter May 11, 1820. To them were 
born five children, Carrie being the old- 
est. 

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Eld red has 
been blessed with six children — Mamie, 
John, Lillie Estelle, Willie and Carrie 
Belle, and one that died in infancy, not 
named. 

Politically, Mr. Eldred is a republican 
and a firm believer in the party's princi- 
ples. 



GEORGE FORRESTER was born 
in Lee count3\ Iowa, May 22, 
1843, and is the son of Oliver C. 
and Elizabeth (Loughhead) Forrester. His 
father was a Canadian by birth and a 
farmer by occupation. His mother was a 
native of northern Ireland and died in 
1845. George had not yet reached his 
majority when he concluded to accept the 
advice of Horace Greeley and " go West 
and grow up with the country," and 
started out, with Central City, Colo., as 
his objective point. There he met the 
frontiersman in all his glory, but he was 
not delighted with the picture of western 



life, and, after working for a freighting 
company' some little time, he returned to 
Iowa. He taught school until the spring 
of 1864, and then entered the Union army, 
enlisting in the Forty-sixth Iowa infantry. 
His regiment was assigned to the duty of 
guarding railroad propert}', principally in 
the South, and he was mustered out in the 
fall of 1864, after serving the time for 
which he had enlisted. Returning to 
Iowa, conscious of having discharged his 
duty to his country, he attended a school at 
Tabor for a time, and then followed teach- 
ing for several years. In the meantime, 
however, he had completed a course in a 
commercial college in Chicago. He had 
thus thoroughly fitted himself for the 
transaction of business in the commercial 
world, and he soon found a position as 
clerk and manager of the warehouses of 
the firm of Henry Lee & Co., of Red Oak, 
Iowa. In the fall of 1879 he met with a 
most peculiar accident by being struck by 
lightning, while he was in a granary mov- 
ing some grain. The lightning melted a 
hole through his watch case and burned 
his clothing badly; portions of his body 
were jjaralyzed and he was rendered per- 
fectly helpless for some time. Shortly 
after his recovery a horse fell on him, 
breaking his leg and crippling him for 
life. 

In the sjiring of 1883 he came to Ne- 
braska and took a soldier's claim in Har- 
rison township, Buffalo county. He also 
took a tree claim, and now has three hun- 
dred and twenty acres of good land under 
a fair state of cultivation, on which he has 
planted fifteen thousand trees, and erected 
acommodious frame dwelling, which attests 
his present prosperity. He was married, 
September 29, 1875, to Miss Harriet C. 



264 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Jenkins, a daughter of Thomas and Martha 
Jenkins, both natives of Kentucky, ami 
the}"^ have had six children — Fannie F., 
Eldafonso B., Raymond R., Marmaduke 
M., Hazel G. (deceased), and Earl. Mr. 
Forrester and his estimable wife are active 
members of the Methodist church. He 
belongs to the G. A. R., and affiliates with 
the republican party, although he is no 
politician. 



SS. ST. JOHN. In these "flush 
times" of material growth and 
develo]mient, and especially in 
this progressive western country, but few 
men have the time or inclination to look 
after as antic[uated a matter as ancestral 
history. " It don't pay — nothing in it," 
is the reflection of the average mind, and, 
failing on the crnical test, the sub 
ject drops from consideration. Still, we 
must all have been born — must have come 
from some sort of stock, and have had 
our origin in some locality. It is pleas 
ant, therefore, when the fact exists, to 
know that we come of fairly represent- 
ative people, and that we started the race 
of life in at least respectable quarters. 
The subject of this sketch is a New Eng- 
lander by birth, and may therefore refer 
to the land of his nativity with some 
pride and satisfaction. He is a descend- 
ant of New England stock as far back as 
memory or ti'adition goes — his ancestors 
being people of resjiect ability, honest, in 
dustrious, frugal, rising into the higher 
virtues and graces of life with increasing 
advantages. His father, Albert St. John, 
was a native of Fairfield county, Conn., 



and a son of a Revolutionary soldier, 
Jesse St. John, M'ho, family traditions 
say, served as escort to General Wash- 
ington, enlisting in the colonial cause 
when a lad seventeen years of age. No 
other fact in the elder St. John's history 
is preserved. Albert St. John grew up in 
his native place, married Clarissa S. Hoyt, 
a native also of Fairfield county, and 
when his family came on to be ])rovided 
for, moved them to the inviting fields of 
industry in the new Northwest, settling 
in Janesville, Wis., where he subsequently 
lived, and where he died in 1873 at a 
somewhat advanced age. There his wife 
also died some ten years later. 

Sylvester S. St. John, their son, and the 
subject hereof, was born in Fairfield 
county. Conn., October 8, 1840, and was 
reared mainly in Janesville, Wis. He 
was early apprenticed to the printer's 
trade in accordance with the New Eng- 
-land idea of bringing up the young to 
some calling of usefulness. The first 
event of importance in his life, as it was 
in the lives of many of his age, was his 
.enlistment in the army at the opening of 
the Civil war. He entered the Union 
army, August 20, 1862, as a member of 
the Twelfth Wisconsin light artillery, the 
organization of the command having be- 
gun the April previous, and finished about 
the date of his enlistment. 

Tiiis is the reminiscential period in the 
history of the country. It is pre-eminently 
the war history era in American literature. 
While the generals and special correspond- 
ents are giving to- the public the biog- 
raphies of the noted leaders and the his- 
tory of the several campaigns, corps and 
division movements, the record of the 
private soldier may be mentioned in its 




SYLVESTER S. ST. JOHN. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



267 



appropriate place in the life of the private 
without exciting any undue suspicion of 
ulterior designs on tiie "sovereign voter" 
or tlie unsuspecting public. Especially 
ma\' the record be referred to, if it be an 
honorable one, and the owner has not 
lieretofore attempted to ride into fat 
office nor sought exemptions from duty 
as a citizen on the strength thereof. 

Mr. St. John has a commendable record 
as a soldier; it is only that of a pri- 
vate, but it is a record of duty well done 
in times and places that tried men's souls, 
when the " summer soldier and the sun- 
shine patriot " shrank from the service of 
their country. 

The Twelfth Wisconsin batter}', in 
wliicli lie enlisted, soon after its organiza- 
tion, was attaclied to Grant's army and 
saw it first service at luka, September 19, 
1862. Following that it participated in 
the second battle of Cornith, October 3d 
and 1th ; was then in Grant's raid on 
Holly Springs and tlie Yazoo Pass expe- 
dition, the Yicksburg campaign, compris- 
ing the engagements at Raymond, May 
12, ISti.S, Ciiampion's Hill, May 16th, the 
assaults on Yicksburg, Ma}' 19th and 22d, 
Missionary Ridge, November 25, and the 
Atlanta campaign, embracing all the 
bloody battles down to and including 
Alatoona Pass, October 5th, 1864, where 
the Twelfth made a heroic defense. It 
was the only battery present at that 
memorable engagement, and there oc- 
curred its greatest loss — six killed and 
Jifteen wounded, including Lieutenant 
Amsden, who commanded tiie battery in 
that fight. Here also Mr. St. John re- 
ceived a wound, but continuetl in the ser- 
vice and was witli Sherman on his famous 
march to the sea, and the campaigns 



through the Carolinas, being mustered 
out at New Berne, N. C, May 1st, 1865. 
Returning to "Wisconsin at the close of 
the war, he went again to his trade, estab- 
lishing a job office at Janesville, in con- 
nection with G. Yeeder, under the firm 
name of Yeeder & St. John. With the 
revival of business on the cessation of 
hostilities, and witli the amount of energy 
they were enabled to throw into their 
undertaking, they made a success from 
the start. Put prosperous as affairs 
might go with a job printing office in a 
small country town, tliere was neither 
great wealth nor great fame in the busi- 
ness, and Messrs. Yeeder & St. John, if 
not with a view of attaining great fame, 
certainly with a strong desire to make 
more money, and to supply what they 
were assured was a pressing need, started, 
in connection with their job printing 
plant, a weekly newspaper, called the 
Rock County Recorder. Their experi- 
ence with the Recorder was the same as 
that of most men who have founded 
rural papers to meet a " long felt want." 
Tiiey toiled incessantly, did cords of 
gratuitous work, heralded abroad the ftn- 
mense advantages, material, political, social, 
moral and otherwise of their town and 
county, chronicled the daily and weekly do- 
ings, local, state and national, pelted iniqui- 
ty in high places and scourged littlenessand 
low dealing wherever found, taught their 
patrons how to be happy and contented and, 
in sliort, made money for everybody but 
themselves. Tliey ran the Recorder and 
the job printing business until 1ST2, when 
Mr. St. John, desirous of engaging in a 
more remunerative calling, and with a 
view also of clianging his localitv, sold out 
his interest at Janesville and started for 



268 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



the great "West. He had heard much of the 
Piatt river country of Nebraska, and 
particularly of Buffalo county. The town 
to be built at the junction of the B. »fe M. 
E. R. with the Union Pacific and then 
known as Kearney, but not then in exis- 
tence, cauglit his attention, and hither he 
came. He struck the present town site 
of Kearney September 19th, 1872, the same 
month it was surveyed and laid out. He 
engaged at first in the agricultural imple- 
ment business, but followed this only a 
short time. In January, 1873, he started 
an insurance and real estate agency, being 
the first established in the town. In fact, 
its establishment was simultaneous with 
the founding of the town, which was 
oi'ganized in January, 1873. Mr. St. John 
was present at the time, was elected town 
clerk, and recorded the first act of the 
town of Kearney as a corporate body. 
His official duties were not very onerous 
or remunerative. The fact that he was 
the first town clei-k is mentioned here 
as an item of some interest in the light of 
the subsequent growth and development 
of the place. He held the office one term 
Th'at which engrossed most of his time 
and attention was his newly established 
business. The town and surrounding 
country grew rapidly — houses went up on 
every hand and the field for insurance 
was wide and constantly increasing. Mr. 
St. John's agency kept pace with the 
progress of events and became a source of 
good revenue. From his earnings he 
picked up jjroperty — in town and country 
— from time to time, and having confi- 
dence in the ultimate outcome of the city 
of Kearney and Buffalo count}', he held on 
to what he got. His investments, judi- 
ciously managed, have made for him the 



bulk of what he has. He is now one of 
the financially solid men of Kearney. He 
still owns a large amount of realty which 
is gradually increasing in value. In the 
meantime his insurance agency continues 
to do a thriving business, growing in 
strength and metropolitan proportions, as 
the growing importance of the city of 
Kearney demands. The agency now runs 
in the name of St. John & Baldwin, Mr. 
St. John having sold out a one-half inter- 
est to Mr. B. L. Baldwin not long since. 
On April 1st, 18S8, Mr. St. John, in con- 
nection with Judge John Barnd and east- 
ern parties, organized the Mutual Loan 
and Investment Comjiany, of Kearney, 
with a capital of $250,000, $125,000 of 
which is paid up. Mr. St. John became 
secretary and manager of the comi)any 
and now holds that position. August 1st, 
1889, he and Judge Barnd bought tiie pri- 
vate bank of L. R. Robertson, known as 
the Commercial and Savings Bank of 
Kearney, which they re-organized under 
the state banking law. The bank li;is a 
capital of $100,000, -±0 ])er cent, of which 
is paid up. Mr. St. John became presi- 
dent of the institution at the date of its 
purchase and re-organization, and now 
holds that position. It is established on a 
sound basis, and has a board of directors 
composed of some of the best rejiresenta- 
tive business men of Kearney. Its affairs 
are judiciously managed and it is doing 
its share of the legitimate banking busi- 
ness of Kearney and Buffalo county. Mr. 
St. John now gives his entire attention to 
his duties in the bank, the loan and trust 
company, of which he is secretary and 
manager, his insurance agency and his 
private investments. He has never been 
a public man in the generally understood 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



260 



meaning of the word, although he has 
filled some minor local offices, such as 
every good citizen is expected to accept 
when duty demands. In addition to 
having served as the first clerk of 
the board of councilmen of Kearney, he 
has served as city clerk, treasurer, and 
cit^' councilman, but has never been 
afflicted with the itch for office. The 
abundant opportunities offered for exercis- 
ing ail his talents has been improved in 
attending to his own personal affairs. He 
does not believe that he is the apostle of 
any great thought nor an agent especially 
commissioned to reform any great abuse. 
lie has no desire to pose as an example of 
any great truth or exalted virtue. He is 
content to be a plain untitled citizen — 
simply a man of affairs — a business man 
in the strictest and best sense of the word. 
Yet it must not be supposed that his life 
has been, nor is it now, devoted ex- 
clusively to the selfish purpose of accumu- 
lating money. He has borne his full 
share of the burden of helping along all 
public enterprises ; has contributed liber- 
all}' from his pocket and has helped with 
his own hands when his help was needed, 
or he deemed that it would be of anj' 
avail. He is somewhat conservative and 
is not, therefore, an easy man to catch with 
visionary schemes, but whatever measure 
by the wisdom of its purpose or its fitness 
in time and place commends itself to his 
judgment receives his assistance. He be- 
lieves m growtii and development. He is 
a constructor and builder. He has added 
to the solid wealth of his town by putting 
his money in l)ricks and stone. He is one of 
the very few of the first settlers of Kearney 
who has grown with the growth of the 
town and county, — who has risen to a 



keen appreciation of the advantages of 
his surroundings — who has shown himself 
equal to the emergencies as thej' arise. 
Mr. St. John married, July 15, 1868, Miss 
Ilattie E. Carter, of Rock county. Wis. 
He has a family of interesting children 
growing up around him, to whom he is 
much devoted, and in the training of 
whom he finds most congenial labor. He 
should be happy. He resides on the corner 
of Twenty-ninth street and Central avenue. 



EDWARD W. THOMAS is one of 
the oldest pioneers of Buffalo 
county. He was born at Browns- 
ville, Maine, April 24, 182S, and is the 
third of seven children born to Jonah and 
Sarah (Wilkins) Tliomas, as follows — 
Charlotte C, Artemus C, Edward W., 
Moses S., Bray W., Susan S. and Louisa. 
His father was a native of Maine, born at 
Sidne}', March 26, 1796, and was by occu- 
pation a farmer ; his mother was born in 
Billerica, Mass., December 25, 179i ; his 
paternal grandfather, Schabed Thomas, a 
farmer bj' occupation, was born in 1756, 
and was a soldier and pensioner of the 
Revolutionary war. Of his paternal grand- 
motlier, Mehitable (Crosby) Thomas, little 
or nothing is known. 

Edward W., the subject proper of this 
memoir, resided at home, in Maine, until 
twenty one years of age, attending school, 
helping on the farm and woi'king in the 
pineries. Arriving at his majority, and 
being the possessor of quite a little sum of 
money, he set out for himself, finally loca- 
ting in Cabell county, Va.. where he 
eno-aged in the timber business. He con- 
tinued in this business for some three 



270 



BUFFALO COUXTY 



years, and lost $2,200, all the money he 
had. He moved his family to Greenup, 
Kv., and he secured employment on a flat- 
boat, on the Ohio river, which he followed 
for twenty-five years, moving his family, 
in the meantime, to Ironton, Ohio, and 
thence to Portsmouth, Scioto county, 
Ohio, where he enlisted in the three 
months' call, April 21, 1861. 

Mr. Thomas was one of the first to 
respond to his country's call when the 
rebellion broke out, enlisting in Company 
D, Twenty-second regiment Ohio volun- 
teer infantry, and was made second lieu- 
tenant, April 18, 1862. He was trans- 
ferred to the Thirteenth Missouri regi- 
ment, in September, 1861, and sent to 
jirotect St. Louis. He continued with this 
regiment one year, participating in battles 
at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, 
sieire of Corinth and luka. He was then 
transferred to his former regiment, with 
which he participated in the battle of 
Corinth, siege of Vicksburg and the 
engagement at Little Rock, Ark. He 
was in command of his company at luka, 
and at both the siege and battle of Cor- 
inth. At the battle of Shiloh, a shot in 
the right leg inflicted a severe flesh wound ; 
he also had five bullet- lioles put through 
his blouse, and his gun-stock shot off in 
the same battle. While on picket duty at 
Trenton, Tenn.. in the fall of 1862, he had 
two bullet-holes put tlirough his overcoat. 
He veteranized in the Fifth United States 
volunteers, First army corp, and was mus- 
tered out of service March 25, 1806, having 
served his country faithfully for five years, 
lacking but a few days. 

He emigrated West, and landed in Buf- 
falo county, Nebr., October 18, 1873, and 
filed claim on a quarter-section in Divide 



township, on which he erected a frame 
shanty, twelve by twenty feet. In those 
da3's, that portion of the country was \ery 
sparsely settled, and wild game (deer, elk, 
antelojie and some buffalo) was quite 
plentiful. There were a few Pawnee 
Indians along the Platte and Wood rivers. 
For the first three years, crops, on account 
of droughts and grasshoppers, were almost 
a total failure; but since 1877, with the 
exception of 1880, Mr. Thomas has had 
fine croi)s. 

He was married in Cabell county, Ya., 
February 2, 1851, to Eliza Smith, who 
was born at Newport, Ky., March 15, 1838, 
and is the fourth of seven children born to 
Andrew and Mary Smith. The union of 
Ml', and Mrs. Thomas has resulted in the 
birth of seven children, as follows — 
Charles T., born November 9, 1851 ; Mary 
S., born September 2, 1851; George E., 
born September 2, 1857; Ida L., born 
February 9, 1860; Emma, born June 3, 
1867 ; II. Esworth, born November 2, 1869, 
and John W., born July 22, 1872. \\\ 
political matters, Mr. Thomas is a repub- 
lican. 



JOHN HARSE is the oldest pioneer 
settler in Harrison township, Buf- 
falo county, Nebr. He is a native 
of England and the date of his birth 
is October 17, 1852. His father lived and 
died in England and was a stock-raiser of 
considerable not§. John Harse frequently 
had pictured to his youthful fancy glow- 
inj;: accounts of the new world, and he 
lono-ed to visit the land of freedom and 
promise. Accordingly, at the age of 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



271 



twenty, lie bade old England farewell and 
set sail for. America, and early in the year 
of 1871 he landed on the shores of the 
Western continent. He was convinced 
on the start that the "West was the place 
for him, and with this settled conviction 
in mind he made bis way westward as far 
as Iowa, where he stopped for a short 
time, but in the spring of 1872 he turned 
up in Polk county, Nebr., where he fol- 
lowed farming and stock-raising for six 
years. In the fall of 1879 he came still 
farther west and took a homestead on the 
Loup river near the northwest corner of 
Buffalo county. There was no settlement 
in this section at that time, and vast herds 
of cattle I'oamed at will over the countiy 
for miles around. Wild game was ])lenty 
and Pawnee Indians frequently tramped 
up and down the Loup river on their hunt- 
ing expeditions. He built a small sod 
house, which afforded him protection for 
two years, when he replaced it with a 
substantial hewed-log house, there being 
excellent timber then along the sandy 
banks of the Loup. The country along 
the Loup river afforded excellent grazing, 
and cattle ranches were numerous. The 
surrounding teri-itory was literally covered 
with cattle and the semi-annual " round- 
ups" were events of considerable interest. 
He was married Mav 1, 1881, to Miss 
Abbie J. Cassel, daughter of Joseph W. 
and Mary (White) Cassel. She was born 
in Clayton count}', Iowa, and came with 
her i)arents to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 
an early day. They have three children — 
James W., Ethel E., and Howard. Mr. 
Ilarse has a splendid farm containing 
four hundred and eighty acres, two hun- 
dred of which are under cultivation. He 
is now serving his second term as super- 



visor of Harrison township, is a stanch 
republican and one of the ])rominent and 
substantial men of Buffalo county. 



MORPJSON A. BENTLEY, one 
of the highly respected citizens 
of Buffalo county, was born in 
Brown county, Ohio, October 6, 1831. 
His parents were natives of Ohio, and 
were married November 10, 1830. Thev 
had two children, Morrison A. and Martin 
C. The senior Bentle\' was a merchant 
at Georgetown, Ohio, in an early day, and 
went to Philadelphia and New York city 
by stage, once a year, to purchase goods, 
there being no railroads in those tlays. 
These long journeys by stage were made 
at a great risk of life and property. The 
route was through the Alleghany mount- 
ains, and passengers were often held up 
by robbers. Mr. Bentley sometimes 
returned from these long, perilous trips 
with his clothes perforated with bullet 
holes, and it was his custom always to 
arrange his business affairs before start- 
ing, just as though he never expected to 
return home alive. In 1840, he engaged 
in the manufacture of iron (pig metal) in 
Gallia and Madison counties, Ohio. In a 
short time he gained, by honest}', perse- 
verance and energy, a competency suffi- 
cient to enable him to retire from active 
business. For nearly forty years he has 
resided in Portsmouth, Ohio, enjoying the 
reward of his youthful labors, living in 
comfort and affluence, esteemed by all 
who know him. 

Morrison A. Bentley, in the fall of 184'.t. 
entered Alleghany college, at Meadville, 



272 



BUFFALO COUNIY. 



Pa., and was an industrious and deserving 
student, until failing health compelled 
him to relinquish the thought of graduat- 
ing. He left college to accept the posi- 
tion of book-keeper for the firm of 
Bentley, Campbell & Co. Finding office 
work detrimental to his health, he was 
given the position of general manager, 
which business required him much of his 
time to be in the open air. About this 
time, Mr. Bentley bought an interest in 
the iron works in which he was employed 
(his father retiring from active business) 
and the name of the firm (Bentley, Camp- 
bell & Co.) remained unchanged. 

In 1862, he, with two other gentlemen, 
bought another iron furnace in Hocking 
count}', Ohio, under the name of M. A. 
Bentley & Co., which he financiered suc- 
cessfully until after the close of the war, 
when again failing health and the ])ro- 
tracted and almost fatal illness of his wife 
caused him to sell out his interests in Ohio 
and engage in agricultural jmrsuits in 
Iowa. 

Morrison A. Bentley was married Feb- 
ruary 14, 1856, to Elizabeth H. Davis, of 
Portsmouth, Ohio. She was born Febru- 
ary 1-1, 1837, and educated at the seminary 
in Steubenville, Ohio. She graduated 
from that school in 1854, when she was 
seventeen. Tiie parents, James W. and 
Amanda Baldwin Davis, were born in 
Pittsburgh, Pa. Her father was for 
many yeai'S largely interested in the 
steamboat and iron business, and was one 
of the pioneers of Portsmouth, Ohio, 
where he lived many years, but subse- 
quently became a resident of Des Moines, 
Iowa, where he died December 12, 1869. 
He was a man who commanded the re- 
spect of all who knew him. 



Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Bentle3%allof whom are now living. Mr. 
Bentley has given his children every 
opportunity within his power to obtain a 
good education. His two eldest daughters 
are graduates from the high school and 
Callanan college, of Des Moines, Iowa. 
These young ladies came to Nebraska 
soon after gi'aduating, and took advantage 
of Uncle Sam's offer to pre-empt home 
stead and timber claim land, teaching 
country schools " while holding down their 
claims." They have been successful both 
as teachers and land claimers, having grit 
enough to prove up both on pre-emption 
and homestead. Their brother, too, took 
claims and is now a prosperous farmer. 
It required a great deal of " grit, grace 
and gumption " for these three young- 
people to hold on to their claims, as there 
were many hardships and discouragements 
in the way ; but they held on and came 
off victors in tiie strife, and are peaceahJe, 
honest possessors of the land. 

In the beginning of the late war, Mr. 
Bentle}', then in his young manhood, 
offered his services to his country, but was 
rejected on account of physical disabilit}'. 
He, however, showed his great interest 
in the cause by hiring a man to go in his 
stead. Both he and his wife took an 
active part in promoting the welfare of 
'' the soldier boys." He assisted the gov- 
ernment in oi'ganizing troops in southern 
Ohio, and one company went out from his 
own works, commanded by his foreman. 
Regardless of his own interests, he did all 
in his power to encourage volunteers. He 
was one of many who suffered loss b^^ 
Morgan's raid in that state. Mr. Bentley 
is a quiet, unassuming man, and during 
his residence in this countv has won the 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



273 



respect of all who know him. Although 
no politician, he is a firm believer in the 
principles of the republican party. In 
1881 Mr. Bentley moved to Beaver city, 
Nebr., but in a few months located on the 
banks of tiie Loup river, where the family 
possess about seventeen hundred acres of 
land. He was instrumental in organizing 
tlie fii'st school district in the township, 
and aided in building the first school- 
house. Tlie countiy was then ver3^ 
sparsel}' settled, and the family realize 
very many changes since their settlement 
on the Loup. 



A 



BEAM STEDWELL. Tins gen- 
tleman is an earlier settler of 
Buffalo county. He wag born in 
Cu3'ahoga county, N. Y., September 25, 
1S2G. flis father, Abraham Stedwell, 
a wheelwright by occupation, was a na- 
tive of Connecticut, born about 178L His 
mother, Eebecca (Sheffield) Stedwell, 
was a native of New York state and was 
born about 1771. Abram, the subject of 
this biography, moved with his father's 
familv, at the age of three years, to Huron 
county, Ohio, where he attended school 
until twelve years of age, when his father 
moved to Hancock county, 111. Here he 
lived about ten years and then moved to 
Lee county, Iowa, wliei'e for two years he 
engaged in farnung, after which he moved 
to Peoria, 111., and worked at the carpen- 
ter trade. He resided in Peoriaand Peoria 
county about six years, and then moved 
to Knox county, 111., and a little later to 
Mason county, where he resided six years, 
and in 1860 moved to Henry county, Iowa, 
where for fifteen years he engaged in 



farming. He enlisted February 28, 1862, 
in Company C, Fourth Iowa cavalry, but, 
before active sei'vice was reached, con- 
tracted lung fever and was left March 10, 
1862, in the hospital at Holla, Mo., where he 
was confined until January 1, 1863, when 
he reported to his regiment, but, being 
still unable for duty, was sent to the hos- 
pital at Helena, Ark., where he remained 
until July, 1863, when he was transferred 
to the Marine hospital at St. Louis, Mo. He 
reported to his regiment in the rear of 
Vicksburg, in November, 1863, at which 
place he re-enlisted. He was in active ser- 
vice from that time till the close of the 
war, with General Sherman in what is 
known as his Meridian Raid. With Grier- 
son, from Memphis to Vicksburg, and with 
Wilson in his last raid througli Alabamaand 
Georgia. He was discharged August 25, 
1865, at Davenport, Iowa. He emigrated 
west in the spring of 1875 and stopped in 
Gage county, Nebr., where he put out 
crops which were nearly all destroyed by 
the grasshoppers. In November of the 
same year he came to Buffalo county and 
the next spring pre-empted the northwest 
quarter of section 12, township 10, range 
16, which he afterwards entered as a 
homestead and still owns. When he landed 
here his entire worldly possessions con- 
sisted of $20 in money, one span of small 
mules, a wagon, one cow, and a dwarf 
mule. Pie spent $15 of his money in fix 
ing up a house in which to spend the 
winter, and the following spring borrowed 
seven bushels of wheat, which he sowed. 
The drought and grasshopi)ers proved so 
ruinous that year that he harvested only 
three bushels of wheat from the seven 
which he had sown in the spring. His 
family was reduced to such straightened 



274 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



circumstances that bis wife took in wasli- 
ino-, and with the money thus earned pur- 
chased potatoes at five cents per bushel, 
while he hauled wood from government 
lands on the Loup river to Kearney, which 
required two days' time for each load, and 
received from $2 to $5 per load for his wood. 
In this manner they managed to live. He 
rented a set of blacksmith's tools from a 
neighbor, giving him one-lialf of the earn- 
ings, and at odd intervals managed to 
make something at this employment, and 
finally, when the neighbor, scared out by 
the grasshoppers, traded his wagon for 
the tools, and ran the shop for twelve 
years in connection with the farm. After 
that year he raised good crops, and in 
February, 18S9, moved into Kearney, 
where he built three houses and has con- 
siderable properly. He was married March 
8, 1853, to Sarah M. Holmes, daughter of 
Henry G. and Keturah (Yaw) Holmes, 
both natives of New York state; the 
former, a farmer by occupation, was born 
July 16, 1806; the latter was born No, 
vember 2, 1804. Her father, Henry G. 
Holmes, went to California in 1849 and on 
his return trip was registered for passage 
on a steamboat, but was never heard from 
afterwards. It is supposed that the steamer 
was wrecked and he perished. Mr. and 
Mrs. Stedwell have had no children, but 
have raised several. They are both active 
members of the Christian church, and 
politically Mr. Stedwell is Independent. 
He was elected, in the fall of 1882, by the 
Farmer's alliance of the county, as repre- 
sentative in the state legislature,and served 
one term of two j^ears in that capacity. He 
has held various other minor offices, such 
as justice of the peace which officehe held 
eight years), town clerk and assessor. 



D 



AYID B. CLAKK, a son of 
Thomas L. and Mar}' (Blakely) 
Clark, is a native of Kortright, 
Delaware count}', N. Y., and adescendant 
of old York State ancestors. His father 
was a plain, industrious, useful citizen, a 
man of quiet habits and domestic tastes, a 
lifelong member of the United Presby- 
terian church, and not only a stanch de- 
fender of the faith but a great worker in 
the cause of Christianity, possessing the 
the most benevolent impulses and kindly 
feeling towards all his race. Mr. Clark's 
mother was also a devoted christian and 
led an active and laborious life, devoting 
all the energies of her noble christian 
character to the good of her kind. Both 
of these are now dead and have gone to 
receive their reward. They were the 
parents of seven children, viz. — David B., 
Margery, Mary E., Thomas H., John N., 
and Margaret J. 

The eldest, the subject of this notice, 
was reared in his native place in New 
York, received a good common and high- 
school training, finishing with a commer- 
cial course in the Eastman business col- 
lege at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., after whicli 
he engaged in the earnest duties of a 
teacher. He entered the Union army in 
1864 while yet young, enlisting in Com- 
panv I, One Hundred and Forty-fourth 
New York infantry, and served along 
the South Carolina coast, taking part in 
the battle at St. John's Island, James 
Island, siege of Wagner, Deveaux Neck, 
and Honey hill. He left the service 
before the expiration of his term of 
enlistment on account of disease con- 
tracted and returned home, and after re- 
covering his health came West in 1867 
and located at Omaha, this state. He 




D B CLARK. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



277 



taught penmanship there for some lime, 
coming in 1872 to Kearney. Here he 
took a position as bookkeeper in Dake's 
bank at that date, wliich he held for some 
time. He was also elected police judge of 
the town of Kearney and justice of the 
peace for Kearney precinct, which offices 
he iield during the famous cow-boy times 
and dealt out even-handed justice. 

Mr. Clark's life during those years was 
not without its interesting episodes nor 
was it always free from danger. He dis- 
chai'ged his duties, however, witiiout fear 
or favor and left the positions to which he 
iiad been called bearing witii him the 
highest respect as well as the genuine 
gratitude of his fellow-citizens. Engaging- 
later in sign writing and artistic painting, 
he did a tliriving business for some years, 
the rapid improvement of the town and 
the erection of many buildings affording 
him plenty of work. Like a prudent man 
he saved his earnings and judiciously 
invested them in real estate in Kearney. 
Tiie rise in values made his investments 
profitable and he has realized haiulsoniely 
on all of them. He has large real estate 
interests in Kearney even now, and is con- 
stantly buying and selling, iluch of his 
property he has improved, adding to the 
substantial gi'owth and develojunent of 
his adopted town and to the comfort and 
conveniences of home seekers. 

In 187-i he married Miss Mary J. Row- 
land, daughter of James S. and Marjjaret 
Rowland of New York. Mrs. Clark is a 
sister of the Rev. Samuel Rowland, a dis- 
tinguished Presbyterian divine of Clinton, 
N. J. Mrs. Clark is herself a lady of cul- 
ture and refinement and presides with 
becoming ease, grace ant! dignitv over 
her elegant home. Mr. and Mrs. Clark 



have a large circle of friends who find an 
ever welcome place at their fireside and 
in whose society they find much of tiie 
pleasure of this life. Tiieir pleasant 
dwelling, erected recently at a cost of 
$6,0u0, is one of the handsomest in the 
city of Kearney. It is s])lendidl\' fur- 
nished, complete in its appointments, and 
adorned with tastil}' wrought work of art. 
It is an asylum of hnppiness, where the 
stranger and friend are alike welcome. 



LB. CUNNINGHAM. The fatiier of 
the subject of this sketch was 
^ Samuel J. Cunningham, born in 
Virginia December 5, 1702, and his father 
a native of the same state, his name also 
being Samuel. Samuel Cunningham, Sr., 
removed to (leorgia in 1795, thence to 
Maury county, Tenn. (about 1820), wliei-e 
he died some years later. Samuel J. was 
married to Jliss Dovey Stinson, a native 
of North Cai'olina, SeptembeV 20, 1827. 
Eleven children were tiie fruits of this 
union, five daughters and six sons. The 
mother died December 19, 1849, and with 
two daugiiters and one son are buried 
upon the old farm near Cornersville, 
Tenn. 

The subject of this sketch, whose full 
name in Lyman J5eecher Cunningham, 
named for Dr. Lyman Beecher, was born 
in Giles county, Tenn., September 3, 1844. 
In Api'il, 1853, his father I'emoved to 
West Grove, Davis county, Iowa, where 
he died in July, 1879, in his eight\'-si.xth 
year. The fatlier was a successful farmer 
and miller, and also mastered several 



trades, among which were those of black- 
smitliino: and cabinet or furniture-making:. 
The family now have articles of furni- 
ture made by him sixt}^ years ago. He 
was a Presbyterian in religion, having 
been an elder m the church from' early 
manliood till death. In politics he was a 
a whig and republican. 

Lj'man B. followed the usual duties of a 
farmer boy in summer and attended school 
in winter until December 25, 1863, when 
he enlisted in Company A, Third Iowa 
cavalry, to serve in defense of the Union 
and against those of his native South 
arrayed for its destruction. He was anti- 
slavery and in favor of his native state 
remaining in the Union. He participated 
in the various battles in which his regi- 
ment was engaged, a regiment second to 
none for galiantrj', and served with credit 
to himself and country until mustered out 
at Atlanta, Ga., August 9, 1865; he was 
dischai'ged August 19th at Davenport, 
Iowa, reaching home August 21st. He 
lost two brothers in defense of the Union, 
Cyrenius T. and Orosius A., the former a 
member of' Company A, Third Iowa cav- 
alry, who received a wound in the neck at 
the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., in March, 
1S62, which caused his death February 7, 
1S6G, and the latter a member of Com- 
pany B, Thirtieth Iowa infantry, Avho died 
of sickness at Memphis, Tenn., October 
22, 1863. 

Our subject entered school at the Wes- 
leyan University at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, 
in the spring of 1866, graduating from 
that institution in June, 1870. He taught 
school one year at West Grove, Iowa, and 
one year at Unionville, Iowa, and in Au- 
gust, 1872, removed to the new village of 
Kearney Junction — now Kearney, Nebr. 



— where he, in connection with Mandel & 
Clapp, began the publication of the Kear- 
ney Junction Times. This paper is now 
developed into the Buffalo county Journal 
and tiie Kearney Daily Journal, of which 
Mr. Cunningham was sole proprietor until 
a stock company was organized June 15, 
1890. He also took a soldier's homestead 
and has improved this and also another 
farm in the vicinity of Kearney. He took 
an active part in the upbuilding of Kear- 
ne}"^, being ever alive to its interests and 
ever working for its advancement. He 
was a charter member of the Presby- 
terian church, in which he is still active. 
His paper is known as a stanch advocate 
of republican principles, temperance and 
sobriety, good morals, decency and justice, 
and is ever known as a clean sheet to enter 
the familv circle. It is independent and 
fearless and a bitter opposer of anything 
akin to deception, fraud, folly and preten- 
sion. Wherever read it is known as a re- 
liable newspaper, the farmers having long 
since learned to obtain the facts, as well 
as could be ascertained, from that journal. 
Although it is uphill business conducting 
a newspaper in a new country, yet by 
economy and frugality, and by the aid of 
his excellent wife, he has been enabled to 
accuinulate property to the amount of 
several thousand dollars. September 3, 
1874, he was married to Miss Mary E. 
Clapp, a lady of excellent qualities of 
mind and heart, a graduate of the Ladies' 
Seminary of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and a 
daughter of William D. and Elizabeth 
Clapp, natives of North Carolina and In- 
diana, the daughter having been born to 
them November 1, 1851. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cunningham have been blessed with but 
three children — Carl Shannon, born in 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



279 



1875, became a bright, loving dutiful boy, 
who died April 7, 1884, bitterly mourned 
bv broken-hearted parents and a large cir- 
cle of friends; lialph Elmo was born July 
1, 1887, is still living, and is a bright, 
promising child, full of life and energy; 
and third, a daughter, born Jul\' 29, 1890, 
who is named Lois Be, a health}' and ap- 
parently promising child. Mr. Cunning- 
ham has truly had a helpmeet in his 
estimable wife, who is noted for her energy, 
economy, tact, skill and christian integ- 
rity. The couple are highly esteemed and 
respected in their community. 



HIRAM HULL. The subject of 
this sketch is one of the oldest 
and most highly esteemed citi- 
zens of Kearney, Buffalo county, and a 
man who has a history, ancestral and per- 
sonal, well worthy of preservation in a 
memorial record like this. 

Mr. Hull's stock is of English origin, 
his ancestors having removed from Eng- 
land to New Enolangd some time in the 
Seventeenth Century, and among the early 
colonial settlers, were people of honorable 
distinction in church, state and military 
matters, as well as in framing the great 
fundamental laws for the republic when it 
was in its infancy. 

His father, Joel Hull, was born near 
Boston, Mass., and near the birth-i)lace of 
our American independence, in 177G. He 
grew up in his native place, and, after 
receiving a collegiate etlucation, began 
life as a merchant and afterwards moved 



into New York State, where he spent 
several years, and in the year 1816 moved 
into the State of Ohio, settling in Meigs 
county, where he entered upon the peace- 
ful pursuit of agriculture and died in 
1827. His wife was Mar}' Wallace, a 
native of the town of Benniuirton, Vt., 
was born in 1779, and died in Adams 
county, HI., in 1859. She was a devoted 
member of the Free Will Baptist church, 
a strong believer in saving faith, and led 
a life consistent with her belief. 

The subject of this sketch is the A'oung- 
est of a family of ten children born to 
Joel and Mary (Wallace) Hull. He was 
born in Utica, N. Y., Sei^tember 30, 1812. 
He was reared in Meigs county, Ohio, 
whither his parents had moved when he 
was young, and there spent his life until 
the year 1852. He began the active pur- 
suits of life as a farmer, but in the year 
1831 moved from his farm to the town of 
Chester, Ohio, and there engaged in the 
several occupativms of merchandising, 
tanningand buildino- boats — active, enter- 
prising and successful in everything he 
undertook. 

In 1852, for the better advantages of 
educating his children, he moved to Dela- 
ware, Ohio, where he was enabled to 
D-raduate his two sons and three dauohters 
in the Ohio AVesleyan University and the 
Female College there located ; and there 
resided until the year 1872, when he 
removed to the State of Nebraska. 

He sto])ped at Lincoln a few months, 
then settled at LqjrN'ell, in Kearney county, 
on the thirtieth of June, 1872, where he 
resided for two years and then moved to 
the city of Kearney, where he has contin- 
uousl}' resided since Septeml)er, 187-1. He 
entered into the mercantile business exten- 



280 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



sively at Lowell, and continued in that 
pursuit the first two years after arriving at 
Kearney, when he closed the business and 
soon after commenced the real estate and 
brokerage business, at which he has been 
more or less actively engaged since. 

Mr. Hull has made a wise use of his 
opportunities, investing considerably in 
real estate at an early day in Kearney, on 
which he has realized handsomely. He 
has never been a speculator, being content 
with the returns brought him by the 
gradual rise in values incident to tiie set- 
tling up and improvement of the town 
and surrounding country, and he has been 
willing to help, and has helped, in bring- 
ing about this state of improvement, lend- 
ing his aid and influence towards inducing 
immigration, and giving cheerfully of his 
means to those enterprises of a public 
nature which have sought favor in his com- 
munity. Mr. Hull married November 10, 
1830; the lady whom he chose to share 
his life's fortunes being Miss Luna Bos- 
worth of Meigs county, Ohio. Mrs. Hull 
was born May 30, 1812, at Whitehall, 
N. Y., and is a daughter of Hezekiah and 
Hiddah (Pearce) Bosworth. 

Her father was a native of England and 
her mother of New York State. Her 
father died in Meigs county, Ohio, Feb- 
ruary 23, 1859, aged eighty-nine years. 
His occupations of life were teaching 
school and farming, and throughout was 
a man of quiet tastes, studious habits, and 
exceptional h' temperate and systematic 
in all things. 

Her mother died in the same county 
February 23, 1863, aged eight3'-eight 
years, a pious, good woman, she and her 
husband having been almost life-long mem 
bers of the church, having sei'vices of the 



pioneer Methodist preachers in their own 
house many years after they settled in 
Oiiio. 

Mrs. Hull's ancestors all lived to remark- 
able ages: her grandfatiier Pearce dying 
in his seventy-ninth year, her grandmother 
at one hundred and four, and her mater- 
nal great-grandfather in his one hundred 
and sixteenth 3'ear. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hull have had born to 
them a family of ten children, of whom 
there are now living five — Joel, the 
eldest, born November 23, 1831, a sketch 
of whom appears in this volume as one of 
the representative men of Minden, Kear- 
ney county ; Wyman, born March 27, 
1835; Catharine (now wife of Wm. K. 
Goddard, residing in Dane county. Wis.), 
born January 3, 1837; Helen, born May 
27, 1840, now wife of Wm. L. Kidd, of 
Oakland, California; and Marinda, born 
March 2, 1842, now wife of S. W. 
Switzer, of San Diego, California. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hull have been zealous 
members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church for many years, having united in 
1831, and ever since have been active and 
efficient workers in that church and all 
its benevolent associations. 

Mr. Hull never aspired to political 
honors, but has taken a keen intei'est in 
general politics and is a man of wide 
range of information on political and his- 
torical topics. In early life he was an old 
line whig and a stanch supporter of the 
doctrines of that party. Upon the forma- 
tion of the republican party he became 
one of its organizers and has steadfastlj^ 
adhered to the platform adopted by its 
founders — Protection — Loyalty — and Lib- 
erty. He voted for the elder General Har- 
rison—the iiero of Tippecanoe — and also 



BUFFALO rouxrr 



281 



for the younger Harrison, the present chief 
executive. Mr. and Mrs. Hull have ever 
been strict temperance people and have 
always been active workers in the cfpuse 
of temperance. Mrs. Hull joined the Good 
Templars nearly forty years ago and has 
constantly been found in the front in all 
the efforts made for the deliverance of her 
community in which she resided from the 
curse of rum ; associating herself for that 
purpose with several orders and societies. 
She is, and has been since its formation, a 
hearty worker in the Women's Christian 
Temperance Union. 

Though, for several years in feeble 
health and almost an invalid, she has never 
failed when called upon to aid any and all 
endeavors for the salvation of souls from 
sin and from intempei-ance to the utmost 
of iier ability, and raanv there are to rise 
up and call her blessed. 



LYMAN M. BRIG HAM. Among 
those who came to Buffalo county 
_^ in the early " seventies " and 
passed through the historic hard times, 
and wiio lias since accumulated, slowly 
and honorably, an ample fortune, thus 
crowning a youth of labor with an age of 
ease, may be mentioned Lyman M. Brig- 
ham, tiie subject of this biographical 
memoir. He is a native of New York, 
having been born in Wyoming county, 
that state, December 27, 1832. H is father, 
Jabez Brigham, a farmer by occupation, 
was a native of Massachusetts. His 
mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth 
Hart, was also a native of Massachusetts. 



These were the parents of nine children, 
of whom the subject of this notice is the 
youngest. Lyman M. Brigham, in his 
earlier days, attended the district schools, 
helped his mother on the farm and entered 
upon an apprenticeship at the blacksmith 
trade at the age of seventeen years. He 
adopted blacksmithing as a pursuit and fol- 
lowed it for twenty years. He started 
West in the summer of 1874: and got as 
far as Omaha, when he rai; out of money. 
Being a man of indomitable will, his plans 
were not to be frustrated by this, and he 
and his son walked the remainder of the 
way to Kearney, for which place he had 
started, a distance of two hundred miles. 
He took a homestead on the old Fort 
Kearney military reservation, there lo- 
cated and began farming with a yoke of 
four-year-old oxen, at the same time open- 
ing a bLicksmith shop in Kearney, riding 
back and forth daily from his claim to 
town. The first year he broke out thirty 
acres of sod and put it in corn, and also 
rented sixty acres of old ground, which he 
planted to corn, Avheat and oats. That 
year the drouth and grasshoppers de- 
stroj'ed his entire crop except twenty- 
seven bushels of potatoes, which he raised 
on two town lots. He was forced to boil 
grass for his two remaining pigs, while he 
" hustled up " something to keep soul and 
bodv together for himself as best he could. 
This year's experience served to nerve him 
for the contest the following vear. He 
had a brother living in Polk county, this 
state, from whom he had arranged to bor- 
row his uext year's seed wheat and corn. 
His stock in store at this time consisted of 
his yoke of oxen, a lumber wagon and 
twenty-five cents in money. Giving his 
wife ten cents of the money with which 



282 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



to supply the famil\''s wants, and taking 
the other fifteen cents, he started with his 
team for Polk county, a distance of one 
hundred miles. "When below Grand 
Island, and about lialf way on his journey, 
he ran out of hay, but secured some from 
a farmer who, on learning that he had 
only fifteen cents, refused to accept pay. 
He completed his journe}' in five days, 
sleeping in hay -stacks over nights. But 
worse trials awaited him. On his way 
back his wagon broke down. There were 
no shops at hand, and he had nothing to 
pay for the mending of it if there had 
been. Still, he was equal to the occasion. 
He was near the Union Pacific railroad, 
and as soon as night came on he " bor- 
rowed " a tie from the road, and with the 
aid of a farmer's ax he hewed out an axle, 
fixed up the wreck, and started once more 
on his homeward journe3\ He got back 
after an absence of nearly two weeks, and 
with renewed energy and determination 
began again to settle the bread and butter 
problem in the uncertain state of agricul- 
ture at that date in Nebraska. Many 
were the hardships and privations whicii 
he underwent ; but, like most of the old 
settlers who stood steadfastly by their 
choice, he at last succeeded, and to-day he 
is one of the well-fixed farmers in Buffalo 
county. He owns eight hundred acres of 
valuable land in the county, and a large 
amount of property in the city of Kear- 
ney. It all represents his own toil, pluck 
and endurance. In 1877, Mr. Brigham 
raised and marketed seventeen thousand 
bushels of grain. Tiiis will give a-n idea of 
the rapidity of his growth as a farmer. In 
March, 1888, he left his farm and moved 
into Kearnej', where he now resides. 
It must not be supposed that Mr. Brig- 



ham has made his way to the position of 
comfort and ease that he now occupies 
unaided and alone. He has been materi- 
allv*assisted in his labors by a most ex- 
cellent wife. He married, January 1.3, 
1853, the lady whom he selected for a life 
companion being Miss Catherine Brigham, 
a daughter of Harry and Sarah (Eggles- 
ton) Brigham, both natives of Massachu- 
setts, the father having been born in the 
year 1800 and the mother in 1804. Mrs. 
Brigham is the third of a family of six 
children born to her parents. Mr. and 
Mi's. Brigham have had born to them a 
family of four children, three girls and 
one boj% as follows — Emory (now de- 
ceased), born October 11, 1854: ; Luella 
(now also deceased), born March 7, 1858; 
Ferado, born April 7, 1860, and Pearl, 
born August 13, 1870. 



A 



MOS H. EDWARDS was born in 
Mt. IIolU', Rutland county, Vt., 
Januai'y 29, 1817, and is a son of 
Frederick Augustus and Polly ( Barker ) 
Edwards. 

Frederick Augustus Edwards was born 
in Temple, N". H., July 27, 1791, married 
in 1814 and emigrated to Mt. Holly, Vt., 



where he eno-affed first in 



teaching, 



afterwards in farming, and then in 
cabinet making — following these several 
pursuits through life. He died in Ches- 
ter, Vt., in 1842. He was a zealous mem- 
ber of, and deacon in, the Baptist church 
till his death. He took a decided interest 
in his church, was prominent in relig- 
ious affairs througiiout his state, and was a 



BUFFALO COUJSiTV 



283 



man of the most benevolent impulses and 
spent most of his time administering to 
the wants of the sick and afflicted. Mr. 
Edwards' paternal grandfather was Eben- 
ezer Edwards, a native of England, wiio 
immigrated to America in early life. He 
engaged in the mercantile business at 
Temple, N. 11., and amassed considerable 
wealth, which, however, he lost through 
the mismanagement of others, princi])ally 
by the failure of the Amherst bank, in 
which he had deposited $50,000. He 
died about the year 1825. Mr. Edwards' 
mother, Polly Barker, born January 4, 
1793, was also a native of Temple, 
N. H., and was a daughter of Theodore 
Barker. 

Amos H. Edwards began life for him- 
self about the age of eighteen, his father 
giving him his time at that date. He at- 
tended the common schools in his youth, 
but in the fall of 1835, he attended 
Black River academy at Ludlow, Vt. 
He began teaching in the fall of 1835, 
teaching his first school at Mt. Holly, 
Vt., in the very building where his father 
had taught his first school many years 
before. In the spring of 1836 he attended 
an academy at Chester, Vt., where he re- 
ceived the jirincipal part of his education. 
He has taught school every year since, ex- 
cept one, till 1890, having taught in all 
one hundred and thirty-five terms. He 
emigrated from Vermont in the s]iring of 
1838 to Pennsylvania and taught school 
there one year. He then went to Ohio, 
where he tauglit several years, in the 
meantime teaching several terms in Ken- 
tucky, and moving later to Wisconsin, in 
1850,wherehe taught for twenty -five years. 
He came to Buffalo county, this state, in 
the spring of 1876, and located on a farm 



six and a-half miles northeast of Kearney, 
where he lived until January, 1888, mov- 
ing into the city of Kearney at that time- 
He has been steadily engaged in teaching 
since coming to Buffalo county and he is 
well and favorably known in many local- 
ities throughout the county as an able 
instructor. He has belonged to several 
secret societies in his life, among then a 
number of temperance organizations. He 
is a man of warm nature and the most gen- 
erous impulses, and he has devoted the 
greater part of a long life to the good of 
his fellow-man. He isalwaj's punctual to 
the minute and desires strict ]iunctuality 
in others. His organ of philoprogenitive- 
ness is very fully developed. 

Mr. Edwards married, August 1, ISiS, 
Miss Eliza C. Grant, of Greenfield, N. H. 
She is a daughter of John and Sallie 
(Taj'lor) Grant. Her father, John Grant, 
was born in Greenfield, N. H., and was a 
farmer by occupation, an upright, indus- 
trious and useful citizen. He was a life- 
long member of the Presbyterian church, 
and died in the faith by which he had 
lived, passing away in 1852. His wife 
was a native of the same state, a member 
of the same church, and died in 1882. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have been 
born a family of eight children, as follows 
~ Altaire H., born August 7, 1844 (died 
in the Union army during the late war) ; 
Charles P., born January 23, 1847; Al- 
phonso C, born June 10, 1851 ; Ella C, 
born March 25, 1853 ; Eo E., born July 
23, 1855; Eddie S., born October 29, 1856; 
Bert E., born February 18, 1860, and 
Ivers C. born April 25, 1863. 

Mr. Edwards, in addition to the posi- 
tions he has held in connection with his 
school work, has also held a number of 



284 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



local offices, such as any good citizen 
might be expected to fill when called on 
for that purpose. In politics he is a pro- 
hibitionist, and an able exponent of the 
principles of his party. lie has been a 
contributor to a number of journals on the 
subject of prohibition, and his writings 
under the nom de plume oi Charles Chester, 
are widely read and highly appreciated, 
and unquestionably have done much good 
for the cause of tempei'ance. He has also 
written a great deal of poetry, and some 
of his contributions to the press have be- 
come very popular. He is the author of 
the longest poem ever written by an 
American, which is entitled "The Great 
Rebellion." 

Mr. Edwards is a pleasant, genial gen- 
tleman, a finished scholar and a man of 
sound heart. He makes a lasting impres- 
sion even on casual acquaintances, and 
those who meet him wish that there were 
more men in the world like him. 



CG. OSTERHEIL (deceased) was 
born February 28, ISli, and 
reared in the town of Zittau, 
Saxony, and is a descendant of German 
parentage. He was educated in the best 
schools of his native countrv, and began 
life as a teacher, becoming a director of 
learning in tlie Royal school at Crimea, 
Russia. In 1862 he emigrated to the 
United States, and settled in Lafayette 
county, Mo. Having previously prepared 



himself for the ministry, and having done 
considerable church work, he went active- 
ly to preaching on locating in Missouri, 
and continued at it tliere for a period of 
live years, moving, in 1867, to Des Moines, 
Iowa. There he engaged in the drug 
business. Three years later he lost all he 
had by fire, and, moving to Omaha, lie 
became a teacher of languages, giving 
instructions especially in his native 
tongue. He also practiced medicine 
among his countrymen. He moved to 
Buffalo county, this state, in 1871, and 
took a homestead, locating on it and 
retiring at tiiat date from all active pur- 
suits. May 20, 1888, he died, well 
advanced in years, after an active, indus- 
trious and useful life. He was a lifelong 
member of the Lutheran church, ant! a 
man of very charitable impulses. His 
wife, E. L. Osterheil, who survived him, 
is a native of Switzerland, and was born 
June 11, 1837. She received a thorough 
collegiate training when young, finishing 
with a special course in French, tiie 
teaching of which she adopted as a pro- 
fession. She began teaching in her native 
country, but a few years later, 1865, 
came to America, accepting a position as 
private teacher in her brother's family in 
Chicago. She filled this j)Osition till 
1867, marrying April 2, that j'ear. Join- 
ing her life's fortunes with Carl Gotthelf 
Osterheil, she bore him the cherished 
companionship which he sought with her 
hand, accompan3'ing him to the jilace of 
i)is last residence in Buffalo county, tiiis 
state, she being now a resident of the city 
of Kearne}'. Slie is a lady of man}' 
excellent qualities of head and heai't. She 
has only one child, a daughter, Olga Alex- 
andria, now grown and man ied. 




R. H. EATON. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



287 



RICE II. EATON. The personal 
liistory of most men partakes of 
.. a sameness, but the biographer 
finds an inspiration in the story, simple 
and true, of some lives, and the narrative 
charms the reader. Such a career is the 
embodiment of higher and nobler princi- 
ples of human nature, a life ideal because 
unique, an existence whose individuality 
is blended and lost in a natural effort to 
live and die without hope of reward or 
fear of punishment — a life of supreme un- 
seifish^ness. 

Mr. Eaton was born in Eochester, N. Y., 
December 8, 1838, and received a common 
and liigh-school education. His parents 
were Joel and Sarah (Sibley) Eaton, the 
former a native of Vermont, and the lat- 
ter of Massachusetts. By profession and 
training he is a printer and journalist, 
having begun at the "case" and working 
himself up. While yet very young he 
served an apprenticeship in the book and 
job office of William Hughes, of Roches- 
ter, and having learned all the arts of his 
trade, "stick" in hand, he began that 
nomadic life for which devotees of the 
"black art" are famous. But travel to 
his keen, observant mind was more than 
mere pastime. An experience and knowl- 
edge thus acquired have served liim to a 
good purpose in a profession upon which 
his labors have reflected honor and credit. 
The greater part of iiis early professional 
life was spent in the South, where his op- 
poitunities of studying the slave question 
were the best and most satisfactory, but 
his observation was terminated by the fir- 
ing upon Ft. Sumter. Finding himself in a 
country the inhabitants of which held 
opinions on the momentous issue of the 
hour diametrically and uncomfortably op- 



posed to his own, he quietly returned to 
his native state to take up arms in defense 
of his flag. lie enlisted in June. 1802, in 
the Sixth company of the First New York 
sharp shooters, and served in the army 
of the Potomac. He saw considerable ser- 
vice, participating in the battles of Gettys- 
burg, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsyl vania 
and the assault on Petersburg, where 
he was wounded in the left leg, necessita- 
ting his discharge from the service in 186-1, 
when he returned to Rochester. He re- 
sumed his trade, working on the daily 
papers of his native city a short time, 
when he emigrated to Iowa, where he and 
his brother, Webster Eaton, started the 
Fremont Trlhnne, a weekly paper. They 
sold the ]iaper, however, and removed to 
Shelby county, Iowa, where lie founded 
the Shelhy County Record, which he pub- 
lished about one year, when his wife died. 
Soon after this sad event he returned to 
Rochester, N. Y., working on the Demo- 
crat and Chronical till May, 1873, when 
again he set his face westward, locating 
at Kearney, Nebr., where his brother, 
Webster Eaton, had established the Cen- 
tral Nehraslia Press, the first pajier 
printed and published in Kearney. He 
had editorial charge and the general 
management of the Press till he sold it to 
W. 0. Holden in 1879 to accept a position 
in the United States railway mail service, 
which he held till 1883, when he retired. 
Moving to his farm four miles east of 
Kearney he spent five years of a hitherto 
active life in the peaceful quiet of a 
granger. His previous experience had 
not to a remarkable degree fitted him for 
the vocation of a farmer and his career 
as such was accordingl}' not a successful 
one. He afterwards declared that if the 



288 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



cost of production is the standard of value 
of an article, he produced a ver}' high 
grade of farm products. Nature and edu- 
cation had done notliin"' in fittinjj him for 
farm life, so in the fall of 1888 he resumed 
his profession. With Mr. M. A. Brown 
and others he organized tlie Hub Printing 
Company, of which he is the president, 
and in 1889 was appointed postmaster at 
Kearney. 

The marriage of Mr. Eaton took place 
in September, 1864, to Miss Matilda Aiten, 
who was also a native of Rochester, N. 
Y. She died in Harlan, Iowa, in Febru- 
ary, 1871, leaving a son, Joel, the fruit of 
this short but iiappy union. Mr. Eaton 
was next married, in the full of 1872, to 
Miss Jane McMillen, a native of Canada. 

Mr. Eaton is a hard student, and the 
well-used volumes of his library are the 
companions of his leisure moments. He 
is possessed of a very line memor}', and a 
cursor}' glance at the page is all that is 
necessary to reveal to him its contents. 
He is a student of " index learning," but 
the grasp of a fine mind furnishes the de- 
tails. Fond of the writings of the best 
English novelists of the early days he keeps 
posted not only in them, but also on cur- 
rent literature. His literary tastes, per- 
sonal experiences and the originality of a 
mature intellect, have made him a ready, 
versatile, apt writer. As a journalist he 
occupies a front rank. A clear, logical 
reusoner, concise writer and satirist, his 
retirement from the field of journalism is 
to be regretted. He looks upon the bright 
side of life and was the pioneer journalist 
of the mid-West to give this spirit a living 
expression. The graver matter of life he 
tempered with the sunshine of the tender, 
but humorous disposition, and the same 



spirit that has made his writings so popu- 
lar he display's in his private life. 

Loyal to his friends, uncompromising 
itoward his foes, he is a man at once be- 
loved and disliked. But his sword is 
sheathed in the presence of a fallen enemy. 
The poor and oppressed are his friends 
because he is theirs. The earnings of a 
long and busy life have gone to alleviate 
the sufferings and wants of his less fortun- 
ate fellow-men. His big-hearted gener- 
osity is not confined to the extent of his 
purse, for he practices a broader charity 
than mere giving. Sympathy and liber- 
ality of thought, ciiarity for the opinion 
of others, are admirable characteristics of 
the man. In religion no dogmas or 
creeds confine or obscure his unselfish 
acts. He devotes his means and oppor- 
tunities toward making the world better 
for living in it. In public life he is liberal 
and enterprising ; in private he is devoted 
to his family, loyal to his friends, doing 
all the flood he can. 



WILLIAM ELLSWORTH 
SMYTHE was born in Wor- 
cester, Mass., December 24, 
1801. His family, on both sides, had 
resided in New England from the lime of 
its earliest settlement, his first American 
ancestor being Edward Winslow, one of 
the " Mayflower's " passengers and an 
earl}' governor of Plymouth Colony. 
Another ancestor, Thomas Starr, was a 
leader of the famous " Boston Tea Party," 
who first resented the tyranny of Great 
Britain. His paternal grandfather ren- 
dered notable service m the navy during 
the war of 1812. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



2sn 



The father of William E. Smythe, a man 
widely known throughout New England 
as a successful manufacturer and a promi- 
nent figure in the religious and political 
movements of his time, selected journal- 
ism as the profession for his son before 
lie had finished his course in the grammar 
school of Worcester. Consulting his 
friend, the late Delano A. Goddard- — the 
memorable editor of the Boston Daily 
Advertiser — he was advised not to send 
the boy to college, but to "'put his nose 
to the grindstone'; get him a place as 
■ devil' in a country printing office ; hand 
him a copy of James Parton's 'Life of 
Horace Greeley '; tell him to study poli- 
tics and American history, and if he has 
the making of an editor that course will 
develop it." The father's plan had been a 
course at Harvard, but he followed the 
advice of the great Boston journalist. The 
boy became "devil" in the office of the 
Southbridge, Mass., Journal, worked at all 
sorts of hard labor from daylight to dark, 
read history and biography half the night, 
wrote Southbridge letters for the Worces- 
ter Gazeite, Worcester letters for the 
Southbridge Journal, and filled in spare 
moments by repoi'ting sermons and dog 
fights, weddings and funerals, for the 
county weekly on which he was employed, 
all for the munificent stipend of $2.50 per 
week. At the end of his first year's 
apprenticeship he was the proud wearer 
of the title, " assistant editor of the South- 
bi'idcre Journals At the suggestion of 
Mr. Goddard he was appointed local 
reporter for the Mornin<j Gazette of Hav- 
erhill, Mass. At the ?ge of seventeen he 
was made its night editor. After two 
years' of night work his health gave way, 
and he became editor of the Medford, 



Mass., Mercury. At that time he enjoyed 
the distinction of being the youngest pro- 
fessional editor in Massachusetts. He was 
then nineteen. At twenty-one he was the 
editor of the Lynn Saturday Union. In 
the same 3'ear he delivered the Memorial 
day oration at Swampscott, Mass., and 
appeared as a republican stump speaker in 
the Butler-Robinson campaign. In the 
same year also he became editor of the 
Brockton Daily Gazette and staff cor- 
respondent of the Boston IIer<dd. Later 
he gave his whole time to the Herald, 
handling its Old Colony district and its 
political news columns. 

It was at this time that Mr. Smythe 
matle the mistake of abandoning what he 
could do well to attempt what other men 
could do better. Without capital or finan- 
cial backing, he entered upon the business 
of book-publishmg. His first venture was 
an elaborate subscription book, " A His- 
tory of the Labor Movement," edited by 
Geo. E. McNeill, and containing contribu- 
tions by many eminent economists and 
labor leaders. It received wide attention, 
and had a sale of over ten thousand cop- 
ies, but the profits did not equal the large 
cost of its publication and sale. Still per- 
sistent, the young publisher engaged Sen- 
ator Ilenrv W. Blair, of New Hampshire, 
to write " A History of the Temperance 
Movement." About the same time he 
also brought out a novel, " Uncle Tom's 
Tenement," by Alice Wellington Rollins; 
also, "The Statician at Work," by Chas. 
F. Pidgin, and had several other works in 
hand. From fir.st to last the business was 
an unequal struggle, in wiiich ambitif)us 
energy ran a race against financial obliga- 
tion. The end was failure, and on a day 
in October, 1888, William E. Smythe 



faced his creditors and told them he could 
maintain the struggle no longer. He went 
through insolvency, received his discharge 
and came West to begin again. 

The people of Kearney had raised a 
subsidy, in cash and lots, for a daily news- 
paper which should contain the Associ- 
ated Press dispatches and be a paper of 
some metropolitan pretension. H. D- 
Watson accepted the subsidy and ap" 
pointed William E. Smythe to edit. the 
pajier. With him were associated Will 
Hall Poore and Charles S. Brainard, who 
had served with him on the staff of the 
Boston Glohe and Herald. The Kearney 
Enterprise was from its very first issue a 
notable newspaper. It soon took rank 
among the leading newspapers of the 
West, and has always been widely quoted 
throughout the country as an exponent of 
Western opinion. The humor of " G. O. 
West " (Mr. Poore) ran through the press 
of this and foreign countries side b}' side 
with that of the Detroit Free Press, Terre 
Haute Kepress and other newspapers with 
well-known funny columns. The Enter- 
prise has also become a factor in politics, 
and ranks in that respect next to the 
Omaha and Lincoln dailies. Mr. Smythe 
became owner of the Enterprise June 24, 

1889, having L. E. Britton and W. H. 
Poore 'associated with him as partners. 
They sold the plant and property to the 
Kearney Enterprise Company in July. 1890. 

Mr. Smythe has recently accepted the 
position of chief editor, under M. Rose- 
water, of the Omaha Bee, and assumes the 
duties of the new position on October 1, 

1890. This is, perhaps, the most influen- 
tial position that Western journalism has 
to offer, and his friends predict for him a 
career of usefulness and distinction. 



PATRICK WALSH. It is impossi- 
ble to write of the early settlement 
of Buffalo county without making 
frequent and prominent mention of the 
name of Patrick Walsh. The name is 
thorougblv familiar to all of the older set- 
tiers of the county and the public records 
of an earlier date display it upon almost 
every page. Broadly speaking, Mr. Walsh's 
public record constitutes the first chapters 
of the county's history, since the county 
had but little history during the first 
3'ears of its existence as a county organi- 
zation outside of what he made for it or 
was largely instrumental in making. Mr. 
Walsh is an ex-soldier of the United 
States army, and to his connection with 
the army is probably due the fact that he 
became a citizen of Nebraska and a pio- 
neer settler of Buffalo county. This arti- 
cle may begin, therefore, with the state- 
ment that Patrick Walsh, father of the 
town of Shelton and the man who bore 
the chief part in organizing Buffalo county, 
first set foot on Nebraska soil in the 
spring of 1861r, coming hither as a mem- 
ber of Company D, Fifth United States 
volunteer infantry. He enlisted in the 
service in March, 1864, near Alton, III., 
and after a short stay at Fort Leaven- 
worth, Kans., was ordered with his com- 
pany as part of a militar}^ escort to guard 
an overland train from Niobrara, Nebr., 
to Virginia City, Mont., the purpose of 
which expedition was to establish a feasi- 
ble route between these two points to 
accommodate the large immigration then 
making towards the great Northwest. 
The prospect being abandoned on account 
of its impracticability, the expedition 
broke up on the Powder river in south- 
east Montana, and Mr. Walsh's company 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



291 



was ordered to Fort Reno, where it was 
placed on garrison diit\', and lie remained 
there till the summer of 18G6, when he 
was transferred to Fort Kearney, Nebr. 
The term of his enlistment expiring that 
year he decided to settle in the West, and 
in September, 1866, he located on what is 
the present site of the town of Shelton, 
IjLiffalo county. The Union Pacific rail- 
road had just been completed and trains 
were running through the county, but 
there were as yet no permanent settle- 
ments in the count\' be\'ond a few ranches 
scattered along Wood river, and possibl}' 
one or two in the vicinity of Elm creek. 
Prior to ihat, however, there had been a 
stage stand where Shelton now is and a 
soi't of suppl}^ point to accommodate the 
overland travel to Utah and the Pacific 
coast. This was started in 1858 under 
the direction of Bi'igham Young, and it 
was designed especially to facilitate the 
travel of the Mormons in their journey- 
ings to the country they were then fast 
peopling beyond the Rocky mountains. 
Joseph E. Johnston was the chief spirit in 
establishing this " ranch," as it was called. 
The place was known as Wood River 
Center, but with the exception of the 
little store in which were kept the general 
stock of supplies the place never amounted 
to an3'thing more than a camping ground. 
Johnston published a paper there, which 
he called the Iluntsman^s Echo, and 
which it is said was instrumental in at- 
tracting the attention of travelers to that 
locality. But very few, however, who 
came remained. Like him they moved on 
with the great stream of restless fortune- 
seekers towards the setting sun — so that 
at the date Mr. Walsh settled there, 
the country w'as practically uninhabited. 



Good homesteads could be had anywhere. 
Mr. Walsh bought out the right of a man 
named Thomas Tague, who had squatted 
on the northwest quarter of section 1, 
township 9, range 13 west, and on this he 
filed a soldier's homestead claim. He 
located and began his improvements, mov- 
ing onto his homestead his family, which 
then consisted of a wife and five children. 
Others located about the same time, and 
the country gradually began to settle up. 
The county was then known as Buffalo 
count}', but was unorganized, being at- 
tached to Hall county for judicial and 
revenue purposes. Matters moved on 
smoothly under this arrangement till 1870, 
when, being desirous of securing sciiool 
facilities for his and his neighbors' chil- 
dren, Mr. Walsh set about to see what 
could be done in the way of organizing a 
school district. He found, on investiga- 
tion, that it would be about as easy to 
organize a county as a school district, and 
knowing that this would soon follow, on 
account of the rapid increase in popula- 
tion, he decided to effect a county organi- 
zation. Accordingl}', in January, 1870, 
he, in connection with Sergeant Michael 
Coady, then of Fort Kearney, and Martin 
Slattery, sent a petition to Governor 
David Butler, asking for an organization 
of Buffalo county. The petition was 
granted, and in February following Gov- 
ernor Butler issued a proclamation, declar- 
ing the countv organized, and fixing the 
temporary county seat at Wood River 
Center. He appointed Patrick Walsh pro- 
bate judge, Henry Dugdale treasurer, 
Martin Slatter}^ clerk, and John Oliver 
sheriff. The probate judge was vested by 
la w with authority to appoint county com- 
missioners, and he appointed Ed Oliver, of 



292 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Sheltpn ; Thomas K. Wood, of Gibbon, 
and Charles Davis, of Elm Creek. 

Mr. Slattery not being able to act as 
clerk, appointed Mr. Walsh as his deputy, 
and turned over the affairs of his office to 
him. Tliese officers served till the first 
regular election in October, f870, when 
Patrick Walsh was elected probate judge, 
Henry Dugdale treasurer, M. McNamara 
clerk, John Oliver sheriff, and Thomas Iv. 
Wood, William Booth and Charles Davis 
commissioners. 

McNamara, who was elected clerk, 
failed to qualify, and Sergeant Michael 
Coady, of Fort Kearney, although a non- 
resident, was appointed in his place, and 
he appointed Mr. AYalsh as his deputy. 

The treasurer-elect failed to qualify and 
the commissioners appointed Mr. Walsh to 
collect the taxes and ]ierform the other 
duties of the treasurer's office. Mr. Walsh 
resigned his position as deputy clerk, inas- 
much as he could not well hold this office 
in connection with the treasurship, and 
gave his time and attention totheoffice of 
probate judge and treasurer. During the 
time that he acted as deputy clerk, for 
Slattery and Coady, he was by virtue of 
his office as clerk superintendent of ]iublic 
instruction, and discharged the duties of 
this office in connection with his other 
duties. Thebusinessof the county was done 
successively at WoodRiverCenter, Kearney 
Station (now Buda), and Gibbon before 
the permanent county seat was located at 
Ivearney. Mr. Walsh served out his terra 
of office in the positions above mentioned, 
faithfully accounted for every dollar of 
public money that came into his hands, 
and turned over the several records, 
bonds, etc., of which he was custo- 
dian, to his successors, going out with 



clean hands and canying with him 
the good will of all of his fellow-citizens 
for whom he had held trust. The next 
position which he held was that of county 
commissioner. lie was elected to this 
position by the popular vote of the county 
in the fall of 1874. Politics had then 
begun to play some part in the elections, 
and he was chosen on the democratic 
ticket. The chief measure of local inter- 
est on which the election turned was the 
the removal of the county seat, which for 
two years prior to that time had been at 
Gibbon. In order to hold it there perma- 
nently and provide for what seemed to be 
the coming importance of Kearney, a 
movement was set on foot to divide the 
county, running the west line near the 
present western limits of the city of 
Kearney, so as to throw Gibbon as near 
the geographical center as possible. Mr. 
Walsh went on record against this move- 
ment, although the removal of the county 
seat from Gibbon to Kearney meant an 
inconvenience to him and his people, and 
a prospective depreciation of real estate 
values, in which they were naturally much 
interested. But he was willing to forego 
all the advantages that the proximity of 
the county seat might bring rather than 
suffer a division of the county and the 
added cost of two county organiza. 
tions. 

In this he was actuated by the same 
motives that characterized his entire pub- 
lic life. He labored always in the inter- 
est of economy, discouraging the people 
in putting inflated values on their prop- 
erty, and advising them to keep out of 
debt. His vote among the records will 
be found in keeping with his advice in 
this respect. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



203 



But while Mr. "Walsh labored faithfully 
in belial f of the county at large, he was none 
tiie less active in the interest of his own 
locality. In 1874, when the population be- 
came large enough, and the public conven- 
ience demanded it, he secured a ])ost(jffice 
with all necessary mail facilities for Wood 
lliver Center, he himself being the first 
postipaster, holding the office till 1879. 
He now relates the fact with character- 
istic humor that he served the govern- 
ment faithfully the first year for $12 50, 
with a gradual rise each succeeding year, 
but that when the office got to be worth 
a little something, he was conveniently 
set aside for another whose political 
views better suited the administration 
than did his. But this was no embarrass- 
ment to liim. He served the government 
as a matter of convenience to his people, 
and not for the money there was in the 
office. And here it may be as well to 
correct a mistake which lias gone into 
print respecting the way the name of 
Wood River Center came to be changed 
to that of Shelton. The statement has 
been made that Mr. Walsh took it into 
his head to change the name of the post- 
office, did so, and then wrote the post- 
master general to take notice and govern 
himself accordingly. Mr. Walsh has all 
the Irish wit tiiat it would take to prompt 
such an action, but at the same time lie 
has the good sense to see the impropriety 
of it, and, as a matter of fact, he never 
tlid it. He was greatly annoyed in 
handling the mails, as was also the trav- 
eling and shipping public, on account of 
the frequent confusion of the names of 
Wood lliver Center, Buffalo county, 
with AVood lliver, Hall county, and in 
conversation one day with S. H. H. Clark, 



superintendent of the Union Pacific rail- 
road, he mentioned this trouble, and 
suggested the advisability of a change of 
name. Mr. Clark agreed with him, and, 
subsequently, had the name of the railway 
station changed to that of Shelton in 
honor of the cashier of the road, Nathan 
Shelton. When this was done, Mr. Walsh 
wrote to the postoffice department at 
Washington, advising them of this change 
and suggesting that the name of the post- 
office be changed also, which \vas done, 
and the place has since borne the name of 
Shelton. 

In 1876 the town of Shelton first pro]v 
erl}' came into existence. It was laid off 
by Mr. Walsh, he surveying and platting 
for that purpose forty acres of his origi- 
nal homestead. The lots were sold off as 
rapidl}' as demanded for building pur- 
poses, and the town started on its career 
of prosperity. It has never had a boom, 
but has always enjoyed a good steady 
growth, and is now in point of size and 
commercial importance the second town 
in the county, having a population of 
about a thousand. The finst building of 
anv consequence put up in the town was 
the " Cottage House," erected by Delbert 
Livingston, and is still standing and is 
occupied as a hotel. The town now 
boasts a number of handsome brick busi- 
ness blocks, and some as neat and tasty 
residences as can be found in towns hav- 
ing twice the population that Shelton has. 
In the welfare of the town, in its govern- 
ment, enterprises and interests Mr. Walsh 
has always taken an active part, doing 
more than his share of the work, and 
bearing more than his part of the e.\pense 
of every undertaking set on foot for the ben- 
efit of his town and vicinitv. He assisted 



294 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



in the organization of tlie first town gov- 
ernment, and he has served two terms in 
the town council, and later he served two 
terms as clerk of the town board. To 
his town Mr. Walsh has given the same 
advice he gave in earlier years to the 
county — that is, to avoid booms and keep 
out of debt — to grow and develop, get 
rich, if possible, in actual wealth, but to 
keep down valuations. Mr. Walsh owns 
considerable real estate in the vicinity of 
Shelton, retaining all of his original home- 
stead except about twenty-five acres cov- 
ered by tiie town site. He has, therefore, 
been particularly interested in public 
enterprises of a general nature and has 
been foremost in encouraging anything of 
this nature. Before the town was laid 
out, he advertised that he would grant the 
right of flowage on certain conditions as 
to toll and damage done by back water to 
any responsible parties who would erect a 
mill on Wood river on his place, and this 
offer was accepted by Jason K. and Ira P. 
George, with the result of a good mill, 
which has been worth thousands of dol- 
lars to the people of that communit}'. 

In short, as stated at the outset of this 
article, on every page of the early records 
of Buffalo county, and at every stage, 
especially in the development of his own 
locality, the searcher after historical 
information finds the name and evidences 
of the wisdom, activity and liberality of 
Patrick Walsh, and it is but simple justice 
to him to say that his long labors have 
met with the success deserved, and have 
elicited from his fellow-citizens the grati- 
tude which is his due. He reckons his 
friends by the hundreds in and out of the 
county, and many of them are men of the 
highest official and social positions. 



Mr. Walsh has been as happy in his 
domestic relations as he has been fortu- 
nate in business and successful in his public 
career. He was married while a resident 
of Hlinois, prior to his enlisting in the 
arm}' — the lady whom he ^elected to 
share his life's fortunes being Miss Attie 
Welch, a native of Ireland. This union 
has been blessed with a family of nine 
children, as follows — James P., Mar^^ 
John T., Maggie, Patrick J., Anna A., 
Ella E., William E. and Eose. Most of 
them are now grown, some of them are 
married, settled off in life, and are now 
doing for themselves. The limits set to 
this sketch will not permit us making fur- 
ther mention of them. One, however, by 
reason of the fact that he bears his father's 
name and will thus perpetuate in his name 
the memory of Buffalo county's oldest and 
most honored citizen, and by reason of 
the further fact that he is the first child 
born m the town of Shelton, and has 
thereby become a subject of historic 
importance in the territory covered by 
this volume, may be appropriately referred 
to at a little length to round out this 
article. That one is Patrick J., now the 
efficient telegraph operator at the Union 
Pacific depot at Kearney. He was born 
at the old homestead on the banks of 
Wood river, in what is now the corporate 
limits of Shelton, on August 8, 1867. He 
was reared in his native place and received 
a good common and high-school education 
in the Shelton schools. Learning teleg- 
raphy while still in school, studying at 
night, on Saturdays,- and at odd times, he 
began work for the Union Pacific as assist- 
ant agent and operator at Shelton in 18SC, 
and has been in their employ since, serving 
them as bill clerk, nigiit and day operator, 




W, W. PATTERSON. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



297 



on relief and regular service and in sev- 
eral localities. Januar}', 1SS9, he was 
given tlie position of day operator at 
Kearney, which he has since occupied, 
and the duties of wiiich he discharges 
with credit to himself and satisfaction to 
the company. " Pat," as he is best known 
and familiarly called, is a worthy son of a 
worthy sire, and his career, so far as he 
has gone, has been distinguished by the 
same good sense, patient industry and 
sterling integi'ity, tem])ered with the same 
good will, genial disposition and self-sacri- 
licing nature that has characterized his 
father in all his relations — political, busi- 
ness and social. 



WILLIAM WALLACE PAT- 
TERSOlSr was born at War- 
saw, Wyoming county, N. Y., 
on the eleventli day of February, 1S3L He 
is the son of the late "William Patterson 
of Warsaw (who died in 1888 while mem- 
ber of congress fi'om the old Genesee dis- 
trict) and Lucinda Greeg, both natives of 
New Hampshire. Mr. Patterson was 
seven years okl when his father died — 
Mrs. Patterson surviving her husband but 
two week — sthus leaving him an orphan in 
early life. He went to reside with his 
uncle. Judge Peter Patterson, in Perry, 
Wyoming county, where he remained for 
five years attending the common school. 
He then entered the Genesee Wesle^'an 
seminary, at Lima, N. Y. Continuing 
there about two years, he was invited 
to become a member of the family of his 
guardian and uncle, ex-Gov. Geo. "W. 
Patterson, of Westfield, N. Y. He there 
attended the academy until he was fifteen 



years old, when he entered the academy 
at Wyoming, N. Y., where he remained 
until prepared to enter college. Conclud- 
ing not to enter college, he was employed 
by his 'cousin, Hon. Augustus Frank, of 
Warsaw, N. Y., in his dry goods store, 
where he remained for several years. 
While in the employ of Mr. Frank, the 
Sixty-first regiment. New York State 
troops, was organized. Mr. Patterson re- 
ceived the appointment of quarter-mas- 
ter, wa-s afterward promoted to major, 
and by the resignation of the colonel and 
lieutenant-colonel became commander in 
1855. Having a natural taste for military 
affairs, he made himself proficient in the 
different arms of tlie service, beinjr for 
nearly five years under the instruction of 
Major Wright, afterward General Wright, 
who commanded the Gth corps during the 
war. He was tluis prepared when the 
war of the rebellion commenced for 
effective service in the army. 

Mr. Patterson moved to Minnesota in 
the spring of 1856, locating at Minneapo- 
lis, then a small village. Having been in- 
structed in practical engineering by Major 
Wright, he at once saw the grand possibili- 
ties of the water-power at that point 
for manufacturing purposes. J^e so ex- 
pressed himself to the people of that city, 
a large proportion of whom considered 
him wild and visionary. He eno-atred in 
the real estate business, but the financial 
crisis of 1857 so oppressed all manner of 
business that very little could be done in 
that line until after the war. When the 
war of the rebellion commenced Mr. 
Patterson assisted in raising the Second 
Minnesota regiment, but promises made to 
him not being fullilled, he enlisted in the 
Twelfth U. S. infantry, under Capt. H. It. 



298 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Putnam, althoug-h being offered a cap- 
taincy in the regular arni}' by Hon. Wm. 
H. Seward, the old friend of his boj^hood. 
He joined his regiment at Ft' Hamilton 
New York harbor, when it was being or. 
ganized. His knowledge of military mat- 
ters was soon ascertained, when he was 
appointed the first and ranking sergeant of 
the regiment, and was soon promoted 
to second-lieutenant of Captain Putnam's 
company. 

The battle of Gettysburg, where he was 
wounded by a piece of shell in the knee 
and by a saber through the arm, made him 
a first lieutenant. General E. B. Ayres 
who commanded the division placed him 
upon his staff with the rank of captain. 
Gen. Sykes soon after appointed him com- 
mander of all the pioneers of the Fifth corps, 
with brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel. 
He held this command until Grant's cam- 
paign in the Wilderness commenced, when 
on the first dav's fisht he was so severelv 
injured in the ankle, that he was incapac- 
itated for further military service. He 
was sent in an ambulance to Brundy sta- 
tion and from there by rail to Washington, 
when, after a confinement for six weeks, he 
resigned his command in the regular ai-my 
and returned to his home in Minneapolis, 
Minn. For nearly a year he was too un- 
well for active business, but the next 
spring he entered the real estate firm of 
McFarlam. Burd & Co., as a junior 
partner. He remained there two years, 
when, his health failing, he withdrew 
from the firm and retired to his farm in 
Wright county. The next fall he was 
nominated for member of the legislature 
by the republicans of the Fifth district, 
and the democratic candidate withdraw- 
ing from the canvass, and advising the 



democrats to vote for Mr. Patterson, he 
was elected. He attended the legislative 
session oi 1868 and 1869, when he returned 
to Minneapolis and commenced the sale of 
real estate once more. He compiled and 
issued thirty-thousand circulars, which 
were sent all over the Union, advertising 
the great advantages of Minneapolis as a 
manufacturing city. These circulars made 
Minneapolis known. People began com- 
ing from the East, and in two years' time 
Minneapolis began crowding St. Paul for 
supremacy. Then the rivalry between 
these two young giants commenced and 
the future of both wa.? secured. The en- 
suing fall, Mr. Patterson's health became 
so impaired by overwork, and the result of 
injuries received in the army, that his 
physician advised him to seek a milder 
climate. He moved to Corning. Iowa, and 
that winter, in the interest of the C. B. & 
Q. railway, he started the city of Creston, 
a division station upon that road, selling 
the lots, not only in Creston but in several 
other towns. The next year he came to 
Nebraska in the interest of the same com- 
pany, laid out Lowell a few miles east of 
Fort Kearney, and also selecting the site 
for the present city of Kearney. Observ- 
ing the vast amount of water running in 
the Platte river, he ran the levels up the 
river and determined the fact that here 
could be built up another Minneipolis. This 
was the beginning of the great canal and 
water-power that has since made Kearney 
so famous as a manufacturing point. 

Mr. Patterson married, August 29, 1872, 
Miss Pattie M. Giddings, of Lincoln, Nebr. 
They have seven children, four girls and 
three sons. The girls are AVenona, Lois 
L., Houri and Mary A. The sons are 
Wm. A. and Alfred W. twins, and 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



299 



McClellan Custer, the last being named 
for the Coloners two favorite generals. 
One son, Burd, died in infancy. Mr. Pat- 
terson has recently |5urchased, in connec- 
tion witli Mr. Britton of the Kearney En- 
terprise, six thousand acres of land in the 
famous Vermaho Park, in the Maxwell 
land grant in northern New Mexico, 
where lie proposes to lay out and build up 
another city, provided his life and healtii 
are spared for a few years. He expects to 
make the citj' of Vermaho the future 
home of himself and family. 



JF. DANIELS, known to the citizens 
of Kearney, where he resides and 
does business, as " Daniels, the Jew- 
eler," is an lowan by birth, a native 
of Muscatine, where he was not only born 
but reared and where he also learned the 
business, the name of which has almost 
become part of his own. His parents 
were for many years residents of Iowa, 
moving to Muscatine from St. Louis, Mo., 
some time early in the "fifties." The 
father, Julius Daniels, was a native of 
London, England, came to America about 
1835 when a 3'oung man, and after drift 
ing about through a number of the east- 
ern states settled in St. Louis, where he 
met and married Laura J. Mahan, a 
native of that place and who afterwards 
bore him a wifely companionship till his 
death, which occurred in 1884 while in the 
sixty -seventh year of his age. The mother 
is still living. Of the children of this 
union the subject of this notice is the 
fourth in point of age, and the only repre- 
sentative of the familv in this state. The 



eldest brother, James, is a journe3'raan 
printer, and, like the majority of his craft, 
a citizen of the world ; George H. is a 
jeweler, of Creston, Iowa; Lucy, the 
only daughter, remains with her mother 
at Creston, Iowa ; Emanuel is a clerk 
at Creston, Iowa, and Randolph is a 
stenographer in the employ of the Mis- 
souri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, 
at Sedalia, Missouri. 

The subject of this brief notice resided 
in his native place till after he had mas- 
tered his trade, and then, in 1878, went 
to Creston, Iowa, where he was employed 
b\^ his brother George II. in the jewelry 
business, and remained there for two 
years. In 1880 he struck for the further 
West, coming to Kearney. lie was then 
single and working as a journeyman. He 
sought employment with J. D. Hawthorne 
and remained with him about a year and 
a half. Returning to Iowa, he settled at 
Council Bluffs and formed a partnei'ship 
with M. J. Michaels and engaged in busi- 
ness in that ])lace for another year and a 
lialf as Michaels ct Daniels. Going again 
to Creston, he remained there two years, 
marrying in the meantime, and finally in 
1886 came back to Kearne}', engaged in 
business and has since remained here. 
The exact date of Mr. Daniel's marriage 
was October 16, 1884, and the lady wliom 
he selected as a companion was Miss Jessie 
F. Battey, a daughter of S. W. Battey, 
then of Creston, Iowa, now of Hoxie, 
Kans. 

Kearney is a distinctively young man's 
town. The pluck, energy and superb 
business ability which have rendered it 
famous throughout the country as the 
great Midway Cit}' have been furnished 
mainly by the young men who have 



300 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



sought homes and fortune within its 
limits. Of these no one is more worthy 
of mention tlian J. F. Daniels. A thor- 
oughly competent workman, a man of 
untiring industry, with an abundance of 
practical business sagacity, liberal in 
spirit and possessing that absolute confi- 
dence in the destin}' of "the future 
Great" which all citizens of the Midway 
City hold in common, he has labored long 
and earnestly, late and early, freely and 
effectuality in behalf of the home of his 
adoption, seeking its best interest by 
rationally attending to his own. 



>^"|'^ONY CORNELIUS. The subject 
I of this sketch is known every- 

1 where as " ' Tony ' Cornelius, 

the champion hose-coupler of the world." 
He is a son of Casper Cornelius, who was 
born in Westphalia, Prussia, November 
2, 1822, immigrating to America in 1847, 
and settling in Platteville, Grant county. 
Wis. He then came to Kearney, this 
state, in 1878, and died here August 26, 
188i. He was a miner in Germany and 
for many yenvs a prominent and success- 
ful business man of Kearney — an industri- 
ous, useful citizen, a zealous member of 
the Catholic church, and a liberal contrib- 
utor to charity'. In politics he was a 
democrat and took an active part in the 
workings of his part}'. 

The subject of this biographical notice 
was born in Platteville, Grant county, 
Wis., January' 2, 1866. He received a 
good common-school education and began 
life for himself at the age of fifteen. He 
has followed various callings. At present 



he is engaged in the liquor business in 
Kearney, Nebr. 

October 26, 1881:, he married Miss Ida 
Reynolds. One child has been born to 
this union, a daughter, Gladvs. 

Mr. Cornelius is known everywhere 
throughout the country as the champion 
hose-coupler of the world. He has taken 
several prizes, never having been beaten 
at a tournament. He is a public-spirited 
citizen, and gives the city of his adoption 
not only the benefit of his best efforts as 
a fireman, but yields to it a fair share of 
the man}'^ honors he wins abroad in his 
contests. 



JACOB MILLER is a representative 
farmer of Platte township, Buffalo 
county. He settled on his present 
homestead in March, 1878. his claim 
being part of the Fort Kearney military 
reservation, which was thrown open to 
settlement about that date. Mr. Miller 
came to Nebraska from Preston county, 
W. Va., but is a native of New York City. 
He is of French extraction, his parents 
both being natives of the town of Straus- 
burg. His father, George Miller, came to 
America after his marriage and settled 
first in New York City and afterwards in 
Preston county, W. Va. He died in the 
latter place in 1852 in his fortieth year. 
He was an engineer, an industrious, hard 
working man, of studious habits and 
very strong domestic tastes. Mr. Miller's 
mother, whose maiden name was Margaret 
Long, survived her husband many years, 
dying also in Preston county, W. Va., in 
August, 1872, aged seventy -two. These 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



301 



were the parents of three children, all of 
whom reached maturit}' and are now liv- 
ing. The eldest of these, Margaret, now 
wife of John Nine, and the youngest, 
George, both live in Preston county, W. 
Va. The second is the subject of this 
sketch, who was born in New York, March 
9, 1839, and was quite a lad when his par- 
ents moved to West Virginia. He was 
apprenticed to the shoemaker's trade, 
learned it, and followed it till the war 
came on. He enlisted in the Union army 
in May, 1861, entering Company D, Sixth 
West Yirgmia cavalry, which regiment 
first formed the Third West Virginia 
infantry and was afterwards mounted. 
His company was commanded by Capt. 
A. J. Squires and was mustered into 
service at Newburg, Va., June 28, 1861. 
Ilis regiment served with the Army 
of tlie Potomac and took part in the fol- 
lowing engagements: Sliaw's ridge, bat- 
tle of McDowell, Franklin, Cross Keys, 
Cedar mountain, Rappahannock station, 
Waterloo Bridge, Sulphur Springs, second 
Bull Run, Warm Springs, Rocky gap. 
Mill Point, Di'oop mountains and other 
smaller ones. He was captured near New 
Creek, W. Va., in September, 1863, and 
was released on parole in February, 3 864. 
During part of this time he was held at 
"Libby." When the war was over he 
continued in the regular service for more 
than a 3'ear, being on the frontier in the 
Indian service, ranging the plains and 
Rocky mountains, mostl}'^ along the stage 
lines. lie was mustered out May 22, 1866, 
at Ft. Leavenworth, and returned to his old 
home in West Virginia, where he lived till 
coming to Nebraska in 1878. 

Mr. Miller has been twice married. lie 
married first in December, 1868, his wife 



being Miss Mary Shaw, a daughter of 
Thomas A. Shaw, of Preston county, W. 
Va. To this union were born three chil- 
dren — William W., Marshall McCurdy 
and Thomas Clark, the last now deceased. 
Mr. Miller married the second time De- 
cember 24, 1876 — the lad^' on whom his 
choice fell being Miss Helen Louisa Par- 
sons, a daughter of James William and 
Catherine Parsons, of Tucker county, W. 
Va. Mrs. Miller is a native of Tucker 
county, as were also her parents. Iler 
father is still living there ; her mother 
died in 1856, aged forty-eight. Mrs. Mil- 
ler is one of a family of eight children who 
reached maturity, namely — Jane Rebecca, 
Samson Ellion, Hannah, Agnes, Ann 
Melissa, Helen Louisa (Mrs. Miller), Diana 
Elizabeth and Solomon John. 

Being a public spirited citizen as well as 
a man of good business qualifications, Mr. 
Miller has naturally- been called upon to 
fill some offices in connection with the ad- 
ministration of the public affairs of his 
township. He has been moderator of his 
school district, road supervisor, and is now 
serving as township supervisor. In poli- 
tics he is a republican. He cast his first 
presidential vote for the Bell-Everett 
ticket, but soon afterwards, affiliating with 
the republican party, he has voted that 
ticket since. Mr. Miller is an intelligent, 
liberal-minded, progressive citizen, and 
well esteemed by his neighbers. 



MAURICE O. KESLER (de- 
ceased). One of the first men 
to take a homestead on the 
Fort Kearne}' reservation after it was 
thrown open to settlement was Maurice 



302 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



O. Kesler, wlio settled in 1879 on Elm 
Island, in what is now Platte township, 
Buffalo county. Bu3'ing a relinquish- 
ment at that date on the northeast quar- 
ter of section 3, township 8, range 13 
west, on which he filed a soldier's home- 
stead claim, made his improvement, and 
there lived till iiis deatli. Mr. Kesler was 
a Pennsylvanian by birth, and came di- 
rect from his native state to Nebraska. 
He was born in Union county, and came 
of old Pennsylvania stock,^ originally of 
German extraction. Hif father, William 
Kesler, who was a tanner, and his 
mother, Mary Swartz, lived and died in 
their native state, and were plain, 
industrious, useful citizens. 

Maurice 0. Kesler was tlie j^oungest of 
a family of five children, all of whom 
reached maturity and all of whom except 
himself, are living. These are — Ellen 
J., now widow of Hugh McCuUough, of 
"VVilkesbarre; Lewis, of Warren, Jo 
Daviess county, HI.; Joseph, of New Ber- 
lin, Union county, Pa.; Agnes M., wife of 
William Loughridge, of Cass county, 
Nebr., and Maurice O., the subject of 
this notice. 

Maurice O. Kesler was born in New 
Berlin, Union county, Pa., December 18, 
1840, was reared in his native place and 
began the active duties of life as a boat- 
man on the Pennsylvania canal. He 
was so engaged in 1SG2, when he entered 
the Union army, enlisting on July 31 of 
that year in Company F, One Hundred 
and Fourteenth Penns3'lvania infantry, 
being a member of the "Collis Zouaves." 
He served with the Army of the Potomac 
and was in all the principal engagements 
in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, 
in which that army participated. Most 



of the time he was under " fiffhtinjj Joe 
Hooker," and his regiment bore its full 
share in winning for its general that 
honorable soubriquet. At Chancellors- 
ville, Mr. Kesler was wounded by a shot 
in the heel, from which he was disabled 
from service for some time. He was dis- 
charged May 29, 1865, at Arlington, Va. 
Returning to his native place he re- 
sumed his position as a boatman on the 
canal and continued at this till 1878, when 
he moved West and settled first in Hall 
county, and afterwards in Buffalo county, 
this state. He was engaged in the active 
pursuit of agriculture from that time on 
till his death, being also prominently 
identified with the best interests of his 
township and vicinity. He was assessor 
of Platte township for five years, treas- 
urer three years, and on the school board 
of his district for several years, and was a 
public-spirited, progressive citizen and 
discharged his duties as an official, citizen 
and neighbor with zeal and fidelit}'. He 
died March 27, 1889, surrounded by his 
family and friends — a genuine loss to his 
community and a sad bereavement to his 
family. In personal appearance Mr. Kes- 
ler was prepossessing, being nearly five 
feet and a half in height, of dark com- 
plexion, having keen black eyes and a 
large, well developed head, which was 
covered with a profusion of jet black hair, 
inclined to curl, and an open, frank face, 
square jaw and thin lips, indicative of 
energy, firmness and strong individuality 
of character. He was a man of great 
kindness of heart and warmly attached to 
his family, lived chiefly for them, and at 
his death left them well provided for. 
The surviving members of this family are 
ti widow and six children, of whom some 



B UFFA L CO UNTY. 



303 



of the latter are vergins: on to manhood 
and womanhood. 

Mrs. Kesler, who bore the maiden name 
of Mar}' J. Weaver, daughter of Henry 
and Catherine Weaver, is a native of Ly- 
coming county, Pa., and comes, lilce her 
husband, of old Pennsylvania stock. Her 
parents lived always in Lycoming county, 
being plain, substantial, well-to-do people 
of that county. Her father died there 
October 28, 1876, in his fifty-seventh year, 
having been born February 19, 1819 ; her 
mother died February 9, 1889, in her sixty- 
ninth year, having been born May 17, 
1820. Besides herself there were six other 
children in the family to which Mrs Kes- 
ler belonged, the full list being — Charles 
B., Mary J. (Mrs. Kesler), Jacob W., Sarah 
E., John B., Maggie A. and Harry L. 
Most of these reside in their native county 
of Lycoming, in Pa. Mrs. Kesler and her 
brother, Jacob W. (who is a resident of 
Shelton, Buffalo county), being the only 
representatives of the family in this state. 
With her six children — Harry W., Annie 
H., Kate W., Sadie S., Eodney J. and 
Maggie A., Mrs. Kesler continues to 
reside on the old home-place, which she 
manages and which gives every evidence 
of the industry, order and thrift that pre- 
vail there. She has one of the hand- 
somest residences in the township and 
within its walls friends and strangers are 
alike welcome. 



BEXJAMIN ASHTON, of Platte 
township, Buffalo county, is a 
comparatively old settler of his 
localit}', a successful farmer and an old 
soldier of honorable distinction. He is a 



native of Bucks county, Pa., born in 
1848, and comes of old Pennsylvania stock. 
His father, Samuel Ashton, lived most of 
his life in the Keystone State, being a 
farmer and leading tlie active, industrious 
and useful life common to his calling up 
to his death, which occurred in the fall of 
1862, when he had attained the sixty-sixth 
year of his age. Mr. Ashton's mother 
bore the maiden name of Matilda Bryan. 
Ten children were born to these, only three 
of whom are now living — John, residing 
in St. Louis; Benjamin, our subject, and 
William H., in L3'coming county, Pa. 
Benjamm Asliton grew up on his father's 
farm and received the training common to 
his years and calling. He entered the 
Union army in May, 1862, enlisting in 
Company E, Fourteenth United States 
infantry, his regiment being assigned to 
the Fifth corps, Army of the Potomac. He 
was in the campaigns and engagements 
participated in by that army from the 
second Bull Run to Gett3'sburg, at which 
latter place he was disabled by a gun-shot 
wound in the left shoulder and compelled 
to retire from active field service. He 
continued on duty, however, being placed 
in the I'ecruitins: service and servine; out 
his term of enlistment, being mustered 
out Ma}' 8, 1865. Settling down in Ly- 
coming county after the close of the war 
he married and devoted himself to agri- 
cultural pursuits till 1878, when, seeing a 
family growing up around him and being 
desirous of getting into a new country 
where the opportunities were better for 
giving them a start in the world, he de- 
cided to move West, and accordingly, in 
October of that year, he came to Ne- 
braska and settled on Elm Island in Platte 
township, Buffalo county, where he now 



304 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



lives, taking a soldier's homestead of one 
hundred and fifty-four acres. He has 
been steadily engaged in farming and 
stock-raising since that time, and, having 
added other land by purchase, he now 
owns two hundred and thirty-four acres 
well stocketl and well improved. 

Mr. Ashton married, May 13, 1867, 
Miss Susan Siglin, a daughter of Frede- 
rick and Susan Siglin, natives of Monroe 
county, Pa., where also Mr. Ashton was 
born and reared. Her father died there, 
but her mother continues to reside there 
Mr. and Mrs. Ashton have had born to 
them a family of eleven children, only 
four of whom, however, are now iivmg, 
the full list being— Walter, Matilda (de- 
ceased), Mabel (deceased), William (de- 
ceased), twins who died j^oung, Samuel, 
Edgar P. and Flossie. 

Mr. Ashton has filled t! e usual number 
of local offices, having been treasurer of 
his school district, justice of the peace of 
his township, township clerk, and moder- 
ator of his school board. Mr. Ashton is 
a pleasant gentleman, kind and accom- 
modating, and to his home and family 
devotedly attached. 



JL. PARROTTE. Tiiere are many 
men in Kearne}' who have lived 
here longer than the subject of this 
sketch ; there are many who have 
figured more conspicuously in public life ; 
many who have made more money ; but 
there are not man)' who have attained 
better success — who have achieved more 
solid results, in accordance with their 
means and opportunities, than he has, and 
who in so doing have better illustrated 



those sterling qualities of the successful 
business man : intelligence, industry, pei'- 
severence and upright, honorable dealing, 
on which all true and lasting success must 
be based. This sketch is not written 
to commemorate any special personal 
achievements of the subject ; it is not writ- 
ten to flatter any supposed vanity he may 
have touching his record ; it is simply 
written to place him in the category of 
Kearne3''s representative business men 
where he properly belongs, and to teach in 
cidentally, as all such biographies must, the 
great value of self-help and the indispensa- 
ble necessity of personal character in busi- 
ness as in all' other things. Whatever of 
character Mr. Parrotte has established, 
like that of all others, has been the result 
of growth and development, he being in- 
debted for the germs of it to heredity. 
" The child is father to the man." Fortu- 
nately he conies of stock noted for their 
strong qualities, fi.xed habits and settled 
convictions. He is of Welch, French and 
English extraction, French and Welch on 
his father's side, and English on his 
mother's. To his father's line he is in- 
debted for his chief characteristics. ()n 
that side he is of Huguenot stock. The 
name indicates the nationality, family 
tradition, and the history of the church 
settled the question of faith. There is a 
marked similarity between the name Par- 
rotte and those of Garrotte and Tourette, 
names of honorable distinction among 
many of greater luster in French Protest- 
antism, such as LeFever, DuBois, LaFount- 
aine and others. It is not known when 
his first ancestors immigrated to this 
country or exactly where they settled. 
But inasmuch as the family has been 
traced back to Maryland, it is believed that 




J. L. PARROTTE. 



B UFFA L CO UN TV. 



307 



l)is lirst ancestors on American soil came 
witli the large tide of Huguenot immigra- 
tion which poured into this country by 
way of Ilolhind after the revocation of 
tiie edict of Nantes and settled in Mary- 
land, A'irginia and the Carolinas. His 
father, Josiah Parrotte, was a native of 
Maryland, born in the year 1800. He 
emigrated when a young man to Tennes- 
see and Kentucky, and thence to Illinois, 
and settled in 1825 at Rushville, then the 
tiiird town in size and commercial import- 
ance in the state. He was an honored 
citizen of that place for more than a half- 
century. He was a merchant of large 
means and extensive interests, owning at 
one time as many as six stores in Tennes- 
see and Kentucky. He also had consid- 
erable I'arming interests, and altogether 
led an active, energetic and unusually 
successful life. He died in 1S82. He was 
a type of his I'ace, modified by local sur- 
roundings. The persevering industry and 
careful husbanding of resources that made 
the wild lands and waste places where the 
French Huguenots settled in this country 
•• blossom as the rose," characterized, 
though in a different direction, all his life, 
and made a success of all his undertakings. 
He had the same love of home, the same 
conception of men's duties to one another, 
the same attachment to country and the 
same devout recognition of his Creator. 
He believed in the freest liberty of con- 
science, the largest independence of 
thought and action consistent with public 
good. He bore arms in the public defense 
during the early Indian and Mormon 
troubles in Illinois. J>ut he never aspired 
to office, lie had a proper appreciation 
for the lighter pleasures of life, and it is 
an admirable tribute to the qualities of 



his head and heart that his declining 
\'ears were solacetl with those genuine 
friendships anil gai'nished with those 
ardent home-loves which should and do 
come to all who live uprighlly, who main- 
tain an abiding faith in their kind and 
who preserve tlie evenness of their temper 
to a serene old age. 

J. L. Parrotte's mother bore the maiden 
name of Katherine A. Sci-ipps. She was 
a daughter of George Scripps, and was 
boi-n in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Her father 
was a pioneer of Missouri from England, 
moving to Cape Girardeau in the early 
Indian days. He afterward moved to and 
settled at Kushville, 111., where his daughter 
met and was married to Josiah Parrotte. 
She bore him twelve children, the suliject 
of this sketch being next to the oldest 
son. She is still living and enjoys all her 
mental faculties. She is a devoted mother, 
and noted and beloved for her charity to 
the poor and afflicted. 

One fact further in Mr. Parrotte's 
ancestral history is noteworthy : Both 
branches of his family had their origin in 
this country in the South, and left that sec- 
tion on account of slavery. His father and 
maternal grandfather were both slave- 
owners, actual and prospective. Yet such 
were their instinctive feelings of justice 
and their strong sense of personal liberty 
that they gave up all benefits they were 
entitled to under the institution, and rather 
than stay where they would be anno\'ed 
by its iniquities sought the far West. 

J. L. Parrotte was born in Rushville, 
111., in November, 1844, and was reared 
and educated there. He was brought up 
to mercantile pursuits mainly. He enlisted 
in the Union armv in May, 1864, as a 
member of Company K, One Hundred and 



r^ns 



B UFFA L n CO VNTY. 



Thirty-seventh Illinois volunteer infantry, 
and served in the Army of the Tennessee 
under Gen. A. J. Smith. He was commis- 
ary sergeant and was in the service till 
the general surrender. He married, De- 
cember 12, 1S66, Mary L., daugliter of 
Dr. K. M. Worthington, a native of Ken- 
tucky who left that state on account of 
slavery and moved into the Hlinois terri- 
tory at an early date. Mrs. Parrotte was 
born and reared in Rushville, and is a de- 
scendent of President James Madison on 
the paternal side. Mr.Pjirrotte was engaged 
in business in Rushville from the close of 
the war till 1882, when, on account of a 
failure of health, he moved to New 
Mexico, near Las Vegas, residing there 
some time, coming thence in 1883 to 
Nebraska and locating in Kearney on the 
I? 1st da}' of July, that year. He was 
engaged for two years with Andrews & 
Grable in the law and collecting business. 
A stock company was then formed, of 
which he became a member, and he went 
into the hardware business, following this 
two years. Kearney having started on its 
career of prosperity in the meantime and 
the rise in real estate values having made 
the handling of real estate profitable, he 
embarked in that business. From his own 
investments and sales and exchanges made 
for others, he made considerable money. 
He is still interested in this line, but does 
not handle the volume of business he form- 
erly did, owing to the increase of his other 
business. In April, 1889, he, with others, 
organized the Midway Loan and Trust 
Company of Kearne}', with a capital stock 
of $100,000. He assisted also in the organ- 
izing of the Kearney Savings Bank, which 
was started in April, 1889, with a capital of 
$100,000, being organized under the state 



banking laws. He is assistant cashier and 
director of the savings bank, a member 
of the exchange committee of the Midway 
Loan and Trust Company, and also a 
director and a stock-hokler in the Buffalo 
County National Bank, member of the 
board of directors and secretary of the 
board. He is also secretary and treasurer 
of the National Building and Loan Asso- 
ciation, which has its home office at Min- 
neapolis, Minn., and a branch office at 
Kearney. These institutions are among 
the heaviest of the kind in Kearney and 
are doing a large part of the legitimate 
banking and loan business of the city, of 
Buffalo county and of central Nebraska. 
They have good financial backing and are 
in tlie hands of men who are distinguished 
for their discriminating judgment, conserv- 
ative business methods and unyielding 
integrity. 

Mr. Parrotte's rise to the jjosition he 
occupies with reference to the Inisiness 
interests of Kearney has been rapid and 
deserved. It has not come by accident 
nor by the aid of others. It is due to his 
own personal effoi'ts. Fortunate by cir- 
cumstances, he has been blessed with the 
insight to see and the energy to act. Ilis 
success has not been ]ihenomenal, but it 
been exceptional. It is deserving of this 
special reogonition by reason of the fact 
that it has been reached by patience, by 
perseverance, by industry and by the exer- 
cise of good judgment. It shows what men 
can do by using their hands and brains. 
To the man of average attainments and 
limited means it will give encouragement, 
iL will be eminently helpful. 

Mr. Parrotte is a zealous Mason, and he 
has been for some years. He is an active 
and consistent member of the Methodist 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



309 



cliurch, and has been on the official board 
of tliis church twenty-seven years; was a 
delegate to tlie general conference in New 
York City, ]\Iay, 18SS. He is a Hberal 
contributor to all charitable purposes. He 
and his family are leaders in the best 
society of Kearney. In all these respects 
lie has developed to their full measure the 
inherited tendencies of his people. The 
fact of his Huguenot origin has almost 
passed out of the traditions of the family, 
yet he has preserved in his mental and 
moral make-up much of the distinguishing 
traits of his ancestors — their persevering 
industry, tlieir tastes for the quiet pursuits 
of life, their attachment to home, their love 
of liberty, theirbroad humanity, theirdeep 
sense of religion ; and these several traits, 
with their imperceptible shadings into one 
and aiiothei', have entered into his daily life, 
liave shaped his career, and have madehim 
wliat lie is. Mr. and Mrs. Pai'otte have 
one daughter — Miss Anna Ivatherine P. 
She is a most estimable young lady and 
a great worker in the Sunday -sciiool, and 
a general favorite with old and young in 
societv. 



KNAPP FAMILY. The Knapp 
family were originally from 
Saxony, a pi-ovince of Germany. 
P)y some they are regarded as Germans, 
by others as of Saxon origin ; but their 
early history in England leads most of the 
descendants to fix their nationality as 
Anglo-Saxon or English. 

In the fifteenth century they w ere peo- 
ple of wealth and position in Sussex 
county, England. The name Knapp is 



derived from the Saxon word, the root of 
which is spelled Cnoep. signifying a sum- 
mit or hill-top. John being the given 
name, and living on a hill, he was called 
John of the hill ; and there being others 
of the same na,me on the hill, and said 
John living on the summit or knob, he 
was called John of the Cnoep or Knob. 

Subsequently the proposition was omit- 
ted, for convenience sake, and he was 
called John Cnoep, the German forma- 
tion John Knopp, and in Englisii John 
Knapp. The family arms, together with 
a full description, may be found in the 
Herald's college, London. These arms 
were granted to Roger de Knapp by 
Henry VIII., to commemorate his skill and 
success at a tournament held in Norfolk, 
England, 1540, in which he is said to have 
unseated three knights of great skill and 
bravery. By the descendants of his son 
John, these arms are still preserved as 
a precious memento of worthy ancestry. 

The anns of a family are what a trade 
mark is to a merchant. It is his own 
private property. It is generalU' expres- 
sive of some important principle. The 
origin of the arms of the Knapp family is 
given in English heraldry. It describes 
the arms of the Knapp family as used by 
John Knapp and by his son John, in 1600. 

It will be seen that this coat of arms is 
ver\' expressive and full of meaning. The 
shield and the helmets, clad in mail, de- 
note a preparation for war. The shield 
on which the arms are displayed is gold, 
expressive of worth and dignity ; the 
arms in sable or black, denote antiquity ; 
the three helmets on the shield ai'e ac- 
knowledgments from high authorities of 
victories gained. 

The helmet, which is placed between 



310 



BUFFALO COUJ^TY 



the sliield and crest, and rests upon the 
former, is an esquire in profile of steel, 
with visor closed and turned to the right 
side of the shield. 

Tlie wreath borne away by the victor, 
as represented on the sword, is positive 
proof of laurels won and honors bestowed. 
The lion passant on the shield denotes 
courage and consciousness of strength, and 
yet walking quietly when not provoked or 
forced to defense. The arm that bears 
the broken sword indicates the character 
of the family. Though, having fought in 
defense until the sword^is broken, his 
courage does not fail him ; his arm is still 
uplifted, grasping the broken sword, and 
in the heat of battle he exclaims: "In 
God we trust.'' 

Tradition sa^'^s, three brothers emigrated 
to this countr}' from England in early 
days; if this be true, AVilliam, ISTicholas 
and Koger Knapp of these records were 
brothers. 

The earliest records we have in this 
countr\' are in Bond's genealogies of the 
families and descendants of the early set- 
tlers of Watertown, Mass.. including Walt- 
ham and Weston, in which it mentions 
William and Nicholas Knapp — Vol. II, 
page 815. It there appears that Nicholas 
Knapp had some connection with a case 
in court. 

Later it states that Nicholas Knapp 
came with Winthrop and Salstanstall's 
tleet in 1630. 

Then is given the name of his wife, 
Eleanor, and their children, as found in 
tiie Stamford (Conn.) town history. Sav- 
age, in his Genealogical Dictionaiy, agrees 
with Bond as to Nicholas' immigration in 
the above-named fleet. A former printed 
history of the Knapp family mentions 



William Knapp. of Rye, N. Y., who im- 
migrated from England with a family of 
children, though his wife never came. 
This is probably the same William Knapp, 
of Watertown, Mass., 1636 and 1658, who 
moved back to Watertown after living in 
Rye. In this century a single "p" was 
used in spelling the name Knapp. 

Nicholas Knapp, of Watertown. moved 
to Stamford, Conn., in 16-48. His children 
by his first wife, Eleanor (who died Aug- 
ust 16, 1658), were — Jonathan, born De- 
cember 27, 1631 ; Timothy, born Decem- 
ber 24r, 1632 ; Joshua, boi'n June 5, 1635 ; 
Caleb, born January 20, 1637 ; Sarah, 
born Januarys, 1639; Ruth, born Janu- 
ary 5, 1641 ; Hannah, born Mai-ch 5, 1642. 
For his second wife, he mai'i'ieil Unity, 
widow of Peter Brown, and by her his 
children were — Moses and Lydia, the dates 
of whose births are not recorded. He 
(Nicholas) died Ajn-il 16, 1670. 

Joshua, third son of Nicholas, was Ijmn 
in Watertown, Mass., January 5, 1635 ; 
moved to Stamford in 1648, and married 
Hannah Close, January 9, 1657. Their 
children were — Hannah, born in Stam- 
ford, March 26, 1660 ; in 1663, he moved 
to Greenwich, which was then called 
Horse Neck, in which town Joseph was 
born in 1664; Ruth in 1666; Timothy in 
1668; Benjamin in 1673; Caleb in 1677, 
and John in 1679. 

Joshua, Jr., was born in Greenwich in 
1662, and married Miss Close about 1682. 
They hud one son — John, born March 1, 
17oS ; and he had two sons — John, Jr., 
born in 1731, and Justus, born January 
19, 1735. 

Joshua Knap[), of Greenwich, 1670, son 
of Nicholas, married Hannah Close at 
Stamford, 1657; had a good estate inven- 



tory of 1685, though he died October 27, 
1684, leaving eight children — Hannah, 
aged twenC3'-five; Joshua, twenty-two; 
Joseph, twenty; Ruth, eigliteen ; Tinio- 
tliy, sixteen ; Benjamin, ten ; Caleb, seven ; 
Jonathan, five. His widow married John 
Powers. 

Moses Knapp, of Greenwich, 1670, broth- 
er of the preceding, probably youngest, 
but was probably onU' a land holder and 
never lived at Greenwich, but at Stam- 
ford as earh' as 1607, antl there his father 
gave him land by his will ; he married, 
about 1669, Abigail, daughter of Richard 
Westcott. "Whether he had children, I 
am not advised, but he was living- cer- 
tainly, at Stamford, up to 1701, perhaps 
later. 

The following is from Savage's Genea- 
logical Dictionary of the first settlers of 
New England, etc., Vol. Ill, pp. 33 and 
34: 

Caleb Knapp, of Stamford, son of Nich- 
olas, freeman, 1670, made his will Decem- 
ber 11, 1674, and died soon afterwards. 
He names his wife Hannah, and children 
Caleb, who was born 1661 ; John, 1664, 
Moses, Samuel, Sarah and Hannah. 

Timothy Knapp, deputy of Rye, N. Y., 
October, 1670; Joshua Knapp, of Green- 
wich, Conn., admitted freeman 1669; 
Caleb Knapp, of Stamford, Conn., admit- 
ted freeman May, 1669 ; Moses Knapp, of 
Greenwich, Conn., admitted freeman May, 
1670; Timothy Knapp, of Stamford, son, 
perhaps oldest, of Nicholas, representative 
for Rye, 1670, was of Greenwich, and was 
living in 1697. Roger Knapp, who was 
probably a hunter among Indians in 1639, 
relinquished all his right and claim on 
land in Branford to the New Haven 
Colon V. 



Roger Knapp, of New Haven, 1643-7; 
Fairfield, 1656-70 and probably later, had 
made his will March 21, 1673, naming his 
wife Elizabeth and children — Jonathan, 
Josiah, Lydia, Roger, John, Nathaniel, 
Eliza and Mary ; some of whom were 
minors; his inventory is of September 20, 
1675. 

Roger Knapp, of Fairfield, son of the 
preceding, died 1691, but no account is 
found of the family. Jonathan Knapp, 
of Fairfield, son of the first Roger, dietl 
young, for his inventory is of February 1, 
1676. 

William Knapji, of Watertown, 1636, 
died August, 1658, aged about eighty 
years. He came with Nicholas and had 
in his will of 1655 not named any wife; 
i-eferred to children, of whom several were 
by him from England — and 
His children were Wil- 
liam, Mary, Elizabeth, John (born 1624). 
James, 1627 ; Ann and Judith. 

Mary married Thomas Smith ; Eliza- 
beth married in England, a Butlery. 

The will of Thomas Knapp, of Water- 
town, mentions William, John and James, 
and daughters Elizabeth, Mary, Ann and 
Judith. Witnesses, Richard Beers and 
Nathaniel Salsbury. 

Mid. Deeds, Vol. 2, page 201-2, says he 
died intestate and his estate was divided 
by oi'der of the court. 

Perhaps his will was set aside; because 
October 15, 1658, administration was 
granted to Ephraim Child, Richard Beers 
and Priscilla Knapp. 

The next April she was released from 
the administration. December, 1658. the 
constable ot Watertown was ordered bv 
the court to deliver widow Knap]) Ium- 
chest and other things which John Knapj) 



brought 
grandchildren 



312 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



had detained from her h\ attachineut. 
December IS, 1662, Ephraim Child and 
Sergeant Beers were discharged from 
administration of William Knapp, and 
John Coolidge and Henr}' Bright ap- 
pointed in their place. 

William Knapp, of Watertown, son of 
the preceding h\ his wife Mary, had prob- 
abl}' Joseph, besides Priscilla, born Nov- 
ember 10, 16-12 ; and by wife Margaret 
had Judith, born March 2, 1653 ; Eliza- 
beth, born July 23, 1657, and perhaps 
others. He left widow Priscilla, who had 
been widow of Thomas Akers, and son 
John. Widow Margaret Knapp died 
previous to January, 1703. 

James Knapp, of Watertown. in 1652, 
son of William the first of Watertown, 
Mass., born in England, married Elizabeth, 
daughter of John Warren ; had Elizabeth, 
born April 21, 1655; and James, born 
May 26, 1657, who died September 26, 
following. In autumn of 1671 he lived 
in Groton. He was one of the original 
pro])rietors of Groton; a sergeant, and was 
one of the four men to whom a grant was 
made to encourage the building of a mill 
at Groton. 

Elizabeth Knapp, of Groton, wife of 
James, was one of the bewitched persons 
mentioned bv Cotton Mather. This was 
])robably the Elizabeth Knapp who lived 
in the family of Samuel Coles of Boston, 
in November, 1657. Thomas Knapp, of 
Sudbur}', married at Watertown, Septem- 
ber 19, 1688, Mary, daughter of John 
Grout, and died beyond sea, leaving widow 
and children — Sarah, aged nine years, and 
Mary, aged six 3'ears — when administra- 
tion was issued May 28, 1697. 

David Knapp settled in Spencer, Mass., 
in 17i7. — Drapier History. 



John Knapp, of Watertown, son of 
William the first, married Sarah Young- 
May 5, 1660. Tiiey had John, born May 
4, 1661 ; and Sarah, born Sejitember 5, 
1662 ; and several others, for his will of 
January 22, 1696, proved the 27th of 
April following, though it names not 
either of these, who were perhaps dead, 
mentions Sarah and children — Henry, 
Isaac, John, Daniel and Abigail. 

John Knapp, of Taunton, married Sarali 
Austin, October 7, 1685. He was proba- 
bly a son of John Knapp, of Watertown. 

Joshua Knapp, son of John, of Taunton, 
married and had one son, Samuel, born in 
Roxbury, June 12, 1716. Joshua Knapp 
and family of Poxbury, cautioned against 
settlement in Cambridge. Joshua Knapp 
married in Xewton, 1727, Elizabeth, 
daughter of John and Bertha Prentiss. 

Tradition says, Daniel Knapp was com- 
missioned by the colonial government to 
survey and locate Danbur}- town, and 
was promised if he located a certain num- 
ber of families there, in a given time, he 
would receive a tract of land for his ser- 
vices. He located them, and the land he 
received was located at the foot of Main 
street, Danbury, and that was the same 
piece of land on which Joshua Knapp, Sr., 
built a house, and his sons, Daniel and 
Frances, kept a hotel during the Revolu- 
tionary war. It was located directly op- 
posite the Danbury meeting house, where 
were stored the American supplies, and 
which was burned with the town ; and 
Knapp's tavern, as it was called, was the 
only house in the town saved, and is still 
standing, 1887. It is a two and a half- 
story frame building, with old-fashioned 
small windows and shingled sides. It is 
still one of the landmarks of Danburv. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



:n3 



After a cai'cful research I am satisfied 
this is true, and tliat he (Daniel) was the 
father of Joshua Knapp, Sr., and the son 
of John, and grandson of "William, of 
Watertown, Mass. 

Joshua Knapp, Jr., of Danbury Conn., 
17C2, after moving to Butternuts, moved 
back to Sherburn, N. Y., where he died 
July, 1829. Lodema, his wife, died at 
Cherokee, Logan county, Ohio, May 28, 
184:5, aged eighty years. Daniel, his 
brother, and son of Joshua, Sr., of Dan- 
buiy. Conn., 171C, married Lucy Gray. 
They had children — Daniel Bostwick, Ezra 
G., Aniie, Palmer, William, Harmon, Levi 
E. and Horace B. and six daughters 
besides. Part of his children were born 
in Danbury and part in Great Barrington, 
Mass. He died at Sherburn, N. Y., 
June 25, 1842. Lucj' Gray, his wife, died 
at Sherburn, N. Y., March 8, 1S34. 

Francis Knapp, brother of Joshua J., 
and Daniel, of Danbur}', Conn., 1765, 

married Abigail , for his first wife, 

who died January' 22, 1810, aged forty- 
five years. Their only daughter Lucy, 
and wife of Comfort S. M3'gatt, died 
March 8, 1804, aged thirty-seven years, 
• six months. His second wife was Betsey. 
Their childi'en were — Comfort, George, 
William, and seven diiuglitei'S ; they lived 
at Danbury, Conn.; Great Barrington, 
Mass.; and Shei'burn, X. Y. He, Francis, 

died at , January 11, 1834, aged 

sixt\'-eight j'ears. 

Levi Knapj), brother of the preceding, 
and son of Joshua, Sr., had threfe sons — 
Joshua G., who died at Danbury, Conn., 
1883. aged about ninety ; William A., and 
Levi S., of New Milford, Conn. 

Archie W. Knapp, first son of Joshua, 
Jr., married Betsey Roberts, January 26, 



1806 — his sons were Alonzo and Joshua. 
Joshua died quite young, and Archie 
moved on the Western Reserve, and died 
at Ottokee, Fulton county, Ohio, January 
22, 1852, aged sixty-six years ;and his wife 
died in Dover, Lucas county, Ohio, June 
26, 1846, aged sixty-three years. His son 
Alonzo, who was born in New Milford, 
Conn., November 7, 1806, died in Ottokee, 
Fulton county, Ohio, June 30, 1852, aged 
forty-six years. Levi P., second son of 
Joshua, of New Milford, Conn., 1789, mar- 
ried Ellis Brooks, August 25, 1808. They 
had two sons — Royal Carlos, and Samuel 
B. Levi P. died in Canastota, N. Y., 
August 11, 1824. Royal Carlos, son of 
Levi P., married in California, a Miss De- 
Coe. They lived in Rochester, N. Y., 
and had one son, John D. C, and a num- 
ber of daughters. He (Royal Carlos) 
died in Rochester, N. Y., 1883, aged 
about seventy years. 

Edwin Joshua, first son of Edwin G., 
married Emily Cargill, May 6, 1840 ; had 
one child, who died quite young; and lie, 
Edwin J., died in Catskill, April 16, 1853, 
aged fifty-eight years. 

Urania Cornelia, his sister, mari'ied 
John R. Sylvester, of Catskill, N. Y., 
December 10, 1837, and died April 21, 
1882, aged sixty-two years. 

Revilo Wells, his brother, of Canastota, 
N. Y., 1826, married Elizabeth Millett, 
December 31, 1850. They had sons boi'u 
at Catskill, N. Y.— Charles F., George E. 
and Frank R. 

Joshua Knapp, Sr., was born in Dan- 
bury, Conn., February 5, 1716, O. S., and 
married Abigail Bostwick, a widow 
Dibble, who was born in Brookfield, 
Conn., September 28, 1725, and was the 
first white child born there. 



314 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



He (Joshua) died at Danbury, Conn., 
August 8, 1798, leaving children — 
Lucy Gray, born August 22, 1760 ; 
Joshua Jr., born May 6, 1762 ; Daniel^ 
born July 2, 1763 ; Francis, born June 
16, 1765 ; Levi, born June 4, 1768. 

Abigail Bostwick Knapp died at Dan- 
bury, Conn., October 7, 1812, aged 
eighty-seven years. Joshua Knapp, Jr., 
of Danbury, married Lodema Warner, 
October 26, 1785 ; had Ai'chie Warner 
Knapp, born September 10, 1786. The}' 
then moved to New Milford, Conn., and 
there were born — Levi P., March 4, 
1789; Edwin Gavin, August 25, 1795; 
Sally Julia, December 31, 1800. 

Edwin G. Knapp, of New Milford, 
Conn., married Marietta Ferris, November 
29, 1815, who was granddaughter of 
Sarah Ferris, the first white child born in 
New Milford. Their children, Urania 
Cornelia, born in New Milford, Conn., 
April 18, 1820, and Edwin Joshua, born 
in Greene county, N. T., December 22, 
1817. They, with Joshua Knapp, Jr., 
removed to the Butternuts, N. Y. Not 
liking it, they moved east to Canastota, 
N. Y., where was born Revilo Wells, 
May 2, 1826. 

From Canastota, they moved to Louis- 
ville, Otsego count}', N. Y., where was 
born Charles Ruggles, August 11, 1832. 

The family then moved to Catskill, 
Greene county, N. Y., where Edwin Gavin 
died, November 1, 1853, aged fift\'-eight 
years, and his wife, Marietta Ferris, died 
December 3, 1881, aged eighty-one 3'ears 
and ten months. 

Charles Buggies Knapp, third son of 
Edwin Gavin Knapp, married Mary Eliz- 
abeth Shepard, of Cairo, Greene county, 
N. Y., February 8, I860, and had two 



children, born at Catskill, N. Y. — Ella 
Augusta, November 21, 1860, and Charles 
E., Jr., February 10, 1863. 

Charles R. Knapp, Sr., died at New 
Milford, Conn., June 1, 1862, aged twenty- 
nine years. He was buried at Catskill, 
N. Y. 

Charles F. Knapp, fii'st son of Revilo 
Wells Knapp, married Alice Peri-y, of 
Catskill, N. Y., March 27, 1876. They 
had six children — tlii'ee boys and three 
girls. 

Frank R., third son of Revilo Wells 
Knap]), married Kate Broad wick in Sep- 
tember, 1878, and had four children — 
three girls anil one boy. — [By Chas. R. 
Knapp, Interlachan, Fla. 



LEONARD P. WOODWORTH, M. 
D., was born in Compton Cen- 
_/ ter, Canada East, July 12, 1839, 
and is a son of Commodore Perry 
(who was a cousin of the great Commo- 
dore Perrv) Wood worth. The father was 
born also in Canada; moved in 1847 to 
Indiana, and settled in LaGrange county, 
where he lived till 1859, when he moved 
to Columbia county. Wis., residing there 
until 1883, and thence moved to Iro- 
quois county. 111., where he died in 1887, 
aged sevent^'-five years. By trade he 
was a cabinet-maker, for many years 
was engaged in the furniture business, 
and towards the latter part of his life also 
in farming. Subject's mother was DrusiUa 
Stearns, who was a native of Massachu- 
setts, died in the fall of 1889, in Iroquois 
county. III., aged seventy-six. 




L. P. WOODWORTH. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



317 



Leonard P. Woodwoi'th is tiie fourth of 
eleven children — Julia, Mary, Sarah, L. P., 
Rosanna, Levi, William, Cornelia, Susan, 
an infant that died unnamed, and Carrie. 

The Doctor educated himself, and has 
done for himself sincehe was twelve years 
old. He attended Delton academy at 
Delton, Wis., and began reading medicine, 
in 1860, with Dr. G. W. Jenkins, but at the 
first call to arms entered the Union army 
in 1801, entering Company E, Twelfth 
Wisconsin infantry, as a private. Tie was 
immediately detailed as a hosj)ital steward, 
and served as such for three years. He 
first went to Weston, Mo., and then to 
Kansas Cit}', Mo., having been ordered to 
New Mexico, but got onl}' as far as Fort 
Riley, Kas., when he was ordered back to 
Columbus, Ivy. lie was in the Kentucky 
and Tennessee campaigns of that date, 
then the Vicksburg campaign, then the 
Meridian campaign, and afterwards on the 
"March to the Sea." Later he was com- 
missioned second lieutenant of the regular 
arm\', on duty with the Sixty-fourth col- 
ored infantry, and was president of the 
commission appointed to investigate the 
claim of Joe Davis for damages for prop- 
erty destroyed ; and still later was provost 
marshal of the district of Yazoo, and 
located at Yazoo, iliss. lie remained at 
Yazoo till March 13, 1806, and was then 
mustered out. Returned to Wisconsin, he 
opened a drug store at Necedah, Juneau 
count}', where he also practiced medicine 
for two years. lie then attended lectures 
at the Rush Medical college at Chicago, 
from which he graduated in 1870, taking 
a si)ecial course on diseases of the eye and 
ear. Returning to Necedah he resumed 
practice and the drug business, and con- 
tinued at^hese till 1880, when he went to 



Milford, 111., and engaged in the pi'actice 
of medicine, in tiiat place, in connection 
with Dr. J. C. Rickey, remaining there 
till 1883, when became to Kearney, where 
he has since resided. lie practiced alono 
after locating in Kearney, till 1887, when 
he admitted Dr. B. F. Jones to a partner- 
ship, the firm becoming Woodworth iV 
Jones, and so continuing. 

Dr. AVoodworth owns about sixteen 
hundred acres of land in Buffalo county, 
has farming carried on extensively, and 
owns a number of fine horses and fine 
cattle — some thoroughbreds. 

Dr. Woodworth, while still in the ai-my 
and while at home on a brief furlough, 
was married Januar\' 5, 1865, to Miss 
Maggie A. Dai'ling, but the honev-moon 

DO O^ ^ 

lasted only two short weeks when the 
groom, in obedience to the stern de- 
mands of military discipline, returned to 
the front to resume his duties in behalf of 
this struggling country, while the bride 
betook herself again to the class-room to 
prosecute with undiminished faithfulness 
and vigor her daily labor of love and 
kindness. They were I'e-united after four 
months, and since liave borne each other 
the cherished comjianionship which the^' 
sought with each other's hand, and have 
realized in a large measure the fervent 
hopes and happy expectations promised 
them as the full fruition of their wedded life. 
Mrs. Woodworth is a lady of culture and 
refinement, being a graduate of Bunson 
Institute of Point Bluft', Wis., and keep- 
ing up even in her maturer years an in- 
terest in the studies of youth. At the 
time of her marriage she and her sister 
had charge of the Delton academy, at 
Delton, Wis., which school reached a high 
rank, under hei- able numagement, among 



31 S 



BUFFALO COUXTY. 



the educational institutions of tiie state. 
Two children born to Dr. and Mrs. "Wood- 
worth are now living, a son and daughter 
— Herbert L. and Emma L.. 

Dr. Woodworth has always exhibited 
great zeal and intei'est in matters pertain- 
ing to his profession and he has, whenever 
opportunity offered, allied himself with 
all associations seeking the promotion of 
the good of the profession, and to help to 
the extent of his means and ability all 
purposes of that nature. 

While a resident of "Wisconsin and Illi- 
nois he was an active member of the 
county and state medical societies where he 
resided, and took an active part in the 
workings of these societies. He is and has 
been for years a member of the Masonic 
order, having taken all the degrees up to 
and including that of Knight Templar, 
being a member also of the Mystic Shrine. 
He, his wife and children are members of 
the Methodist church and give liberally to 
charit}'. In personal appearance Dr. AVood- 
worth, while small of stature, is large of 
head and pleasing in address, being gener- 
ous of heart, with a kindly face, and a voice 
which has been attuned in tenderness to 
the many var3nng forms of sorrow which 
he has witnessed in his miuisti'ations 
among the afflicted. Unlike many of his 
))rofessional brethren he does not believe 
in the all curing power of drugs, but believes 
in carrying common sense into the sick 
room and making use of many of the so- 
called simple remedies. Ever bearing with 
him an air of cheerfulness he inspires hope 
and confidence in his patients, and to the 
weak and despondent he prescribes liber- 
all}' of the " medicine of mirth." Yet 
withal is he positive, requiring the strict- 
est compliance with his orders and instruc- 



tions, and tliat done he holds himself re- 
sponsible for the rest, so far at least as an 
honest conscientious phj'sician who knows 
the limits of his profession and the bounds 
of his own knowledge and skill — can hold 
himself responsible for final results. 



THOMAS J. PECK. One of the 
oldest settlers of Platte township, 
Buffalo county, as well as one 
of the most prosperous citizens of the com- 
munity where he lives, is Thomas J. Peck, 
the subject of tins biographical notice. Mr. 
Peck has been a resident of the locality 
where he now resides for about seventeen 
years, coming to Nebraska in December, 
1873, and settling first in Hall count}', 
whei'e he remained three years, moving 
thence across the line into Buffalo county, 
living there since. He came from Iowa 
to Nebraska, but is a native of Penns\d- 
vania. He was born in Chester county, 
near the city of Philadelphia, and comes 
of old Pennsj'lvania ancestr}', his parents 
and his grandparents being residents from 
time immemorial of the '• Ke}' -stone State." 
Ilis father, John Peck, was born, reared 
and passed his entire life in Chester 
county, being a farmer and following the 
peaceful pursuits of agriculture up to the 
close of an industrious, well-spent life, 
d^'ing in 1864 at the age of forty-five. 
His mother, Margaret Taylor, who was a 
native also of Chester county, passed all 
her years near the place of her nativity, 
dying in Juh', 1886, well advanced in 
years. Only two children were born to 
John and Margaret (Taylor) Peck, both 
boys, they being now residents of Platte 



BUFFALO COUXTV. 



310 



township, Buffalo county, tliis state, the 
elder, Thomas J.,' the subject of tliis 
sketch, and the younger Samuel E. T. 

Thomas J. was born in July, 1843, and 
reared near liis birth-place, not far from 
Philadelphia. He grew upas most farm 
boys do, receiving a fair common-school 
education and being trained to the habits of 
industry and usefulness common to farm 
life. In June, 1861, not yet having at- 
tained his eighteenth year, he entered the 
Union army, enlisting in Company K, 
fourth Penns^'lvania reserves, and, his 
regiment being assigned to the Ai'mv of 
the Potomac, he served in that command 
for twenty-two months. Enlisting under 
age, his mother had him taken out of the 
service at the end of that time under 
habeas corpus proceedings, and he was 
kept at home until .IStU, when, in Feb- 
ruary of that year, he again entered tlie 
army, enlisting in Company K, Eighth 
Pennsylvania cavalrj', and served till after 
the surrender, being mustered out and 
discharged at Richmond, Va., August 11, 
1865. During his terra of service the last 
time, he was under Gen. P. 11. Sheridan 
and was in tlie saddle continuously from 
the time he entered the service till the 
close of the war. 

Returning to Pennsylvania he remained 
there a short time and then, tilled with a 
growing desire to see the great West and 
tind some suitable location, where he could 
settle down and grow up with his sur- 
roundings, he emigrated to Iowa in 1866, 
where he settled, married and resided till 
1873, coming thence in December of that 
year, as above noted, to Hall county, this 
state. He settled in Hall county, near the 
corners of the four counties of Hall, 
Adams, Kearney and Buffalo, taking a 



soldier's homestfad. Three years later he 
bought a relinquisiiment on the southeast 
quarter of section 36, just across the line 
in Buffalo county, on which he filed a 
pre-emption claim, settled, and lias since 
resided there. Taking tiiis claim when it 
was almost all raw land, he has, by great 
industry and unremitting attention to all 
the details of the farm, made of it one of 
the best improved and most pleasant 
places in histown'ship, having one hundred 
acres of it under plow, handsome groves 
and large and comfortable buildings, resi- 
dence and barn. The secret of his success 
has been in his hard, persistent labor, his 
strict economy and his judicious manage- 
ment. He is regarded as one of the best 
farmers of his locality and as a business 
man of sound sense and discriminating 
judgment. 

Mr. Peck married June 10, 1867 — the 
lady whom he selected to share his life's 
fortunes being JVJiss Mary E. Elter, then 
of Iowa, but a native of Pennsylvania. 
Mrs. I'eck's father, Nicholas Elter, was a 
native of France and was reared in his 
native country to the age of eighteen, 
coming thence to America and settling in 
Pennsylvania, where he married, and after 
a residence there of some years moved to 
Iowa, and there died in August, 1887, at 
the age of sixty-five. Mrs. Peck's mother, 
Julia Elter, was boi-n in Tioga countv, 
Penn., and is still living, being a resident 
of Iowa. Of the eleven children in the 
family to which Mrs. Peck belonged, si.x 
are now living, being married and settled 
off in life. The eldest, John B., was 
killed in the late war at the battle of 
Peach Orchard, Va., he being a member of 
the Eighth Pennsylvania cavaliy; Charles 
died young, and the others are — Sarah, 



380 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



William, Charlotte (deceased), Emma, 
Minerva, Hattie, George and Susan. Mrs. 
Peck is the third of the family and the 
eldest girl. 

In politics Mr. Peck is a democrat and 
comes of a line of ancestors who drew 
their political faith from the teachings of 
Jefferson and Jackson, and is a stanch 
supporter of the doctrines and methods of 
his party. And he is withal an intelli- 
gent, hosjiitable, pleasant gentleman. 



JAMES F. LIPPINCOTT is a Penn- 
sylvanian b}' birth and a descendant 
of old Pennsylvania stock. His 
father, John Lippincott, and his 
mother, Mary Dillon, were both born and 
reared in the " Keystone State," the father 
in Delaware count}'^ and the mother in 
Adams county. The father was a shoe- 
maker by trade and followed that nearly 
all his life, passing most of his \'ears in his 
native state, dying, however, in Ohio in 
1876, after having attained his fifty-sec- 
ond year. He was a quiet, industrious, 
useful citizen, a man of plain tastes, sys- 
tematic habits and pleasant, genial dispo- 
sition. Mr. Lippincott's mother, Mary 
Dillon, was a daughter of Andrew Dillon, 
and an industrious, frugal housewife, and 
a dutiful and affectionate mother, who 
bore her husband the cherished compan- 
ionship which he sought with her hand 
through the many years of their wedded 
life. She died in 1862 at the ao:e of thir- 



tv-ei"ht. Thirteen children were born to 
these, only five of whom, however, reached 
maturity ; these being — James F., John 
F., Jeremiah F., William B. and Mary. 
These are still living. The first is the sub- 
ject of this sketch. John F. is a resident 
of Fillmore county, this state, Jeremiah 
F. and William B. are residents of Hall 
county, this state, while the sister, now 
wife of Samuel Robaugh, lives in Al- 
toona. Pa. 

Our subject, James F., was born in 
Adams county. Pa., 1846. Tiie first event 
of importance in his life, as it was the first 
of any moment in the lives of hundreds of 
others of his age, was his enlistment in 
the Union army. He entered the service 
September 7, 1861, enlisting in Company 
F, Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania volun- 
teer infantry. The organization of his 
regiment having been completed the fol- 
lowing October, it moved at once to 
Louisville, Ky., joined Buell's army and 
saw its first active service at Pittsburg 
Landing, helping to save the day to the 
Union cause at that place. His regiment 
served afterwards in the campaign into 
Kentucky and in the Atlanta camj)aign 
and Avas with Thomas on his return into 
Tennessee in pursuit of Hood, as far as 
Nashville. At this point Mr. Lippincott 
was taken sick with the small-pox and 
disabled from service till April, 1865. He 
then joined his command, which was at 
that time at Nashville, and went with it 
to Texas, where it was stationed as an 
army of occupation till December, 1805. 
Eeturning thence to Pennsylvania it was 
mustered out at Philadelphia January 19, 
1886. He served as a private from the 
date of iiis enlistment till mustered out, 
was never wounded, but was once cap- 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



321 



tured and got some taste of prison life, 
liaving been taken prisoner at the battle 
of Stone river and confined for ninety 
da3's in " Libby." At the close of the 
war, Mr. Lippincott returned home and 
settled down to the peaceful pursuits of 
life, marrying in March, 1S67, and engag- 
ing in farming. He came to Nebraska in 
the spring of 1878 and settled in Fillmore 
county, in June that year. lie lived tliere 
till October, 1883, and moved then to 
Eivffalo county, locating on Elm Island, 
in Platte township, where he has since 
resided. He has been steadily engaged 
in farming and has succeeded far beyond 
the average. He owns land in Adams, 
Ilall, Buffalo and Gosper counties, a large 
part of which he has under cultivation 
and most of which is yielding jiim a 
revenue in some shape. His home-place 
in Duffalo county is one of the best farms 
on Elm Island, well improved and well 
sup|)lieti with comfortable buildings, orna- 
mented with groves and stocked up to its 
capacity with good graded stock. 

Mr. Lippincott has quite a family grow- 
ing up around him, for whom he is pro- 
viding with that care and thoughtful 
solicitude characteristic of him. He mar- 
ried, as noted above, in 1867, the lady 
whom he selected for a life companion 
being Miss Jane S. Vance, a daughter of 
Captain David Vance, of Loudon, Frank- 
lin county, Pa., Mrs. Lii)pincott and her 
parents both being natives of that place. 
She is one of a family of ten children, as 
follows — AV^inlield S. and John W., both 
of Loudon, Franklin county; George E., 
a conductor on the Pennsylvania Central 
railroad, he being the one who ran the 
express train out of Johnstown during the 
late flood; Jane, Mrs. Lippincott ; James 



W., of AVintield, Kans.; Ann Rebecca, wife 
of George Mullom, of Chambersburg, Pa., 
and Catherine Abigail, still with her father 
at Loudon, Franklin county. Margaret 
and David are deceased. Mr. anil Mrs. 
Lippincott are the parents of seven chil- 
dren — John David, Mary Catherine, now 
wife of George W. Walverton ; James 
William, Charles li., Abbie Jane, Ethel 
Alma and Kimber Augustus. 

In politics Mr. Lippincott is a repub- 
lican and is a stanch supporter of the 
principles and methods of his jiarty. His 
first vote was cast for Grant in 1868, 
and he has supported his party's ticket in 
each presidential election since, as well .as 
in state and local elections. He has never 
aspired to public office himself, finding 
much more pleasant and remunerative 
emplo\'ment in the pursuit of his own 
affairs. He is a man who is well informed 
on matters of general concern and takes 
mucli interest in them. He has pronounced 
views, and when occasion demands does 
not hesitate to speak them, and he is one 
of as kind, accommodating and hospitable 
gentlemen as can be found in Puflalo 
county. 



CHARLES EDWARD CJRES- 
HAM was born in Woodford 
county, III, February 11, 1S56, 
He is the son of Archibald Gresham, a 
native of Virginia and a very prosperous 
farmer, his prosperity being traceable to 



322 



B UFFA L CO UNTY. 



hard work and good management. Archi- 
bald was an active member oi' the Baptist 
cliurch, but later id entitled himself with 
the Christian church, of which he was a 
ruling elder at the time of his death. He 
was much esteemed for his excellent 
christian character and the poor and needy 
always found in Mr. Gresham, a good 
frienil. Mr. Gresham was born in 1808, 
and from Virginia moved to Christian 
county, Ky., and thence to Woodford 
count}', 111., where he remained until 
death. At the time of his death he left a 
farm of two hundred acres, well improved 
and stocked. In 1833 he was married to 
Miss Susan Boyd, a native of Kentucky. 
Like her husband she was an active mem- 
ber of the Baptist church, but later joined 
the Christian church. She was considered 
a ver}' exemplary and consistent christian 
woman, and died in 1880 at the advanced 
age of sixt}' -eight. By this marriage 
twelve children were born, viz. — George, 
farming in Missouri ; Mary, (Mrs. Bays- 
ton) in Illinois; Susan, in Missouri with 
George; John AY., who served three years 
in the war, but now is in Kentucky ; Olive, 
in Illinois with James; Bobert, in Illinois; 
Louise (Mrs. x\yers), deceased, in Illinois; 
Kicliard C, in Illinois on the old home- 
stead ; Jennie V. (deceased); C. E. ; Lucy 
A. (Mrs. Irvin), in Bloomington, 111. 

C. E. Gresham came to Nebraska in 
1884 with about $1,100, and now owns a 
ivell improved farm of two hundred and 
forty acres and well stocked. He makes a 
speciality of tine hor.ses and hogs. He is 
a member of the Christian church. He 
was married, in ]87y, to Miss Alice E. 
Spencer, a native, of Illinois, and born 
March 30, 1858. For years she was an 
active and faithful worker of the Chris- 



tian church. She was married at the 
home of her father. Rev. Harney officiat- 
ing. She is the mothei' of three children, 
viz. — Etta, born November 28, 1879; Min- 
nie, born July 7, 188-1, and Ollie. born 
March 15, 1888. 



EMORY PECK, a gentleman of lit- 
erary and social culture, is of Puri- 
tan ancestry, his progenitors hav- 
ing come over in the "ilayflower." Luther 
Peck, the paternal grandparent, was a 
native of Connecticut, and died in 1846, at 
a good old age. He was the parent of 
five sons, all of whom entered the Meth- 
odist ministry, and Jesse T. rose to the 
distinction of bishop, and was one of 
the founders of Syracuse University, do- 
nating to the institution at one time $50,- 
000. A biographical sketch of Jesse T. 
and George Peck is given in the People's 
Encyclopedia. Andrew Peck, the subject's 
father, was born in New Y'ork in 1800. 
He was, in the most literal sense, a self- 
made man, acquiring sufficient prepara- 
tion, by the utmost diligence and economy 
of time, to enter the ministry at the age 
of twenty. For tiiirty years he continued 
in the active ministrv, and was for years 
presitling elder in the Oneida, now the 
Central New Y'ork, conference. He was 
superannuated in 1850, but continued a 
member of the conference till death, 
which occurred in 1887. Politically, Mr. 
Peck was a republican, until a few years 
before his death, wlien he gave his sup. 
port to the prohibition cause. In 1830, he 
married Miss Electa Gun, a native of New 
York, wiio was the mother of the subject 



BUFFALO COUXTY 



323 



of this sketch. She was a zealous co- 
laborer with her husband in chiistian work, 
being, with, him, a member of tlie Meth- 
odist Episcopal church. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Peck were born four children — Mary S. 
(deceased), Emor\', William G. (who en- 
listed in the war under Sheridan, in 18fi4r 
and was killed in the Valley «f Virginia), 
and Elbert A., who is now, and has been 
for nineteen years, a member of the Central 
New York conference. 

Emory, the subject of this biography, 
was born in Hamilton, Madison county, 
N. Y., in 1836. Having taken a course in 
Oneida seminary he, at the age of eight- 
een, migrated to Portage, Wis., and 
there engaged in teaching. From there 
he removed to Winnebago county, same 
state, and there taught and farmed alter- 
nately for five years. He ne.xt moved to 
Livingston county. Mo., and there taught 
for one year. He then took the princi- 
])alship of the public schools of Clarinda, 
Iowa, and remained thereuntil 1861, when 
he enlisted in the Union army. First regi- 
ment Nebraska volunteer infantry. He 
was soon after commissioned first lieuten- 
ant of his com])any, and was in the engage- 
ments of Fort Donelson, Shiloh and others. 
He re-enlisted in the same regiment as 
vetei'an and was placed in the recruiting 
service, with headquarters at Brownville, 
Nebr. Tliere he resigned and engaged in 
farming. In 1868, he moved to Pates 
county. Mo., and followed farming for 
eight years, and from there came to Ne- 
iiraska, settling in Puffalo county, on 
a homestead and engaged in farming. 
Mr. Peck was elected two successive 
terms to the office of county clerk and has 
also served as county supervisor. He is 
now residing on his ranch, of about six 



hundred acres, in Odessa townsliip. What- 
ever success he has gained is due to 
attention to business and correct habits. 
Socially, Mr. Peck gives evidence of tliat 
magnanimit}' of soul which is characteristic 
of his lineage. He is a supporter of the 
republican ticket and an active member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. In 185!) 
he was married to Miss Mary F. Burin, 
who was born in New York city, in 1842. 
To them eight children have been born, 
and five are now living:. 



LPv. MORE, a native of Delaware 
county, N. Y., was born in 18;!1>, 
_^ and is the son of Edward H. and 
PoUy Ann (Moffatt) More, prominent and 
thrifty people of their locality and both 
active and consistent members of the 
Methodist E]>iscopal church. In politics, 
Edward H. More was an enthusiastic sup- 
porter of the republican platform. He 
was nominated, in 1867, for representative 
of Delaware county, but died the day fol- 
lowing the convention. Mr. and Mrs. 
More were parents of six children, viz. — 
Francis, who died when two years old ; 
Albert, v,-ho was born in 1837, in Dela- 
ware county, N. Y., and served seven 
months in the war of tlie Rebellion, but 
was discharged for rheumatism contracted 
before service. He, after several years' 
residence in New York. Virginia and New 
Jerse}', moved to Nebraska, settling in 
Odessa township, Buffalo county. In 
1866, he was united in mari-iage to Miss 
Caroline Brewster, a native of New York, 
who died in 1870. Mr. More next married 
Miss Martha Reed, a native of Illinois in. 



324 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



1886. L. R. More, our subject, was the 
third in order of birth, and of the remain- 
ing three children, Mary is deceased ; 
Samuel I., who served in the war, first as 
as |)rivate in the Fourth New York heavy 
artillery, and afterwards as lieutenant and 
acting captain of a mortar battery before 
Petersburg, is now residing near Mores- 
ville, N. Y., and George, the youngest, is 
still living on the old homestead. 

The subject's paternal grandfather, 
Alexander More, came from the highlands 
of Scotland and settled in Ilobart, Dela- 
ware county, N. Y., just before the Cherry 
Talley massacre, instigated by Brandt. 
Being warned by friendly Indians, he took 
what household effects he could on one 
horse, his wife taking her two children in 
baskets, one on each side, on another 
horse. Thus they journeyed to Catskill, 
on tiie Hudson river. On the journe\', 
one of the children, Alexander More, our 
subject's grandfather, fell out of the 
basket into a miry place and nearly 
drowned. lie afterwards settled near 
where Moresville now stands. The pa- 
ternal great-grandfather's family consisted 
of five boys — Alexander, James, John T., 
David and Edward. The subject's grand- 
father, Alexander More, mariied Nancy 
Harlow, of Eoxbury, Delaware county, 
N. Y., by whom he had twelve children, 
viz. — John H., Thomas, Daniel, Joseph 
II., Edward 11. (the subject's father), 
Robert II., James, William W., Betsey, 
Abbie, Gitty and Mary (the mother of 
Jay Gould, the railroad king). AV. W. is 
the youngest and only survivor of the 
family. 

L. R. More, the subject of this sketch, 
was born September 22, 1839, in Rox- 
burv, Delaware county, N. Y. He moved 



to Chicago in the fall of 1855, thence to 
Newaygo. Mich., where he was employed 
in a saw-mill. He there contracted fever 
and ague, which caused him to return to 
the old homestead. He later returned to 
Chicago, where for a time he acted as 
salesman for a business fiim, after which 
he entered into partnership with Duncan 
Sinclair, in the lumber and planing-mill 
business, Mr. More acting- as travelin"' 
salesman, and Sinclair conducting the 
business at home. Bj' fair dealing and 
close attention to business, in about three 
years he accumulated the sum of §25,000. 
His health failing, he sold out to Sinclair 
and came West to Kearney Junction, 
Nebr., in 1871. He established the first 
lumber yard and built the fii'st brick 
store, the upper story being the only 
opera house in town. He also established 
the first bank, in 1872, known as More's 
bank. He owned the first hotel, known 
as the Grand Central, also was partner of 
John Seaman, one of the first wheat 
buyers in Kearney. He also speculated 
in broom corn. He bought and enlarged 
the first grist-mill on the present site of 
the Kearney Mill and Elevator Co.'s mill, 
and was the sole agent of the celebrated 
Rock Spring coal from 1876 to 1885. Mr. 
More also owned a considerable amount 
of real estate, and was always one of the 
first to assist in any enterprise that per- 
tained to the welfare of Kearnev. In 
1873, Mr. More was appointed Captain of 
the "Kearney Guards" by Governor 
Furnas. Under his leadership the cow- 
boys' "reign of terror" came to an end, 
they losing two of their number in a run- 
ning battle. In the year 188-i, he sold 
out what was known as More's bank, now 
the Kearney National, and tiie brick store 





HENRY FIELDGROVE. 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



327 



adjacent for $22,000, he taking $13,000 
stock in the bank, and also becoming its 
first president. In 1885, on account of 
failing health, Mr. More started for 
Florida, stopping at Hot Springs, Ark., 
where, against the advice of his physicians, 
he took a sulphur bath, from which he 
contracted a severe cold that settled on 
his lungs and soon resulted in his death. 
He was buried beside his father, in Mores- 
ville, Delaware county, jST. Y. 

L. K. More came to Kearney when it 
contained but three buildings, and by aid- 
ing the then infant town and the home- 
steaders in securing the passage of the 
iierd law, in more senses than one may 
he be called the patriarch of Kearney. 

Mr. More was a very popular man and 
had endeared himself to many by his kind- 
ness and generosity. In politics he was 
a republican, and at one time received the 
nomination for state senator, but was 
defeated b}'^ A. H. Connor, nominee of a 
coalition of women's rights, anti-monopo- 
lists, democrats and others. 



H 



ON. HENRY FIELDGROVE, 
a prominent citizen and old set- 
tler of Buffalo county, is a 
native of Hanover, Germany, and was 
born December 17, 1S31. He comes of 
German ancestiy from time immemorial, 
his parents, Julius and "Wilhemina (Slier- 
man) Fieldgrove, being natives also of 
Hanover, where they always lived, and 
where they died, both dying in 1886 — the 
father at the age of eighty-five and the 
mother at the age of seventy. These were 



the parents of six children, of whom the 
subject of this sketch is the eldest, the 
others being Gottleib, Charles, Louis, Fred- 
erick and Dora. The only one of these 
who ever became a resident of the United 
States is Henr\', our subject. He came 
to America in 1854, stopping in Clarion 
county, Penn. Remaining there only 
about a year, he went to Lawrence count}^ 
the same state, where, in 1857, he married 
a Lawrence county lady. Miss Maggie A. 
Myers, a native of Pennsylvania, of Ger- 
man extraction. Mr. Fieldgrove then 
began the real duties of life. He set 
about to solve the bread and butter prob- 
lem in earnest. "Whatsoever thy hand 
findeth to do, do it with all thy might,'' 
became a living principle with him, and 
he carried it out to the letter, possibly 
more in things material than spiritual. 
He worked at farming, mining, saw-mill- 
ing, engineering, and, in fact, anj^thing 
else that came to him in which there was 
an honest dollar. He saved some means 
from his earnings, and being desirous of 
securing for himself a home, and settling 
his growing family down in life, where he 
could do more for them than he could 
hope to do in the more thickly settled 
communities of the East, he came West 
in 1871, and settled in Buffalo county, 
this state, where he now lives. He took 
a homestead at that date, filing on a claim 
of one hundred and sixty acres, lying on 
Wood river, about a mile north of the 
town of Shelton. There he located, and 
has since lived. He has been steadily 
engaged in farming and stock-raising, 
and it is doing no violence to truth nor 
sjieaking flatterly of him to say that he 
has succeeded far beyonil the average of 
Buffalo county farmers. He has added to 



328 



B UFFA L CO UXTY. 



his original homestead by purchase until 
he now owns a tract of four hundred acres 
in one body, lying in the famous Wood 
Kiver valley, near the corporate limits of 
the town of Shelton, all of which he has in 
a splendid state of cultivation, and which, 
under his judicious management, yield 
him a handsome revenue in some shape. 
Besides this he also owns two hundred and 
forty acres in Snider township, nine miles 
north of his home-place. He has extensive 
stock interests and is a good all-round 
farmer. His chief pursuits have been agri- 
cultural, he never havino: allowed anv- 
thing of a conflictino- nature to interfere 
with these. He has, however, been called 
on to fill a number of local ofRces, and has 
probably done more gratuitous work of an 
official and a semi-official nature than an}"^ 
other man in the eastern j^art of Buffalo 
county. In 1871, shortly after locating in 
the county, he was elected road supervisor 
of his district, and discharged the onerous 
and unremunerative duties of that position 
for nine years. Following that and during 
part of that time, he was deputy sheriff 
for the eastern part of the county. He 
has been a member of the school board of 
his district for several years. He was 
chairman of the count}' board of super- 
visors for two years, and is now serving 
his precinct as justice of the peace and his 
county as representative, having been 
elected to thelatter position in November, 
1888, and to the former in November, 
1S89. Duriniy the last term of the leo-is- 
lature, in addition to the part he took in 
the general legislation before the house, 
he was a member of the following com- 
mittees, and did special dut}' in connection 
therewith : Public lands and buildings, 
county boundaries, county-seats and town- 



ship organization, privileges and elections 
and fees and salaries. While not conspic- 
uous he was nevertheless active and useful, 
discharging his duties with zeal and fidel- 
ity, winning the favor of his co-workers 
and approval of his constituents. Mr. 
Fieldgrove is a public-spirited man, pro- 
gressive in his views, a man of sound in- 
telligence and discriminating judgment. 
He is more than a good farmer ; he is a 
clear, level-headed business man. His 
ojiinion is sougiit by his friends and neigh- 
bors on many matters outside of those 
with which he is daily engrossed, and his 
influence and favor are courted b}' many 
who prize his good will. In politics lie is 
a republican and votes tlie straight repub- 
lican ticket. He is a zealous member of 
the Masonic fraternity, and his feelings of 
fellowship towards his race and his good 
v.'ill towards his kind take largely the 
practical turn inculcated by this oldest 
and most benevolent of all the beneficial 
orders. He and his excellent wife, who 
has borne him for more than a third of 
a centuiy the cherished companionship 
which he sought with her hand, are both 
active and eilicient members of the Pres- 
b3'terian church. They have reared to 
maturity a family of eight children, some 
of whom are now married, and are them- 
selves heads of families. Their cliiklren's 
names in the order of their ages are as 
follows- — Dora, Rachel, Mary, William IL, 
Charles, Maggie, John, and Jennie. 

In personal appearance Mr. Fiekigrove 
is large of frame and hearty in manner. 
He has a kindl\' face and a warm, gener- 
ous nature. He is genial and companion- 
able, a steadfast friend, a pleasant ac- 
quaintance and an affable gentleman. 



B UFFA LO CO UNTI '. 



:320 



A 



K. IIAYDEN is the fifth son of 
Elijah and Hulda (Scott) Ilay- 
(len; the formei* a native of Alle- 
gheny county, Pa., who, when eighteen 
years of ago, left the paternal roof to seek 
his fortune in distant lands. lie traveled 
through most of the states north of the 
Mason and Dixon line, and for some time, 
also, was engaged in the lead mines of 
Illinois, and the gold mines of California, 
and was at different times engaged in 
farming, owning at one time two thousand 
acres of land in Cass and Adams counties, 
Iowa. Mr. Havden was a great reader, 
and upon all the current topics of the 
times was a very well informed man. In 
politics he was at first a republican, but be- 
came a democrat before the war. He 
believed the war to be unnecessary and 
strongly advocated peace. He joined the 
Mormon church before his marriage. 

A murder was committed in Lee county, 
Iowa, and suspicion rested upon the Hodge 
brothers, who were members of the Mor- 
mon church. Mr. Hay den was earnestly 
besought to swear that they did not enter 
the city that night, but, altiiough that 
was the link of evidence which would 
release them he would not perjure him- 
self in defense of the criminals or the 
church. Being convinced of the corrup- 
tion which prevailed the Mormon church, 
of which he was a member, he separated 
himself from it. While in Nauvoo, he 
married Miss Hulda A. Scott, also a mem- 
ber of the Mormon church, but she left the 
church with her husband, and has since 
united with the Christian church. She 
was born in 1818 in Genesee county, N. 
Y. When at the age of fourteen she 
moved to Ohio, thence to Eel River Bot- 
toms, Ind., and from there to Nauvoo, 111. 



Mr. and Mrs. Ha3'den's marriage was 

blessed by seven children, viz. — Elijah, 
Byron, Leonard, Gila (deceased), Adrian 
K., Japhan and Huldah. Mr. Hayden, 
after an absence of fifty years from Alle- 
gheny county. Pa., returned to visit his 
old home in 1883 and there died. 

A. K. Hayden, the subject of this me- 
moir, is a native of Adams county, Iowa, 
and was born in 1855. In 1858 he moved 
to Cass county, and there engaged in 
farming and teaching. He came to Ne- 
braska in 1883, continuing to teach and 
farm. Mr. Hayden inherited the inclina- 
tion to read and inform himself on the 
topics of the day, and as a result is quite 
conversant on all subjects of public inter- 
est. He was agreenbacker until the dis- 
solution of that party and has since been 
independent in politics. He was married 
in 1886, to Miss Maiy Broat, a native of 
New York, who, in 1879, came with her 
parents to Buffalo count}^, Nebraska. To 
them one child has been born — Amelia 
Mabel. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hayden have 
been identified with the Christian church 
for several years. 



WILLIAM E. KNOX. If Mr. 
Knox were stripped of all 
other virtues, his geniality 
alone is sufficient to cause him to be es- 
teemed, but with it he can truly be said 
to be honest, frugal and industrious. He 
is a son of Ambrose and Mary (Reed) 
Knox, natives of Kentuck3\ The former 
was a generous-hearted man, much es- 
teemed by those who knew him. In poli- 
tics he was a republican, and for two 
years he served as assessor. He was mar- 
ried to a Miss Reed, who was a strict 



330 



BUFFALO COUXTT. 



member of the Christian church and she 
exemplified her profession by a christian 
life. Their familv consisted of six eirls 
and three boys, viz. — Amikla (deceased) ; 
Caroline (deceased) ; John, "William E., 
Elizabeth, Taylor, Mary, Sarah, Georgean 
(deceased). The father and mother both 
de]>arted this life in the same year, 1866. 

William E. Knox, the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Bath county, Ky., in 
lS3-t. In 1868, he moved to Montgomery 
county, Ind., there engaging in farming 
till 1879, when he came to Nebraska and 
settled on a homestead of one hundred and 
sixt}' acres in section 12, township 9, 
range 17. In 1862, Mr. Knox enlisted in 
the Fourteenth Kentucky cavahy at 
Mount Sterling. He was twice taken 
prisoner by Morgan, and once, when 
attempting to escape, on his road home 
he passed a church when the congregation 
was dispersing; two of them were his 
neighbor's boys, who were in the Confed- 
erate service ; they at once captured him 
and he was marched all da}' in the rain, 
and was taken with the measles ; as a re- 
sult his eyesight is very much impaired, 
which fact entitles him to a pension. Mr. 
Knox married, in 1867, Miss Emily Trim- 
ble, a native of Montgomery county, Ky. 
She is the daughter of D. F. and Narcis- 
sus (Fox) Trimble, both natives of Ken- 
tuck}', and zealous members of the 
Christian church. Mr. Trimble was one 
of the home guards and in 1866 was 
killed by bushwhackers. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Knox have been born five children, 
viz. — Frank, Oscar, Homer, May and 
Georgie. Mr. Knox is a republican, but 
favors a reduction of the tariff. Mr. and 
Mrs. Knox are quiet but faithfql members 
of the Christian church, 



JOHN B. NEAL, an enterprising far- 
mer of Odessa township, Buffalo 
county, is the son of Henry and Eliz- 
abeth (Jerome) Neal, natives of Ohio, 
who were married in Richland county, 
Ohio, in 1830 and remained there till lSi3, 
then moved to "Waukegan, Lake county, 
111., and there remained till Mr. Neal's 
death. Politically, Mr. Neal was a repub- 
lican. Their union was blessed with 
twelve children, viz. — Caroline (deceased); 
Sarah Jane (deceased), Martin, Henry, 
Sylvester, John B., Charles J., Mary Eliz- 
abeth; Susan E., David Leroy, Theodore 
and Augustus. 

John B. Neal, the subject of this notice 
was born in Richland county, Ohio, in 
1841. "With his parents he went to "Wau- 
kegan. 111., and in 1863 enlisted in Com- 
pany C, light artillery, Second Illinois reg 
iment, and was in two engagements: Fort 
Donelson and what was called the Pine 
Bluff engagement. Mr. Neal, in company 
with an Irishman, Mr. Bartlet, was once 
surrounded by a band of sixty guerrillas, 
and they succeeded in killing eighteen of 
the latter and making their escape -with- 
out receiving a wound. He was mustered 
out of service on the 5th of August, 1865 
at Springfield, 111. He then returned to 
his home in "\Yaukegan, 111., and there re- 
mained till he came to Nebraska in 1875, 
settling on section 32, township 9, range 
17, Odessa township, Buffalo county. Mr. 
Neal has been a supporter of the repub- 
lican platform but is now a strong alliance 
man. He has been justice of the peace of 
Odessa. He was married in 1862 to Miss 
Louise Cloes, a native of Lake Bluff, 111., 
Rev. Little, of "Waukegan, officiating. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Neal have been born nine 
children, viz. — Laura (deceased), Mintie, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



331 



Augusta, Benjiuuin Martin, Clifton Parkes, 
Henry "Wilson, Kittie Elizabeth (deceased), 
Sadie Lulu, Evan John and Royal Elmer. 
If Mr. and Mrs. Neal possess one virtue in 
e.'ccess of others, it is hospitalit}'; all, with- 
out distinction of persons, receive a cor- 
dial welcome. They were connected for 
some time with the Presbyterian church 
of Kearney, but for a number of years 
have been identified with the Seventh Day 
Adventists and are consistent ailherents 
to that faith. 



JEPtOME IIATTEN. Men who begin 
life with no capital but hands and 
brains, and m\'riads to compete with 
in the struggle for a competency, and 
come out victorious, winning b\' honesty, 
frugality and industr3\ truh' deserve to 
have perpetuated their life's record. Such 
a man is the suljject of this biogra])hical 
notice, who is the son of Robert and 
Rachel (Brown) Hatten. The former was 
a native of Pennsylvania, born in Easton 
in 1806, and was reared to farming. Po- 
liticall}'^, he was a democrat. lie was an 
earnest and faithful worker in the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church for years, but his 
influence and work were by no means con- 
lined to the church ; he was always ready 
to help the poor or do good in any way 
when opportunities presented tiiemselves. 
lie was married Miss Rachel Brown, who 
was born in Pennsylvania in 1808. 
She, like her husband, was a zealous 
worker in the Methodist Episcopal church, 
])roving the sincerity of her profession in 
her daily walk and conversation. Mr. 
Hatten departed this life in 1873, followed 
by liis wife in 1886. To them were born 



seven children, viz. — Theodore, John (de- 
ceased), Sarah Jane (deceased), Alfred, 
Morris, Mary and Jerome. 

Jerome, the subject of this sketch, was 
born in Wilkesbarre, Pa., in 1847. He 
remained at home till going to the war, 
enlisting in Company A, Eighty-eighth 
Pennsylvania volunteers, in ISei. He was 
in several skirmishes ; was in the battle of 
Five Forks, and followed Lee till the time 
of his surrender; he then marched to 
Washington and was in the grand review. 
He was mustered out the tenth of June, 
1865. He then located in Penns3'lvania, 
and there remained till 1878, wiien he 
came to Nebraska, settling on section 2, 
townshi]) 9, range 17 west, in Odessa 
township, Buffalo county. Mr. Hatten 
first found employment, after coming to 
the state, with Mr. B. L. Cunningham, for 
whom he worked by the month for one 
year ; he then took the homestead and 
timber claim which he now owns, the 
most of which is under cultivation and 
well improved. Mr. Hatten is not a man 
whose energies are slackened by unfavor- 
able conditions of times, but, believing 
that honest labor judiciously directed will 
be rewarded, has practiced economy and 
given close attention to the details of his 
business, so that each year finds a balance 
in his favor. He is a republican in poli- 
tics. Mr. Hatten has been an unpreten- 
tious but consistent member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church for years. In 1871, 
he was married to Miss Mary Ellen Ilar- 
ve}', born in Fairmount township, Luzerne 
county. Pa. She is the daughter of Lewis 
and Diana (Boston) Harvey, both natives 
of Pennsylvania, and the former a sup- 
porter of the republican ticket. Lewis 
Harvey was born July 12, 1816, and 



332 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Diana (Boston) Harvey July 8, 1821. 
They were married August 1, 1840, ami 
had born to them the following children 
— Almira P., January 28, 1842; Mary E., 
January 9, 1843 ; Harriet A., December 18, 
1850. Lewis Harvey died September 14, 
1881, but Diana Harvey still survives. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harvey were co-workers 
in the Metliodist Episcopal church, with 
which church they were identified for 
years. Mrs. Hatten is also a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Hatten have been born seven 
children, viz. — Nellie, Maud, Eckford, 
Ealph, Boyd, Ida and Ora. 



CONARD B. BEOWN, a highly 
respected farmer of Odessa town- 
ship, Buffalo county, Nebr., is a 
native of Morgan count}^ Ind., born in 
18.57. He is the son of Jefferson Heze- 
kiah and Lucy (AVellnian) Brown, natives 
of Kentucky. The former, in early life, 
settled in Morgan county, Ind., and there 
followed farming. In 1862 he enlisted in 
the One Hundred Fiftj'-first Indiana vol- 
unteers, was taken to the hospital at Nash- 
ville, Tenn., and there died. Mr. Brown 
was connected with the Christian church 
for years and although quiet, he was an 
earnest christian man. He was married to 
Miss Lucy Wellman in 1850. She also was 
a member of the Christian church. To 
them were born two children, viz. — Con- 
ard B., and Ella (Mrs. Greeson) now living 
in Morgan county, Ind. Conard B.Brown, 
the subject of this biographical notice, 
migrated from Indiana in 1883, settling 
on section 4, township 8, range 17, in 



Odessa township, Buffalo county, Nebr., 
upon which he now resides. Mr. Brown 
was married to Miss Lurena Bourn, a 
native of Morgan county, Ind., in 1881, 
and to tliis union have been born three 
children, viz. — Daisy, born August 30, 
1883, and died September 10, 1884 ; Clara 
May, born July 17, 1885, and Carl E., 
born May 18, 18S7. In politics, Mr. Brown 
is a republican, and for three successive 
terms has served as township clerk. Mr. 
Brown well deserves the reputation which 
he bears for uprightness and geniality. 



HH. WINCHESTER. An old 
and honored citizen of Buffalo 
count}' and one of the first set- 
tlers of the locality where he lives is 
H. H.'Winchestei',of Platte township. Mr. 
Winchester moved into the county in 
May, 1879. He took a homestead shortly 
afterwards on the old Fort Kearney mili- 
tary reservation, which had been thrown 
open to settlement a short time previously, 
filing on lots in sections 5 and 32, his claim 
lying on Clark's island, in the Platte river. 
There he located and has since resided. 
He has a small, well-improved farm, de- 
sirably located and one that yields well. 
He has been actively and exclusively 
engaged in farming since settling in tlie 
county. Mr. Winchester had his first 
experience, however, at farming on his 
present place. Before moving West, he 
was for many 3'ears a manufacturer of 
carriages in Coleraine, Mass. Misfortune 
overtook him, as it has done thousands of 
others, and he came AVest to regain what 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



333 



he could. Measured bj bis means and 
opportunities, he has succeeded reasonably 
well. It is no mean tribute to his pluck 
and energy that he has done as well as 
lie has. He was considerably past middle 
life when the business which be had been 
engaged in for twenty-one years went to 
])ieces. It would unquestionabh', under 
the circumstances, take a strong resolution 
to make a man pull up, go to a new coun- 
try and set out afresli in a business con- 
cerning which he knew nothing practically. 
The natural impulse of most men would 
be to remain among the friends and asso- 
ciates of tiieir earlier years. But Mr. 
Wincliester's pride and sense of duty to 
tliose dependent on liim forbade him doing 
this. He came West, where, if he could 
not materially repair his own fortunes, he 
might at least put his children in a better 
way to make theirs than they could hope 
to do in the East. 

Mr. Winchester is a native of Marlboro, 
Vt., and was born in lS2i. He was reared 
there till he readied maturity' and went 
thence to Massachusetts, where he resided, 
mainly at Coleraine, till coming to Ne- 
braska. He comes of old New England 
stock, ills father, Martin Winchester, being 
a native ot Marlboro, Vt., and his mother, 
wlio bore the maiden name of Chirissa 
Ilillyard, a native of Stonington, Conn. 
Tiiese were reared in tlieir native places, 
mai'ried in the latter state, and settled in 
Marlboro, where they subsequently lived 
and died. The father died in ISW, at the 
age of sixty-one; the mother in 1S02, in 
her sixtieth year. They were plain, well- 
to-do people, spent their lives on the farm 
and were characterized for their industry 
and the economical management of their 
domestic affairs. . Thev left a family of six 



children, onl\' three of whom are now liv- 
ing. The full list is as follows — Betsie, 
Cyrus, Horace H., Eliza, George and Hi- 
ram. The last three sons are tlie ones 
now living. 

Horace H., the subject of this sketch, 
and Mary Ann Felker were married in 
June, 1849, Mrs. Winchester being a na- 
tive of New Durham, N. H. She is the 
eldest child of William and Susan (Holmes) 
Felker, her parents both being natives also 
of New Hampshire. Her father was born 
March 18, 1799, and died December 2, 
1832. Her mother was born January 19, 
1799, and died at the age of fort^^-two 
years. Their children were Mary Ann 
(Mrs. Winchester), who was born October 
9, 1827 ; Hannah Abigail, who was born 
October 19, 1829; William, w^ho was born 
Januarj^ 19, 1832, and who died one 
day after; Deborah J., who was born 
December 23, 1832, and died May 17, 
1839, making Mrs. Winchester and her 
sister, Hannah Abigail, the only survivors. 

Mr. and Mrs. Winchester are the par- 
ents of five children, all of whom are now 
living. These are — William, John, Clara, 
Ella and Charles. To these Mr. Win- 
chester has given good educational train- 
ing and they are all making their own way 
in the world in a creditable manner. Only 
two of them now remain at home, these 
being the two younger. 

Coming of New England stock Mr. 
Winchester retains many of the qualities 
of his people. His persevering industry, 
strong self-reliance, as well as his thrifty, 
economical habits, he owes to this source. 
Mellowed by age and softened b}' his 
experience with the world, his character 
has lost that metallic nature (if indeed he 
ever had it), which the New England 



334 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



character is popular!}' supposed to have, 
and he presents the appearance of a man 
who has hved to a reasonabl}- good age, 
soothed and sustained b}' a consciousness 
of having discharged his whole duty to 
those dependent on him and to liis t'ellow- 
nien. He has never aspired to an}- public 
life, being content to follow the even 
tenor of his way as an humble citizen. He 
has not failed, however, to bear his full 
share of the burden of public and neigh- 
berhood duties of that unremunerative 
kind which fall to the lot of all. 



JUDGE JOHN BARND is a native 
of the town of Finle^', Hancock 
county, Ohio, and is the fifth of a 
family of eight children born to 
Adna F. and Delemma (Whitelock) 
Barnd. On his paternal side, he is of 
German extraction ; on his maternal, 
English. On both sides he is a descend- 
ant of two of the first settled families of 
Ohio. His father, Dr. Adna F. Earnd, 
was born in Pennsylvania, reared in Ohio, 
moved after his marriage to Illinois, and 
is now a resident of Pike county, that 
state. He was educated for the medical 
profession and has long followed the 
practice of physic, being now well 
advanced in years. A great lover of 
books, a close observer of men, and an 
interested spectator in all public matters, 
his speculations have taken a wider 
range and his sphere of activity extended 
beyond the limits usually' allotted to a 
common medical practitioner. Judge 
Barnd's mother died when he was j'oung. 



The subject of this sketch was born 
February, 2, 18J4, and was reared in 
McLean county, 111. April 22, 1861, when 
he had just turned his seventeenth year, 
he enlisted in the Union army as a mem- 
ber of Company C, Twentieth Illinois 
infantr}'. This regiment enjoys the dis- 
tinction of having been one of the three 
hundred fighting regiments of the Union 
arm}'. It was organized in Lovejoy's old 
district, and composed of ten companies, 
one from each county, except Will, which 
furnished two. It was organized May 14, 
1861, at Joliet, and mustered into service 
June 15. It left camp the following 
week for Alton, and July 6 it moved to 
Cape Girardeau, Mo., reinaining there 
seven months, during which time it 
engaged in minor exjieditions, including 
the battle at Frederickstown, Mo., against 
Jeff Thompson February 2, 1862 ; then, 
in W. H. L. Wallace's brigade, McCler- 
nand's division, the regiment started for 
Fort Donelson. It participated in the 
battle there, and lost eighteen men killed, 
one hundred and eight wounded, and 
six missing. Lieutenant-colonel AVilliam 
Ervin was killed there by a shot irl the 
breast. Every man of the color guard was 
either killed or wounded. At Shiloh, the 
regiment's loss was twenty-two killed, 
one hundred and seven wounded and 
seven missing. In the Vicksburg cam- 
paign the Twentieth served in General 
Logan's division. At Raymond, it went 
into battle with two hundred and forty 
guns. It lost seventeen killed, sixty-eight 
wounded and one missing. It also 
engaged in Champion hills, Black river 
and siege of Vicksburg. It was stationed 
in the vicinity of Vicksburg from July, 
18C3, to February, 1864:, and during tlie 




.) 



" ^^ ^ 




JOHN BARND. 



month of February, went with General 
Sherman on tlie Meridian expedition. 
After the Meridian expedition they left 
Sherman and returned to Big Black river, 
whence, after a furlough, thej' marched 
to Iluntsville, Ala., and then to the front 
of Kenesaw mountain, where they again 
joined Sherman's army. June 8, 186^, it 
was assigned to dutj' in Force's brigade, 
Leggett's division, and took part in the 
Atlanta campaign ; was in the famous 
March to the Sea, the campaign through 
the Carolinas and also took part in the 
grand review at Washington. The histor}^ 
of this regiment, so far as it can be 
applied to an individual soldier, consti- 
tutes the military record of the subject of 
this sketch. It is certainly an honorable 
one. A regiment that entered the ser- 
vice with a total enrollment of one thou- 
sand and ninety-two men, as did the 
Twentieth Illinois, and lost in killed and 
wounded five hundred and three, or nearly 
half, has given ample proof of the service 
it saw, and no words of praise could con- 
fer on it greater distinction than these 
cold figures. Judge Barnd bears the 
marks of his service, having received a 
wound in the hip at Fort Donelson, and 
one in the head at Ilaymond, Miss., 
where he had four bullet holes throuirh 
his hat, and the top of his coat sleeve 
cut off. In the latter of these enoaw- 
ments, his regiment sustained the heaviest 
loss of the day. In July, 1865, after the 
close of the war, he returned to Illinois. 
Mr. Barnd married. May 5, 1865, Mary 
C, daughter of William and Susan Steven- 
son, of Lexington, McLean county, 111. 
They have two children living, viz. — Ruth 
A. and Lizzie. Settling down to the less 
martial but no less exacting duties which 



the return of peace brought, he began to 
cast about for some calling, which, if it 
did not in-ing great honor, would, at least, 
bring that which was then of much more 
practical use, bread and butter. He began 
teaching, and in the meantime took up 
the study of law. He continued in the 
school-room and pursued his law studies 
several years; in fact, until his health 
became seriously impaired and he decided 
that a change of occupation and locality 
was necessary. He was examined before 
the supreme court at Springfield, and 
admitted to the bar January 9, 1874. 
Coming West in the following spring, he 
located in Kearney and immediately 
opened a law office, and in connection 
therewith a collecting and land agency. 
He followed this business continuously 
and successfully for fifteen years, relin- 
quishing it only recently. In the mean- 
time, he served his count}' two terms as 
county judge, having been elected first in 
November, 18T0, and re elected in Novem- 
ber, 1881. He was nominated for attor- 
ney-genei'al of the state by the anti- 
monopol}' party at the convention held at 
Hastings, and was an opposition candidate 
to Judge F. G. Hamer, but was defeated 
by a little over one hundred votes in 
Buffalo county. Subsequently he was 
nominated for the same office by the 
temperance party at Omaha. 

April 1, 1888, Judge Barnd, in connec- 
tion with S. S. St. John and eastern 
parties, organized the Mutual Loan and 
Investment Company of Kearney, with 
an authorized capital of $250,000, he 
becoming vice-president and treasurer. 
August, 1889. he, in connection with Mr. 
St. John, bought of L. R. Robertson, the 
Commercial and Savings Bank of Kearney, 



3b8 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



a private bank, which they re-organized 
under the state laws, with an authorized 
capital of $luO,000, foi'ty per cent, of 
which is paid up. Judge Barnd became 
cashier and has since had the general 
management of the bank's affairs. It is 
one of the solid institutions of the 
city of Kearney and of Buffalo county, 
and is recognized as doing a safe, conserv- 
ative business. It has interested in it 
some of the best business men in Kearne}' ; 
men known for their honesty and discrun- 
inating judgment in financial matters. It 
has good backing, the stockholders own- 
ins: large amounts of real estate and other 
securities. 

Judge Barnd has had absolute faith in 
the future of Kearney and Buffalo county 
from the beginning, and he is one of the 
few " old timers " who availed themselves 
of early opportunities. He came to Kear- 
ne}' poor. As he gradually accumulated 
he invested in acre and city property, and 
these investments have brought him hand- 
some returns. He has large landed inter- 
ests, not only in Buffalo county, but in 
otlier localities of the state. He is no 
longer known in the law, his banking and 
other interests now engrossing all his 
time and attention. He has been some- 
what active in politics and is occasionally 
heard from in local matters. Formerly 
he voted and worked with the democrats, 
but more recently he has affiliated with 
the prohibitionists. He is, as he sa3'S, 
sometimes known as a " kicker." He does 
not court popularity' and cares but little 
for majorities. He fights for principles, 
and when once committed to a measure, 
believes in fighting it out without com- 
promise, fear or favor. He is clear in 
judgment, prompt in action and steadfast 



in tlie faith by which he acts. Personally, 
he is popular and socially stands high. His 
feelings for the old soldiers are naturally 
warm and his relations with them inti- 
mate. He can not but help feel that every 
old soldier is, in some sense, his brother, 
and as such entitled to a consideration at 
his hands that but few are, outside of the 
now fast-vanishing brotherhood. It is 
natural for him to feel so, for with them 
are "associated memories of the most event- 
ful years of his life. None but those who 
were actors in the scenes of ISfil-Sknow 
what these memories are. 



JW. BLAIR, a prosperous farmer of 
Platte township, Buffalo county, is 
a native of New York and a descend- 
ant of York State parentage of 
Irish and English origin. His father, 
Charles Blair, and his mother, Delilah 
White, were both born, reared, always lived 
and died in York State. His mother hav- 
ing died when he was \'oung, but little of 
her personal and famih' historv has been 
preserved in his recollection and none in 
manuscript or other more enduring form. 
His father lived to a great age, liying 
January 2, 1870, having passed his ninety- 
ninth 3'ear. He was a man of remarkable 
vitality and great physical vigor. He led 
a very orderly, temperate life, and thus in 
a great measure husbanded his strength. 
He served in the war of 1812, but never 
occupied any civil positions of distinction, 
being a plain, industrious, useful farmer. 
He was three times married and was the 
father of twelve children, three bj'his sec- 
ond marriage and nine by the last. These 
were (by the second marriage) — Charles, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



S3o 



Mary and Katie; by the last — Julia A., 
Ann, ^fary, Maggie, John "Wallace (our 
subject), Eliza, Elizabeth, AVilliam and 
Melissa. He was of Irish ancestry, his 
father, whose christian name was also 
Charles, being a nativ^e of Ireland who 
came to this country when a lad sixteen 
years of age, as family tradition relates. 

John Wallace Blair, the subject of this 
notice, was born and reared in St. Law- 
rence count}', N. Y., growing up on his 
father's farm, where he received the rudi- 
ments of an elementary education and was 
trained to the habits of industry and use- 
fulness common to farm life. The first 
event of importance in his life was his en- 
listment in the service of his country at 
the opening of the Civil war. He entered 
the Union army in December, 1802, going 
into Company K, Sixtieth New York in- 
fantry. His regiment started from Og- 
densburg, N. Y., but he joined it at Wash- 
ington, D. C, where it rendezvoused. 
It saw its first service at the second 
Bull Run, and was soon afterwards 
transferred to the Western department, 
being part of the detachment that was 
sent to the relief of Burnside, at Knox- 
ville, Tenn. It then entered the Atlanta 
campaign, and, beginning with the en- 
gagement at Lookout mountain, he was 
in all the fights down to Atlanta, chief 
among them being Resaca, Ringgold, 
Marietta, New Hope church, Peach Tree 
creek,Kenesaw mountain and the two days' 
fight at Atlanta. He was then with Sher- 
man in his famous march to the sea, wind- 
ing up with the camj)aigns through theCar- 
olinas and surrender of Johnston's army at 
Goldsboro, N. C, participating in the grand 
review at Washington and being dis- 
charged at Ogdensburg, N. Y., July 31. 



1865. He served as a private and had the 
good fortune never to be captured or 
wounded. Returning to his native place 
at the close of the war he settled down to 
the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, which 
he followed as assidiously as he had 
fought to suppress the rebellion, and, 
measured by his means and strength, with 
as much success. 

He married in 1869, and sometime af- 
terwards moved West and settled in 
Muscatine county, Iowa, where he resided 
till coming to Nebraska in Julv, 1884. On 
coming to this state he bought a relin- 
cjuishment on a tract of land in Platte 
township, Buffalo county, being part of 
the old Fort Kearney military reservation. 
On this he filed a soldier's homestead 
claim, settled, and has since resided tliere. 
This tract comprises one hundi'ed and 
fifty-two acres and a fraction, and lying be- 
tween the channels of the Platte river, is 
mostly hay-land. Mr. Blair has added to 
it bj' pui'chase a quai-ter section adjoining 
it, making a large tract, which he has 
well stocked and some of which is well 
improved. He is a farmer in the strictest 
sense of the word, and is a successful one. 
He believes in the diversification of farm 
interest and carries out in practice what 
so many teach onl}^ in theory. He has a 
good home and good improvements; 
every thing on his place gives evidence of 
the thrift, order and good management 
that prevail there. 

Losing his first wife after moving to 
Iowa, Mr. Blair married again in August, 
1876, the lady whon) he married being 
Miss Nancy E. Hallenbeck, then of Iowa 
City, Iowa, but a native of Pen.nsylvania. 
Seven children have been born to this 
union — Gertrude A., Isaac Herbein, May 



Ursula, William Wallace, George Robert, 
Maud Delilah and Schuyler Morton. For 
these, and because he is a public-spirited 
citizen, Mr. Blair has taken great inter- 
est in the educational interests of his 
township, having been a member of 
the school board ever since he has resided 
in it. He has never aspired to pul)lic life 
and has never filled any public position. 
He votes the straight republican ticket 
and is a stanch supporter of the principles 
and practices of his party. 



HS. TOWERS is one of the oldest 
settlers, and one of the best 
farmers and most intelligent 
and upright citizens of Platte township, 
Buffalo county. Mr. Towers is a New 
Englander b}^ birth and comes of New 
England ancestry, of Scotch and English 
origin. His first ancestor in this country 
on his father's side was Robert Towers, 
his grandfather, who was born in Scot- 
land, and emigrated to America when a 
lad, settling in one of the New England 
states, probably Vermont. The name of 
his first ancestor on his mother's side, who 
came to this country, is lost in the mists of 
the past. His father, Safford Towers, 
was born and reared in the town of Rich- 
mond, Vt., and there met and married 
Eunice Manwell, daughter of Stephen and 
Dulcina Manwell, of that place, where 
she also was born. From that point he 
set out in 1854: with his little family for 
the Pacific coast, with the intention of 
making his future home in Cahfornia. 
This was a hope, however, never to be 
realized, for he died on the passage and 
his family remained on the coast only six 



months, returning thence to Vermont, 
where the two children — Henry Safford, 
the subject of this notice, and Frances, 
now wife of A. W. Edwards— grew up, 
and where the latter, with her mother, 
continues to reside. 

Henry Safford Towers was born in the 
town of Milburn, Mass., in 1847, but was 
reared mainly in Richmond, Chittenden 
county, Vt. He grew up mostly on the 
farm and received a good common-school 
education. The first event of importance 
in his life, as it was the su]ireme event in 
the lives of hundreds of young men who 
came on the stage of action about the 
time he did, was his enlistment in the 
army. He entered the service in Decem- 
ber, 186i, enlisting in Company M, First 
Frontier cavahy, being part of the arm of 
the Union service that was organized by 
the States of New York and Vermont to 
guard the St. Lawrence river. He served 
till after the surrender, being discharged 
June 29, 1865, at Burlington, Vt. 

On December 2, 1867, Mr. Towers mar- 
ried Miss Marion Rogene Jewell, a daugh- 
ter of Sawyer and Maria Jewell, she then 
being a resident of Richmond, Vt., where 
she was reared, but a native of Schuyler 
Falls, N. Y., her parents being natives of 
Vermont, her father still being a resident 
of the Green Mountain State, her mother 
dying in 1857. Settling down to the pur- 
suit of agriculture, Mr. and Mrs. Towers 
resided in Vermont and Massachusetts, 
mostly in the latter state, till 1878, when 
they came to Nebraska and settled in 
January of that year on a claim- on th& 
old Fort Kearney military' reservation in 
Buffalo count}', which had been thrown 
open to settlement just previous to that 
time. There they have since resided. 



BUFFALO f'OVNTY. 



341 



Mr. Towers has been steadily engaged in 
farming since settling in the county, his 
place being one of the oldest, as it is one 
of the best improved, places in his town- 
sliip. lie moved on to it when it was a 
raw prairie, and what it is be has made it 
oy his own patient industry and thought- 
ful attention. He assisted in the organi- 
zation of his township and school district 
and has held a number of local offices, 
having been school director, road super- 
visor and justice of the peace. 

Mr. and Mrs. Towers are the parents of 
five children — Wilbur Henrv, Ethel E., 
Lena M., Albert S. and Anna A. He and 
his excellent wife are devout adherents of 
tlie faith of the Seventh Day Adventists. 
Their home life is distinguished for its 
earnest devotion to religious duty, for its 
simplicity and many acts of christian 
charity. Mr. and Mrs. Towers are botii 
peo})le of a vast deal more tlian ordinary 
intelligence and refinement, and possess a 
marked appreciation of the social ameni- 
ties of life. The neatness, quiet and order 
of their home, their kindness, generosity 
and hospitality, as well as the purity and 
uprigiitness of their lives, are the best 
commentary that could be made on their 
religious faith. "By their fruits 3'e shall 
know them." 



A 



NDREW J. HEERICK, farmer of 
Platte township, Buffalo county, is 
a native of New York, having been 
born on Grand island in Niagara river in 
June, 1833. He comes of York State par- 
entage, originally from New England. 
His father, Joshua Herrick, was born and 
reared in New York, served in the war of 



1812, and died in the town of Alabama in 
Genesee county, his native state, in 1837. 
Mr. Herrick's grandfather Herrick was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war, being 
colonel of a Vermont regiment and an as- 
sociate of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and 
John Stark, of Revolutionary fame. Mr. 
Herrick's mother bore the maiden name 
of Margaret Shutter and lived and died in 
her native state, New York. There were 
four children born to Joshua and Marga- 
ret Herrick — Nathan, who died in tiie 
Union army during the late war; Rufus, 
Abigail, and Andrew J., the subject of this 
sketch. 

Andrew J. Herrick grew up in his na- 
tive place, and starting west in pursuit of 
his fortunes, made his first stop in Law- 
rence count}', Illinois. In 1852 he entered 
the United States army, enlisting in Com- 
pany G, Fourth regulars, and serving on 
the frontier. He crossed the plains many 
times during the term of his service and 
rendezvoused about old Fort Kearney and 
Fort Laramie when all the countrv west 
of the Missouri was an endless stretch of 
prairie, covered with Buffalo and infested 
with Indians. He served till September, 
1858, when he was mustered out at Jeffer- 
son barracks, St. Louis, Mo. Returning 
to Illinois he stopped at Springfield, but 
remained there only a short time, going 
thence to Michigan, where, in 1861, on the 
opening of the Civil war he again enlisted 
in the service of his country, entering as a 
volunteer in Company G, " Piper's Western 
sharp shooters." After several months' 
service in this command he was discharged 
on account of his defective hearing, but 
entered the service again in September, 
ISG.'i, enlisting in Company G, Eleventh 



Michigan cavalry. 



He served through 



343 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Kentucky, being in the engagements about 
Lexington, Paris, Mt. Sterling, C3'nthiana, 
and intervening points. He was wounded 
in the fight at Saltville, October 2, 1864, 
and taken prisoner, being subsequently 
exchanged at Richmond, Ya. He served 
till July, 1865, returning then to Calhoun 
county, Mich., where he settled down. 
August 7, 1865, he married Miss Caroline 
E. Bemis of that county, who was born in 
N"ew York State, moving to Michigan when 
sixteen years of age with her parents. 
He resided in Michigan till August, 1881) 
when he moved to Nebraska, settling on 
Elm Island in Platte township, Buffalo 
county, where he took a soldier's home- 
stead and where he has since continued to 
live. Hr. Herrick is getting well along in 
years now and has seen a vast amount of 
hardship, most of it while serving in his 
country's cause. He comes of the patri- 
otic stock of which the best Araei'ican sol- 
diers are made, his famil}^ having fur- 
nished a volunteer soldier to the three 
great wars through which this country 
has passed — the Revolutionary war, the 
war of 1812 and the late Civil war. Mr. 
Herrick talks interestingh^ of his war 
days, and lie has many thrilling episodes 
and experiences, whicii, if faithfully taken 
down and properly embellished, would 
makes an interesting and valuable record. 
He still stands like tiie ruo'o:ed oak which 
has withstood the winds and rains and 
lightning blasts of many storms, yielding 
only to the crumbling touch of time, its 
scarred and weather-beaten form contrast- 
ing strangely with the peaceful quiet of 
its surroundings. Mr. Herrick has but 
one child, a son now grown, William, 
around whom cluster the interest, care 
and solicitude of an affectionate father. 



JK. DAVIDSON is the son of Beverly 
and Sarah S. Davidson. The former, 
a native of McLean county. 111., was 
born in 1832, and from there he 
moved to Missouri, thence to Iowa, and 
then returned to Illinois, where he re- 
mained till death, which occurred in 1872. 
He was a democrat in politics. Mr. 
Davidson was, for years, a member of the 
Christian church, and married Miss Sarah 
Hood, in 1852. She was a native of Illi- 
nois, born in 1837, and also was a member 
of the Christian church, and, although 
quiet and unassuming, was zealous in ad- 
vancing the interests of the chuix-h. Their 
family consisted of five boys and two 
girls, viz. — J. K., our subject ; Alvin Wil- 
son, (died 1881) ; Ida Theodosia (Mrs. 
McBride, lives in Ilhnois) ; Chas. Newton, 
Cora Francis, Beverl}' Earl. Tiie father 
of Mrs. Sarah S. Davidson was W. T. 
Hood, a native of Virginia. Her mother, 
Theodosia Hood, was also a native of Vir- 
ginia. J. K. Davidson, the subject of this 
memoir, is a native of Iowa, born in 185 J:. 
He, with his parents, moved to Woodford 
countj^. 111., thence to Missouri, and there 
remained about five j'ears and then re- 
turned to Illinois. Thence Mr. Davidson 
came to Nebraska, in 1884, settling in 
Logan township, Buffalo county, on sec- 
tion 32, township 9, range 19 ; then on sec- 
tion 20, township 10, range IS west. Mr. 
Davidson had launched his bark and began 
to paddle for himself in 1877. He began 
with nothing; and now has a quarter sec- 
tion of land, horses, hogs and all necessary 
farming implements. Politically he is a 
democrat. In 1877 he was married to 
Miss M. C. Roby, a native of Columbus, 
Ohio, born in 1860. She is the daughter 
of P. and Mary Roby, natives of Ohio; 



B UFFA L CO UNTY 



343 



the former born in 1810 and tlie latter in 
1820, and both members in good standing 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Davidson have been born 
four children, viz. — Bessie L., born July 
5, ISSO, died February 22, 1881; Leslie 
Honor, born 1882 ; Cash C, born 1884, 
and Beverly C, born 1887. 



MILTON J. SPRY. This gentle- 
man is one of the earliest 
settlers of Buffalo county, and 
although he has not accumulated as much 
of this world's goods as many others in 
this vicinitv, he has, b}' his honest, 
upright christian life, established a repu- 
tation among his neighbors and acquaint- 
ances which is woi'th far more as a herit- 
age to his posterity than the riches of 
this world. He was born July 27, 1841, 
in JMuskingum county, Ohio, and is the 
son of \Yiiliam M. and Mary (Vernon) 
Spry, both of whom are natives of Ohio, 
the former having been born in 1810; 
the latter in 1812. There were twelve 
children in the father's family, as fol- 
lows — Elizabeth J., Lucinda, Emily, 
Martha A., Milton J., Joseph W., Samuel 
U., William E., John E., Mary, Chas. W., 
and Christina. Mr. Spry lived at home 
in Muskingum county, Ohio, until eleven 
years of age, when he emigrated with his 
fatlier to Henry county, Iowa, where he 
followed farming until the spring of 1873 
when, in March, he came to Buffalo 
county, Nebr., and took up as a homestead 
one hundred and sixty acres in section 24. 
township 10, range 16, on which he lived 
for eleven years. The first four years, up 



to 1877, the crops, on account of drought 
and grasshoppers, were almost a total 
failure, and Mr. Spr}^ and family hatl to 
endure much suffering and privation. In 
the spring of 1873, there were few 
settlers in the vicinity of Mr. Spry's 
claim, and deer and antelope roamed at 
will. Elk, while not plentiful, were yet 
to be found, and an occasional buffalo 
was killed. The Pawnee Indians trapped 
along the Wood and Loup rivers, and fre- 
quently called upon Mr. Spry for some- 
thing to eat. In 1877, a new era of pros- 
perity dawned upon this section of coun- 
try, and the drought and grasshoppers, 
which proved so ruinous to the crops for 
the three preceding 3'ears, were no longer 
to be contended with. He has had good 
average crops ever since. 

Mr. Spry was a soldier in the war of 
the Rebellion, and participated in some 
of the hardest battles that were fought. 
He enlisted August 22, 1862, in Company 
B, Twenty -fifth Iowa infantry, and was in 
what was known as the Western depart- 
ment of the army, under General Grant. 
He took an active part in the battles of 
Mission ridge, Lookout mountain, Arkan- 
sas Post and Vicksburg. During the 
charge at Vicksburg, he was wounded in 
the hand, and lost two fingers in the 
battle of Mission ridge, for which he 
receives a pension of eight dollars per 
month. He was discharged July 17, 
1805. 

Mr. Spry was married, November ."), 
18ti8, to Charlotte L. Morrison, who was 
born in Muskingum county, Ohio, Decem- 
ber 12, 1849, and is a daughter of John 
S. and Susana (Steenrod) Mori'ison, both 
natives of Ohio; the former was born in 
1823 ; the latter in 1820. 



344 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



Tlie union of Mr. and Mrs. Spry has 
been blessed with nine children, as fol- 
lows — Minna A., born August 5, 1869; 
Frank N"., born June 7, 1872; Louis J., 
born June 14, 1874 ; Emma F., born 
November 14, 1876; "William II., born 
February 20, 1878; Dora M., born Decem- 
ber 24, 1879 ; Lero\' E., born August 3, 
1883; John E., born October 31, 1885, 
and Horton H., born September 22, 1887. 
Mr. and Mrs. Spry are both active mem- 
bers of the Metliodist church, and take a 
great interest in church work. Politic- 
ally, Mr. Spry is a republican. 



GEORGE MEISNER. If in this 
volume of recorded personal 
achievements space should be 
apportioned among its several subjects 
according to the degree of their success, 
George Meisner, of the town of Shelton, 
\vhose part in the settlement and develop- 
ment of his adopted county this article 
commemorates, would demand an amount 
of attention at our hands which we fear 
his usually modest nature would hardly 
approve of. As Mr. Meisner has reached 
tlie jiosition he now occupies by starting, 
in all his undertakings, at the very 
beginning of them, and proceeding, step 
by step, in an even, stead}' and orderly 
wa3% we shaJl imitate his example, at 
least to some extent, in the unfolding of 
his record by beginning with some facts 
which will be worth the recording con- 
cerning his earlier years and come down 
with the record to the present time. 

He was born in the province of Bavaria, 
Germany, March 19, 1845, Wiien three 



years of age, he came with his parents to 
this countr}^ locating in Troy, N. Y. 
Here his father went into business and 
lived till 1853, when, on account of a dis- 
astrous fire, he lost all he had. Deciding, 
then, to come West, he moved to Iowa 
and settled in Tama county, going onto a 
farm and beginning life anew. There the 
earlier years of the subject of this sketch 
were spent, and it is no disparagement to 
the management of his father nor any 
discredit to Mr. Meisner himself to say 
that those years witnessed a series of long, 
hard struggles in the Meisner household. 
Those struggles did not consist alone in 
the difficult undertaking of making a start 
in a comparatively new country unsur- 
rounded by the helps and conveniences 
found in the East; they were struggles, 
oftentimes, for bread and butter, with 
nothing with which to keep " the wolf 
from the door " save the willing hands 
and stout hearts of father, mother and 
children. Mr. Meisner told, in an amusing 
way, to the writer of this sketch, of the 
time when, as a lad, he was sent on the 
prairie with the only yoke of cattle to 
graze, and how, a storm coming up, they 
got away from him, drifted off and were 
lost, thus losing to the family the last hoof 
they had. A dozen yoke might be cut 
out of the fourteen or fifteen hundred 
head which he now owns and he would 
never miss them. Not so then, however. 
Those cattle were a sore loss. It was 
during those years that Mr. Meisner 
learned something of the value of money, 
and something also of the way to make 
it. It was then that he formed the habits 
of industry and economy' which have 
been the chief sources of his success 
since. There was no idling around the 




GEORGE MEISNER. 



BUFFALO COVNTY. 



347 



Meisner homestead. There was no wast- 
ing eitlier of energy or material. Every- 
thing was turned to account. Everything 
was made to pay. Sucli industry and 
management must of necessity win. The 
Meisners could not always remain in 
straightened circumstances. Each j'ear 
hrought an improvement in their worldly 
affairs, and as the children grew up and 
added their aid to that of their parents 
the progress became more rapid. Old 
neighbors of Mr. Meisner, who lived by 
him in Tama county, state that the sons 
were regarded as good farmers when they 
were boys. Mr. Meisner himself was one 
of the largest farmers in his county before 
he was twenty-one years old. An instance 
showing this is told by the old soldiers who 
went from Tama county and who are 
now residents of this, Buffalo county. 
When the call was made for volunteers 
Mr. Meisner's father, elder brother and 
brother-in-law volunteered and were ac- 
cepted. Mr. Meisner, then just turned 
into his sixteenth year, offered himself at 
the first call and at each succeeding call, 
making five efforts to get into the service; 
but the committee of ladies to whom was 
delegated the authority to select those 
who should go, struck Mr. Meisner's name 
from the list each time, and gave their 
reason that he was the best farmer in the 
county and he could be better spared from 
the army than he could from home — • 
which opinion was concurred in by all 
who knew the facts. 

Mr. Meisner has made money from the 
beginning of his career and he was in 
good circumstances when he came to Ne- 
braska. In fact he owned over four 
hundred acres of good lantl in Tama, 
county, Iowa, which he had well im- 



proved and well stocked and which was 
3'ielding a handsome revenue. But he 
wished to do better and he believed Ne- 
braska was the place to do it. He decided 
to try it at any rate. lie came to the 
state first in the fall of 1870 and bought 
a section of land in Buffalo county about 
two miles north of the present town of 
Shelton. He returned to Iowa, sold out, 
and in company with his father (Casper 
Meisner), T. J. Taylor, William Wallace 
and Thomas Carson, moved out in the 
spring of 1871 and settled. The tract of 
land which he bought was section 25, 
township 10, range 13 west. He was 
entitled to a homestead of SO acres and 
he filed on that amount in section 24-, 
where he located and began his career as 
a Nebraska farmer. His first years here 
were much like those of the average set- 
tler, except that they were marked by 
greater activity and closer management. 
He made no very lasting improvements 
on his homestead. He had no urgent 
need for any at that time. He was still a 
single man and he could afford to live in 
the primitive dug-out. After about six 
years spent in this way he built a combi- 
nation barn and granary on a place which 
he had bought in the meantime, being the 
one where he now lives, got married and 
moved in, occupying his granary until he 
could erect adwelling. He began his ))res- 
ent residence in May, 1878, and soon after 
moved into it, and here he has continued 
to live since, excepting about three years 
of residence in the town of Shelton. Mr. 
Meisner has been farming and stock-rais- 
ing since the day he came into the county, 
and no man has ever been in Buffalo county 
and discussed the conditions of agriculture 
there and the chances of success at farm- 



348 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



ing, who has not heard of George Meisner. 
He has been a signal success and is uni- 
versally pointed to as such. The most of 
his accumulations have been made since 
settling in this county, although, as al- 
read}^ stated, he had a reasonably good 
start. He now owns between twenty-six 
and twenty-seven hundred acres of land 
lying in the famous Wood Eiver valley at 
its junction with the Platte valley, nearly 
every foot of which is bringing in a 
revenue in some shape. This land lies in 
Buffalo and Hall counties and most of it 
in the immediate vicinity of the town of 
Shelton. Mr. Meisner is a large stock 
dealer, handling from fourteen to fifteen 
hundred head of cattle all the time. He 
is constantly buying, feeding and shipping. 
In the town of Shelton, he owns eight 
business buildings, these comprising some 
of the handsomest brick blocks in the 
place. He built the Opera House and 
the First National Bank block, both of 
which are a credit to the town and a 
monument to his liberality and public 
spirit. Besides these he owns something 
like a dozen residences, large and small, 
in the town. Mr. Meisner began to 
handle bank stock some years ago, 
before Shelton was large enough to 
support a banking institution. He then 
did his banking at Kearney. Later, how- 
ever, he decided to establish a bank for 
himself, and in 1S8J: he started a private 
bank at Shelton with a capital of $35,000. 
This answered the purpose for which it 
was organized and ran successfully until 
June, 1889, when it was re-organized as a 
national bank, with a paid-up capital of 
$50,000, the charter members being 
George Meisner, J. H. Bobbins, H. J. 
Bobbins, M. G. Lee, Henry Fieldgrove 



and George Smith. Mr. Meisner was 
elected president, H. J. Bobbins vice-presi- 
dent, and A. H. Sterrett cashier. These con- 
stitute the present working force of the 
bank, with the addition of F. H. More, 
assistant cashier. The First is the only 
national bank in Shelton. Although not 
the largest, it is, nevertheless, one of the 
most prosperous banks in the county. It 
owes much of its success to the wise coun- 
sel and judicious management of its effi- 
cient chief executive, and not a little also 
to the solidity of his reputation as a finan- 
cier. 

Let us turn again for a moment before 
closing this sketch to Mr. Meisner's domes- 
tic life and record some facts whicli, if 
they may not seem of the utmost import- 
ance to the general reader, will, neverthe- 
less, be of absorbing interest to the little 
ones now around him who will in after 
years read this record. 

When Mr. Meisner's father, Casper 
Meisner, enlisted in the army in the late 
war, he entered as a member of company 
C, Tenth Iowa infantry. He was with 
his regiment through its entire ser- 
vice and took his part in evciy battle it 
fought and did a soldier's duty faithfully. 
When the war was over he returned to 
his iiome in Tama county, Iowa, and lived 
there till he came to Nebraska. He 
farmed for some years in Buffalo county, 
and then went into the mercantile business 
in Shelton, at which he continued success- 
fully till his death, in March, 1879, in 
the sixty-seventh year of his age. He 
was a man of indomitable energy, and a 
hard worker all his life. Having met 
with some financial reverses he knew the 
value of a dollar, and thus learned to 
manage his affairs with care and discre- 



BUFFALO COUJSITY 



340 



tion. He \Tas devotedly attached to his 
family, and it may be said that the latter 
part of his life he lived chiefly for them. 
He gave his children the besfof counsel, 
and he enforced all his teachings with a 
good personal examjile in himself. 

George Meisner's mother died in IStJ-i, 
while the family was yet all together in 
Iowa. She was a good type of her race 
and sex, being an industrious, frugal 
housewife, and passionately fond of her 
children. Mr. Meisner is the youngest of 
three children, the eldest being a sister, 
Mary, now wife of Frederick Shaffer, living 
near Alburn, Iowa, and John, of Toledo, 
Tama count}', Iowa. Both of these are 
in prosperous circumstances, having splen- 
did homes and plenty around them, and 
themselves the heads of families. 

In his own married life Mr. Meisner has 
passed through tiie sunshine and the 
shadows. He married October 3, 1877, 
his choice falling on a neio-hbor girl whom 
he had known for several years. Miss 
Rachel Fieldgrove, daughter of Hon. 
Henry Fieldgrove, an eminent and re- 
spectable citizen of Buffalo county. For 
more than twelve years Mr. JNIeisner's 
wife bore him the cherished companion- 
ship which every true man seeks in mar- 
riage, sharing with him his jo3's and light- 
ening for him his burdens, not only by 
the kind and generous offices which every 
true wife is supposed to perform, but by 
extending her help and sympathies beyond 
a wife's usual sphere, entering actively 
into all his business matters and render- 
ing him most practical and efficient aid. 
After a lingering illness of some weeks, 
during which her condition brought alter- 
nate hopes and fears, the shadow of the 
grim spectre finally crossed the threshold 



and her spirit passed away, her eyes closing 
for the last time upon the Hght of this 
world November 9, 1S89. Besides her hus- 
band, four little girls survive her — Dora, 
Nora, Cora and Lulie. Around these now 
cluster the chief interest of Mr. Meisner's 
life. For these only does he live. 



JASPER FISH. This much honored 
and esteemed gentleman is one of 
the early settlers of Buffalo county, 
having settled in the Wood River 
valley in the spring of 1872. He was 
born at "Woodstock, Vt., March 23, 1826, 
and is the son of Nathan and Betsey (Hale) 
Fish. The former, a farmer by occupa- 
tion, was a native of Vermont, born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1786 ; the latter, a native of 
New Hampshire, was born March 30, 
1786. There were seven children in 
Nathan's family, two boys and five girls, 
as follows — Marcia, Lucia, Harriet, Linus 
(died 1877), Laura, Jasper and Isabel. 
The father died in 1843, aged fifty-seven 
years ; the mother in 1868, aged eighty- 
two years. 

The paternal grandparent, Nathan Fish, 
was a native of Massachusetts, born in 
the year 1758, and was a farmer by occu- 
pation, and a soldier in the Revolutionary 
war. The paternal grandmother, Abigail 
(Pierce) Fish, also a native of Massachu- 
setts, was born in 1757. The mater- 
nal grand])arents were John and Mary 
(Whitcomb) Hale, both natives of Massa- 
chusetts, and born respectively in 1754 
and 1753. 

Jasper Fish, the subject of this bio- 
graphical memoir, resided at home on his 



350 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



father's farm in Vermont, until nineteen 
years of age, during which time he 
attended school in the winter and helped 
his father on the farm in summer. In the 
spring of 1845 he went to Lowell, Mass., 
and after working there one year, entered 
New burg seminary, Vt. He continued 
his studies there, and at Springfield, in 
his native state, working and teaching to 
pay his expenses, until the spring of 1851, 
when he entered the sophomore class in 
"Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 
He graduated with honors in the classical 
course, in 1853, receiving the degree of 
A. B. After leaving the university he 
taught in Virginia and in Massachusetts, 
and in 1856 came "West and taught in 
Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. 

May 16, 1864, he responded to his coun- 
try's call for more troops and enlisted in 
Company C, Forty-fourth Iowa volunteer 
infantry. He served on picket and guard 
duty in Tennessee under General C. C. 
Washburn and was mustered out Septem- 
ber 15, 1864. He went East in 1865 and 
continued teaching until the spring of 
1868, when he located at Syracuse, N. Y., 
residing there until 1872, during which 
time he worked on directories and gazet- 
teers. 

He came to Buffalo county, March 21, 
18Y2, and entered a homestead, a quarter- 
section in the Wood Eiver valley, four 
miles north of Keai'ney, and built an 
eight by twelve board shanty on his claim, 
in which he kept bachelor's hall. This 
was the third house built in the township, 
and the first one north of the Wood river. 
The Pawnee Indians were quite numerous 
in those days, and were engaged in trap- 
ping and hunting on the Wood river. 
They paid his cabin an occasional visit, for 



the purpose of begging flour and meal, 
but other than this they never molested 
him. Deer and antelope were plentiful, 
and elk were to be seen occasionally. 

Mr. Fish boarded with a family, for a 
time, on the opposite bank of the river, 
and relates a rather humorous experience 
which occurred during a spring freshet. 
He arose one morning, and, proceeding in 
the directoin of his boarding house, found 
the river had risen during the night 
beyond the capacity of its banks, and the 
bridge gone. He was in a sad plight, as 
there was no bridge for miles on which he 
could cross. His landlord contrived a plan 
for relief by t3'ing a cord to each handle 
of a dish-pan and throwing one end across 
the stream. In this manner he received 
his breakfast ; milked the cow, which was 
on his side of the river, retained enough 
for his dinner, then started the remainder 
on the return voyage, in the dish-pan. 
But, alas! in midstream the vessel 
swamped, and the milk mingled with 
the turbid waters. After this, the liquid 
refreshments were transported in a jug, 
tightly corked, while chunks of bread and 
meat were tiirown to him b}' his landlord, 
with all the accuracy of a professional 
base-bali player. In this manner Mr. Fish 
received his meals for three days. 

During the winter of 1873, Mr. Fish 
built himself a sixteen by twenty story- 
anda-half frame house. He raised fair 
crops for the first two years, but in 1874 
the grasshoppers destro\'ed everything, 
with the exception of a few bushels of 
wheat. The crops of 1875 were fair, 
and 1876 were a repetition of 1874. and 
Mr. Fish states that if he had sold his seed 
and turned his team to pasture, he would 
have had more mone}' m the fall. By 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



351 



selling butter and eggs, eating wild game 
and practicing the most rigid economy, lie 
was able to keep soul and body together. 

In 1882 he sold his quarter-section for 
$2,500, and bought for $1,000 the quarter 
just east of it, where he now resides. One 
thing can be said of Mr. Fish which can 
be said of few Western farmers, that he 
has never mortgaged a single dollar's 
worth of real or personal property, and 
has never paid a dollar of interest on 
mone}' at a higher rate than ten per cent. 

He is a member of the Methodist 
church ; was one of the first trustees of 
the church in Kearnev, and in the early 
days he was prominent in the organization 
of a Sunday-school in his district school 
house. Mr. Fish has never been married. 
His sister, Lucia Fish, has been his house- 
keeper since 1873. She is a native of Ver- 
mont, born at Woodstock, May 12, 1817. 
A consistent member of the Methodist 
church, with her brother she helped to 
organize and conduct the first Sunday- 
school in their vicinity. 

Mr. Fish is a firm believer in the prin- 
ciples of the republicans, having voted 
that ticket ever since the organization of 
the party. 



ROBEET G. PAEKEK, a frugal, 
industrious farmer of Eiv^erdale 
^ township, Buffalo county, is the 
son of Henry and Henrietta (Gayetty) 
Parker, the former of whom was a native 
of London, England, and came to America 
in 18-i-t, locating in Pittsburg, Pa., thence 
moving to Hlinois. He \vas a cabinet- 
maker by trade and was considered a very 
skilled workman. Turning to farming: he 



purchased his brother's farm in Carroll 
count}'. 111., and resided there till death, 
which occurred in 1S71, at tiie age of 
seventy-seven. He was united in mar- 
riage with Henrietta Gayett}', a native of 
Pennsylvania, in 1853, at Galena, 111., by 
the maj'or of that city. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Parker were born three children — Eobert 
G., George (now living in Dakota anil by 
occupation a farmer), and Ehzabeth (Mrs. 
Eeed), who lives in Brown county, Nebr. 

Eobert G.,the subject of this biography', 
was born in Carroll county. Ills., in 1856. 
Being of an adventurous and independent 
turn of mind, he determined to seek a 
home for himself in the then " wild West," 
and first settled in Eiverdale township, 
Nebr., in the spring of 1873. The first 
year his entire crops wei'e destroyed by 
the grasshoppers and he was obliged to 
go to Adams county for necessary pro- 
visions. His perseverance and courage 
not being daunted bv these calamities, he 
still evinced that characteristic peculiar 
to him, pertinacity of purpose. Being 
without money, his only resoiu-ce was an 
enviable reputation for honorableness, 
and Mr. Green, knowing this, supplied 
him with the necessary seed grain, to be 
paid for after harvest. From this seed, 
when sown, eleven hundred bushels were 
harvested, which sold at 90 cents per 
bushel. 

In 1881 he went to Colorado and there 
prospected for silver for some time, and 
from there went to New Mexico, and put 
in one j'ear on a sheep ranch. lie then re- 
tui'ued to Eiverdale township, Nebr., in 
1885, and engaged in farming, giving es- 
pecial attention to raising recorded Ches- 
ter white hogs. Mr. Parker, at present 
owns two hundred and forty acres of land 



352 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



beautifully located and well improved. 
His success is largely due to economy and 
hard work. 

Politically, Mr. Parker is independent, 
but is friendly to tariff reform. 

Mr. Parker was married June, 1886, to 
Miss Angeline Grammer, tlaughter of 
Charles M. and Martha Grammer, of 
Adams county 111. 



WILLIAM C. HUGGINS is a 
frugal, thrifty and enterpris- 
ing farmer of Eiverdale 
township, Buffalo county, and is the son 
of Edward and Elizabeth Wright Huggins. 
The former VA'as a native of Kentucky, 
and from there moved to Indianapolis, 
Indiana, and thence to Iowa, and there 
died in 1871. Mr. Huggins was a quiet 
prosperous farmer and politicall}'^ was a 
democrat, and was noted for kindhearted- 
ness and generosity to persons in need. 
Mrs. Huggins, the subject's mother, was a 
native of Indiana. She was identified for 
years with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and distinguislied herself as a 
kind, devoted christian woman. Mr. and 
Mrs. Huggins were blessed with nine 
children, viz. — Martha Ann (deceased), 
Ellen Ora (deceased), Nancy (Mrs. 
Wynn), Maria (deceased), William C, 
Kate (Mrs. Sawyers), Susan (Mrs. Blank- 
enship), Tliomas and John. 

William C. Huggins, the subject of this 
memoir, was born in Davis county, Iowa, 
in 1S54-, and there remained till 1S75; he 
then came to Nebraska and bought one 
quarter of section 8, township 9, range 16 



west. He I'eturned the following year to 
Iowa and remained there till 1881:, then 
came to Nebraska, settling on the farm 
which he had bought and which is now 
well improved and beautifully located. 
Mr. Huggins is in good financial condition, 
and possesses that which is more to be 
desired than wealth — a good name. Mr. 
Huggins was united in marriage to Miss 
L. Q. Ewing in 1876. She was born in 
Davis county, Iowa, in 1860, and has for 
some time been identified with the Presby- 
terian church. Their home has been 
blessed with three children, the eldest of 
wiiich diedin infancy; the living twoare — 
Zana Beryl, born October 3, 1880, and 
Edna Pearl, born May 13, 1886. Mr. 
Huggins is a supporter of the democratic 
platform. 



ISAAC K. WEIGHT is one of the first 
settlers in the South Loup valley. 
He was born in Bourbon count}', Ky., 
July 4, 1821, and remained at home, 
working on the farm, until about twenty- 
two years old, and then went to Shelby 
county, Ky., where he remained one year. 
He then came West and traveled over a 
portion of Missouri in search of a suitable 
tract of land, and finally purchased six 
hundred and forty acres in Andrews 
county, near St. Joe. He remained there 
three years, and in 1846 went to the 
Mexican war; in 1848 he started across 
the plains for California, as assistant 
wagon-master in a train of provisions, and 
remained in California twenty years. He 
began mining for gold, but, having no 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



353 



success, soon gave it up. He then opened 
a hav market in Sacramento, which he 
continued for one 3'ear, with considerable 
success. He next engaged in faro and 
monte, and made $150,000, after which 
he engaged in buying and selling cattle, 
which business he continued until 1868, 
when he returned to Kentuck\% having 
made in all since he left, $l(»0,00O. He 
remained in Kentuck}' but a short time, ■ 
and then went to Missouri and engaged 
in the cattle business. In 1873 he sold 
out his cattle interests in Missouri and 
came to Buffalo county, Nebr., purchasing 
320 acres on the South Loup river, and 
went into the ranch business. In those 
days, deer, elk, antelope, beaver and otter 
were plentiful ; also a great many Indians. 
Mr. Wright was very friendly with the 
Indians and could speak their language 
perfectly. The Indians made his place a 
kind of rendezvous and he used to fre- 
quently kill a heifer and treat them to a 
feast. In this manner he made them his 
friends, and while others in that region 
were continually having cattle stolen, he 
was never molested in any way. He 
trapped along the Loup river with the 
Indians and never even had a trap stolen 
by them. 

In the early days Mr. Wright was well 
acquainted with Kit Carson, Pegleg Smith 
and Stephen Greenwood, old moun- 
taineers. 

Mr. Wright was never married and has 
kept bachelor's hall the greater part of his 
time. Politically he is a democrat and is 
now serving in the capacity of constable, 
being one of only three democrats who 
have ever been elected in his township, 
and having received sixty votes out of a 
total of seventy-nine. 



JAMES H. MILLS was born in New 
York State August 13, 1843, and is a 
son of Nahum and Lucy (Wisewell) 
Mills, the former a native of Massa- 
chusetts and the latter of Vermont. The 
senior Mills was reared to manhood in the 
Green Mountain State, and the couple 
were married there. Subsequently the}' 
located in York State, but Mrs. Mills died 
in 1872, in Nebraska. Mr. Mills was a 
blacksmith in the early part of his life, but 
followed farming in the latter part. He 
died in 1890. Both were devoted Bap- 
tists and honored and respected by every- 
one. 

James H. Mills, the subject of this bio- 
graphical notice, is the youngest of a fam- 
ily of seven children, only two of whom 
are now living. He had no special school 
advantages in his early days, but notwith- 
standing this fact he has been a close ob- 
server and has kept himself posted on al- 
most all the leading questions of the day. 
Mr. Mills was an active participant in the 
late war and his record is one that no man 
need be ashamed of. He enlisted August 
11, 1862, in the One Hundred and Twenty- 
second New York regiment, and ])artici- 
pated in the battles of Antietam, South 
Mountain, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- 
ville and Gettysburg. He was wounded 
on the third day of July on the famous 
field of Gettysburg, from the effects of 
which he suffers to this day. He was 
struck by a bullet in the right shoulder, 
shattering it all to pieces. He was in the 
act of aiming his gun and getting read\' to 
pull the trigger when he was shot. The 
ball entered his shoulder from the top, and 
the physicians who dressed the wound, 
were considerably puzzled to know \w\y 
he could have been wounded in sucli a 



354 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



manner unless he was lying down, but he 
insists that he was on his feet and in the 
act of shooting. It was afterwards learned 
that the lientenant of his company acci- 
dentally discovered a "Johnny" cleverly 
seated in the bow of a tree shooting Union 
men as fast as he could load his gun. Pie 
had already shot six of Mr. Mills' com- 
rades in the head, and it was then that the 
mystery was explained as to how he came 
to be shot in the top of the shoulder. The 
lieutenant who discovered the ingenious 
rebel in the tree pointed him out to the 
boys in blue and a volley from a score of 
muskets brought him to terra firma. Mr. 
Mills was confined to a hospital for two 
years, and to-day has but partial use of his 
right arm. He was mustered out of the 
service in May, 1865. 

Mr. Mills came to Buffalo county, Nebr., 
in the fall of 1S71 and took a homestead 
in Sharon township, taking the southwest 
quarter of section 30. He built a sod 
house and prepared to receive his family, 
who came out the following spring. The 
country was wild and presented a barren 
and forlorn appearance, but he had faith 
in its ultimate development and believed 
it was onl3' a question of time when it 
would become a great country. He stood 
b_v and looked on three years in succession 
while the grasshoppers harvested his corn 
crop. The grasshoppers in those days 
were almost as thick as snow flakes in a 
blizzard, and were without doubt the most 
destructive arnn- that ever invaded any 
country. 

On April 24, 1866, Mr. Mills was 
married to Miss Susan Baker, a native of 
Vermont. This union has resulted in the 
birth of .nine children, namely — Clayton, 
born JSfarch 17, 1867 ; Frank, born Sep- 



tember 15, 1869; Lucy, born July 13, 
1873; Lua T., born April 18,1876 (de- 
ceased ) ; EfRe, born August 27, 1878 ; 
Ivie, born October 27,1880 (deceased); 
Elvie and Elsie (twins), born October 29, 
1884, and Susie, born February 3, 1888. 

Mr. Mills is an honored member of the 
G. A. E., A. O. IT. W. and Alliance 
organizations, and his political views have 
always been in accord with the principles 
of the republican party. He and his 
estimable wife are zealous members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church and both 
enjoy the confidence and esteem of the 
community in which they live. 



GEORGE E. NOREIS, one of the 
most prosperous and highly re- 
S])ected farmers of Buifalo 
county, traces his ancestry to Thomas and 
Jane (Bowers) Norris, early settlers of 
middle Tennessee and prominent slave- 
holdei's when slavery was the great insti- 
tution of the South. Being people, how- 
ever, of a strong sense of personal liberty, 
and possessing an inherent dislike for 
slavery, they gave up all rights they were 
entitled to under the institution, selling 
and freeing their slaves. They were the 
parents of several children, one of whom 
was John, the subject's father, who was 
born in North Carolina in 1774, and when 
three j'^ears of age was taken to Tennessee 
by his parents, who settled in Davidson 
county, near Nashville. He was depend- 
ent upon himself from the age of sixteen, 
at that ao'e learning the blacksmith's trade 
and continuing at the same till he reached 
his thirty-second year. He then enlisted 




GEORGE E. NORRIS. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



357 



in the war of 1812, entering as a private 
and being' promoted for liis distinguislied 
services in the field to the position of cap- 
tain. He was in the battle of Tippecanoe 
and several smaller engagements. In 
September, 1812, a frontier post known as 
Pigeon Roost, Ind., was attacked by a 
band of hostile Indians, the only occu- 
pants of the post being William Collins 
and familj' and Captain Norris. These 
successfully defended the post until the 
flints in their guns gave out. Thev then 
stole away, bearing the small children in 
their arms, and made their way to the 
house of Zebulon Collins, a kinsman of 
William Collins, ten miles distant from 
the post. Captain Norris died in 1855. 
He was a devoted member of the Ciiris- 
tian church, always zealous in advancing 
its interests, and was largely instru- 
mental in establishing Bethany church in 
Clark county, Ind. In politics he was an 
uncompromising democrat. He was united 
in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Epler in 
1819, his wife being a native of Lancaster 
county, Pa., and born in 1777. She was an 
active member of the Christian church, and 
lived a life consistent with her profession, 
dying in 1S81. Their union was blessed 
with ten children — Nancy and Thomas 
(twins), Eliza Jane, Delilah, Catherine, Ze- 
relda (who was killed by accident at the 
age of sixteen), Sarah Maria, John M. 
(deceased), Isaac E. and George E. 

George E., the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Clark county, Ind., in 1831. 
Being thrown upon his own resources he 
migrated to Illinois in 1857, and was there 
employed on a farm at $13 per month, 
attending school apart of the winter of 
that and the succeeding year. In 1852 he 
moved to Indiana, and after a residence 



there of only one year he returned 
to Morgan county, HI., and tiiere re- 
mained till 1854. That same year he 
took the steamer, " George Law," for 
California, by way of the Isthmus of Pan- 
ama, and after a voyage of thirty-five 
A&js passed through the " Golden Gates," 
landing on the western shores of this con- 
tinent, where he remained six years. The 
lirst two vears he was engaged in mininj)', 
and the remaining four years in stock- 
raising. He then went toCharitfm, Iowa, 
and engaged in farming and stock-raising. 
While there he was married, in 18fi6, to 
Anna L. Jay, a native of Trenton, Iowa. 
After a residence at Chariton, Iowa, of 
three years, they moved to lied Oak, 
Iowa, and from there came to tlieir pres- 
ent home in Kearney, Nebr., in 1871, 
settling on section 4, township 8, and 
range IG west. At that time there was 
no town on the i)resent site of Kearney, 
and Mr. Norris was obliged to haul lumber 
from Gibbon, fifteen miles distant, with 
which to build liis house. He enwieed in 
the dairy business in Kearney in 1872, and 
continued at tiiis twelve years. Mr. 
Norris came here under the burden of 
debt, was legally released fi'om payment, 
but being true to the principles that are 
characteristic of him, l)y hard work and 
economy he liquidated his indebtedness, 
and in addition has amassed a good-sized 
fortune, which was partly due to his 
locating so near Kearney, that prodigy in 
enterprise, thrift and growth, but more 
especially due to his foresight and superior 
judgment in business transactions. This 
he exemplified by selling a part of his 
homestead at §500 per acre, and the bal- 
ance, excei)ting four and a half acres, at 
$100 per acre, to the West Kearney Ini- 



358 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



))roveiiient(!()iiii)iiny. lie owns, williin a 
Jew miles of Kearney, nine liunclred and 
forty-five acres of land, five fiiindred and 
forty of wliicli are under cultivation. 
This, however, is but a j)art of his ]iosses- 
sions. Mr. Norris is well and favorably 
known throughout the county. He has 
taken two degrees in the Masonic oixlerin 
Iowa. Politically, he is a republican, and 
is now serving his second year as super- 
visor of his township. 

Mrs. Norris is a kind and gracious 
woman, admired most by those who know 
her best. She has taught school for sev- 
eral years and was for some time teacher 
in the Chariton schools, of Chariton, 
Lucas county, Iowa. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Norris five children 
have been born — George Milton and Anna 
L. (twins), born 1868 (the latter d3'ing at 
her birth, the former two years later) ; 
Maggie Blanche, born 1873 ; Charles Ed- 
ward, born 1S74; Minnie Kate, born in 
187G. 

Evan Jay, the father of Mrs. George E. 
Norris, was a native of Indiana. lUi was 
a man not to be thwarted in his ])urposes 
by unfavorable circumstances, pos.sessed 
an indomitable will, and was able to bend 
circumstances to it. He was looked upon 
as a leader in matters of public interest 
wlierever he lived. He always endorsed 
anything tending to educational advance- 
ment, being himself denied the privilege 
of school training. He was at different 
times engaged in farming and mercantile 
business, and between the years 1840-50 
he was three times representative and 
once senator in the Iowa legislature. In 
politics he was a whig, and his last vote 
was cast for Abraham Lincoln. 

In 1827 he was married to Miss Hannah 



Way, a native of North Carolina, who is 
still living, and is eighty-two years old. 
She adheres strictly to the Quaker faith. 
Mr. Jay died in 18G1. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Jay were born nine; 
children — Lydia, died at the age of two 
years, in 1830 ; Nathan (at the age of 
fifteen), died in 1845; Ilebecca (twentv- 
one), died in 1853 ; Henry W. (thirty-four), 
died in 1868; Joseph R. (twenty-nine), 
died in 18G(J (Henr}'^ and Joseph were 
both surgeons in the army) ; Mary Jane 
(three years), died in 1842. Anna L. and 
Evan T., a lawyer and extensive stock- 
raiser in Frontier county, Nebr., are the 
only surviving children of the family. 



KARL B. SCHIECK was born at 
Werbustedt, Germany, Novem- 
ber 20, 1851. His father, John 
G. Schieck, was born near Berlin, June 
19, 1815, and was a clockraaker by trade, 
lie served in the Revolutionary war of 
1848, afterwards followed farming and 
for one year was postmaster of the burg 
in which he lived. He came to America 
in the fall of 1860 and made his home in 
Canada, where he was engaged as a lum- 
berman and farmer until 1874. He then 
moved to Hall county, Nebr., but he dis- 
liked the location and started with a col- 
ony of Germans for Schneider township, 
Buffalo county, and there took up a land 
claim, which he still holds. He married 
Martha Fisher while still a resident of 
Germany. Karl B. Schieck received four 
years of schooling in the old country and 
came to America with his parents, settlmg 
with them in Canada, where he was 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



359 



reared a farmer, and then coming to 
Nebraska witli his fatlier. At tlio ago of 
twenty-two he married Carolina Straw, 
and to this union have been born four 
children, viz. — Wiiliam. Enuna, lleniT 
and llo^'al. Mr. Scliieck is Lutheran in 
religion, anil in politics is a republican. 



ISAAC WILLAEI), one of tiie I'epie- 
sentative farmers of IkdTaio county, 
is a native of Indiana, and was born 
in Jolinson county, tiiat state, Mai'cii S 
1829. He is tiie youngest son of John 
Wiilard, a, Tennessean by birtii, wlio wiis 
one of tiie lii'st settlers in Johnson county 
and cieariHl liis way tiirough the forests of 
that state in 1821). lie died in 1830. He 
was by occu])ation a farmei', and was also 
a zealous member of tiie Baptist church- 
Tiie niotlier of Isaac Wiilard bore tiio 
maiden name of Elsie Wright. She was 
a native of Tennessee and died in 18;'.;). 
The Wiilard family are of English with 
slight mi.xture of German extraction and 
are noted for their longevity. .lohn 
Wiilard was the only son of a largo fain, 
ily to die under tlie age of eighty years. 
Tiie forefatiiers were soldiers in the Revo- 
lutionary war, and ail liveti to a good 
round old age. Isaac Wiilard, our sub- 
ject, wont to live with an uncle in l8;it'), 
in Pratt county, Illinois, when lie was 
seven years old. The territory now com- 
posing that' prosi)erous county was then a 
vast wilderness, inliabited by only live 
families. Mr. Wiilard well remembers 
when the county seat was laid out on th. 
Fourth of July, a few years after he went 
to reside witli liis uncle. The first appro- 



priation made by the county board 
amounted to exactly thirty-seven cents. 
Young- Wiilard grew to manhood in I'ratt 
county and I'csided tliei-e for twenty-seven 
years. Wiuui he was twenty-live he 
began learning the carjientor trade, wiiicli 
he has followed more or less of the time 
since. 

Wiieii the war broke out, Isaac Wiilard 
was among the first to respond to tlie call 
for volunteers, enlisting on the first of 
December, 1801, in tlie Sixty-tliird Illinois 
regiment. He participated in the terrible 
siege of Vicksburg, but only happeneil io 
be in two severe engagiMueiits after that, 
during his two years' service. He was 
discharged on I)eceiiib(!r 11, 1803, on 
account of jihysical disability. 

He located in Macon City, Mo., in 180-1, 
where lie did an (i.xtensive business as a 
contractor and builder for about nine 
years. In 1873, Mr. Wiilard came to 
Kearney, Nebr., where he landed on Ciirist- 
mas eve. He immediately investigated 
the new country and at once saw its great 
future ])ossibilities. He worked at his 
trade in Ivearney for the first two years 
and in tlie meantime located a homestead 
in Sharon township. He located his family 
on this lioinestead, Deceinljor 3, 1875, 
where he has since resided. He was grass- 
lioppered two years in succession, but he 
inner became discouraged or lost faith in 
the future of the country. 

Mr. Wiilard was married Marcli 4, 1804, 
to Virginia C, daughter of William New- 
ler. The Newlers belonged to the F. F. 
V.'s, and, like the Wiilard family, are 
noted for their longevity. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wiilard have had three children, namely — 
Louie M., born in Missouri, November 25, 
1872, now the wife of D. W. Scott, of 



3G0 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



Haxtun, Colo.; Charlie F., born Au<;ust 9, 
1874, and II. J. Ray, born October 27, 
1878. 

Mr. Willard was originally a member of 
the whig party, but has alwa^'s been a 
republican since the organization of that 
party. While he has never been an aspir- 
ant for political honors, he has filled very 
acceptably some important positions of 
public trust. He has alwaj-s, however, 
taken a pi'ominent part in the manage- 
ment of the political affairs in liis county 
ami state, and is recognized as one of the 
leaders of his ])arty in the county. He 
has also been identified, for several years, 
with the agricultural society of Buffalo 
county, and is at this time a member of 
the boai'd of management of that organi- 
zation. He takes considerable pride in 
raising fine horses and cattle, and is con- 
sidered one of the most successful fruit 
growers in Buffalo county. He has one 
hundred and twenty acres of splendid land, 
equipped with nearly all the modern con- 
veniences. 



H 



K. SMITH. Of the many young 
men who came to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., early in the seventies, 
few, if any, have been more suc- 
cessful than the subject of this brief 
biographical notice. Every dollar Mr. 
Smith posesses has been earned by 
hard work. Whatever he undertakes 
to do he does, and does it right, too. 
He is intelligent as well as energetic and 
is noted for his ability as a,n excellent 
manager. He was born in Lawrence, 
county. Pa., October, 11, 1856, and is a son 

of J. P. and Sarah (Fox) Smith, both of 



whom are natives of the Keystone State 
and of German descent. His father is one 
of the honored pioneers of Buffalo county, 
having immigrated from Pennsylvania in 
the spring of 1871, Jind was the first 
actual settler to build a frame house north 
of the Wood river in Sharon township. 
Wild game and Indians, too, were plent}'. 
The settler had to watch the game to kill 
it, and had to watch the Indian to keep 
from getting killed. The senior Smith 
came near being a victim of the terrible 
blizzard in April in 1873. He was some 
distance from home when the great storm 
began, and it was with much difficulty 
that he succeeded in reaching it safely, so 
blinding was the storm. It was only by 
the most heroic exertions that the cattle 
belonging to Mr. Smith were prevented 
from perishing during that awful storm, 
which lasted three days and nights. Mr. 
Smith shared the usual fate during the 
grasshopper raid, but soon recovered from 
its effects, and since that famous raid he 
has not suffered from an entire failure of 
crop. 

When Mr. II. K. Smith was twenty-five 
years of age he purchased a quarter section 
of the best land in Sharon township. 
Since that he has purchased more, until 
he has now three hundred and sixty acres 
of fine land. In 1886 he began contracting 
with the great seed house of D. M. Ferr}', 
of Detroit, to furnish vegetable seeds. He 
has been engaged in this enterprise since 
and is making a coniplete success of it. 
In 1890 he raised twenty-five acres of 
cucumbers, seven acres of tomatoes, fifteen 
acres of squashes, and thirty acres of 
sweet corn. 

Mr. Smith was married August, 1881, 
the lady of his choice being Miss Fannie 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



361 



M., daughter of Jacob and Eliza (Trip) 
Ilerr. She was born in Illinois, August 
14, 1868. This union has been blessed 
by the birth of three bright children, 
namely — Earl, born July 4, ISSti; Lavena 
May, born January 12, 1888, and Elsie 
(irace, born September, 1889. Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith are members of the Metho- 
dist Ejjiscopal church and enjoy the confi- 
dence and esteem of all who know them. 



IORENZO PLUMB. Among the 
young men who accepted the 
_^ advice of the former journalist 
and came West to grow up with the coun- 
try, none have shown more pluck and 
energy than Lorenzo Plumb. He had faith 
in the marvelous development of the 
West, and early in life determined to come 
hither and seek a fortune. In the fall of 
1871, the subject of this sketch, then 
about twenty-four years of age, might 
have been seen wandering about the 
boundless prairie in the eastern portion of 
Buffalo county in search of a suitable 
quarter section of land to take as a home- 
stead. He finally made a selection of the 
twentieth section of what is now Sharon 
township, on which he immediately pro- 
ceeded to erect a small frame house. No 
one had yet dared to settle in that im- 
mediate locality, and one could look a 
long way without seeing a house or even 
a sign of one. He was accompanied by 
two companions, and the trio kept 
" bachelors' hall," and no doubt spent the 
long winter evenings of 1871-2 in dis- 
cussing the future possibilities of the 
new country. Early in the spring of 



1872, Mr. Plumb purchased a span of 
horses and began " breaking " preparatory 
to planting a crop. His idea was to 
break and plant all he could tend with 
one team, and he never stopped until he 
had turned eighty acres of sod upside 
down. In 1873, the crop was rather 
light, but he obtained seventy-five cents 
a bushel for his corn, and realized hand- 
somely, after all. His first wheat crop 
yielded five hundred and fifty bushels, for 
which he obtained a dollar per bushel. 
In 1874, the grasshoppers harvested his 
cro]i on shares, but the portion left him 
afforded a small remuneration for the 
trouble and expense in planting it. The 
festive hoppers visited the Plumb ranch 
three 3'ears in succession, and seemed to 
grow more numerous each year. This 
was enough to discourage even a young 
bachelor, and made him even wonder 
what the world was coming to anyhow. 
But the grasshopper ceased to make his 
annual tour, and a succession of good 
crops followed, and Mr. Plumb took 
courage and prospered. 

Our subject was born in Sandusky 
county, Ohio, June 20, 1847, and is the 
son of Gerard and Emeline (Hawkins) 
Plumb, both of whom were natives of 
New York State. They unmigrated to 
Ohio in 1835, and were among the early 
settlers in that region known as the West- 
ern Reserve. The senior Plumb died in 
1863. He followed the quiet and peace- 
ful vocation of a farmer, and held the 
office of justice of the peace for many 
years. The mother now resides in Ohio 
at the advanced age of eighty-two 
They were parents of eight children — 
four boys and four girls, four of whom 
are now living. Mr. Plumb was nuirried 



362 



BUFFALO COUXIY. 



April 30, 1890, the lady whom he chose 
as a companion to share his fortunes 
being Miss Mary E. Golf, a native of 
Ohio, and born in 1859. He has repre- 
sented Sharon township on the county 
board of supervisors, but has never 
aspired to public offices of a political 
nature. lie now owns three hundred and 
twenty acres of choice land, which is 
already in an advanced state of cultiva- 
tion. Mr. Plumb- purchased most of this 
land from the U. P. K. R. Company for 
$3.00 per acre. 



WALTER J. STEVEN. The 
subject of this sketch bears 
the distinction of being not 
only one of the first settlers of the locality 
where he lives, but also one of the most 
successful and influential citizens of his 
community. lie has been a resident of 
Buffalo county since 1871, coming to the 
county when a comparatively young man 
and casting his fortunes with those of his 
adopted county at that date and remain- 
1^ ing steadfastly by his choice since, passing 
through the grasshopper scourges, the diy 
years and all the hard times incident 
thereto. He has seen the country at its 
best and its worst, and probably knows as 
much about the ways and means of getting 
on amid the privations and hardships of 
frontier life as any man of his years and 
opportunities for observation and experi- 
ence. Mr. Steven comes of the stock of 
which pioneers are made, being a Canadian 
by birth and of Scotch ancestry. He 
retains in his general make-up many of the 
most signal qualities of his people. That 



thrift, industry, strong personal energy, 
tenacity of ])urpose and marked endurance, 
all of which have been compressed into 
the phrase, " as sturdy as a Scot," he pos- 
sesses, and to these he is indebted for the 
success he has attained. Mr. Steven is a 
brother of James Steven, of Shelton, a 
sketch of whom appears in this work, and 
in which will be found the facts concern- 
ing their ancestral history. He is the 
third of a family of eight children, was 
born near Ottawa, Canada, April 1, 1848, 
and reared in his native place, receiving a 
good common-school education and being 
trained to the habits of industry and use- 
fulness common to farm life. He resided 
at his birthplace near Ottawa till 1S69, 
when, filled with a desire to see the world 
and to select a place where he might locate 
and grow up with his surroundings, he 
came to the United States, and, traveling 
for some months in the west and north- 
west, finally settled on Nebraska as his 
permanent home and located, in 1871, in 
Buffalo county, buying one hundred and 
sixty acres of land in Sharon township, 
four and a half miles northwest of the 
town of Shelton, where he settled, and, be- 
ing then unmarried, began the bachelor life 
of the West. His experience during the 
first few years of his residence was such 
as fell to the lot of all the old settlers. 
Hard work, great privations and many 
discouraging adversities made up the daily, 
monthly and yearly course of life. He 
pulled patiently and courageously through 
all those trying times, improving his place 
and adding by purchase from time to time 
to his original holdings, until he now owns 
eight hundred and eight}' acres of good 
land, a large part of which be has in culti- 
vation. He continues to reside on his old 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



363 



homestead where he first settled, having 
transformed it from a chiim on the open 
prairie into a pleasant, prosperous home. 
To the casual observer, this transformation 
seems simple and natural enough, but it 
represents a world of experience which the 
casual observer knows not of. Such a 
place serves as a milestone on the high- 
way to mark the progress of the country 
in its advance from savagery to civiliza- 
tion ; it serves to show the capabilities of 
the race ; it serves as an everlasting mem- 
orial of the achievements of the sturdy 
pioneers who opened this country to set- 
tlement ; and more than all does it show 
the pluck, energy and endurance of the 
man who, moving onto it while its virgin 
soil was yet marked only by the track of 
the buffalo, reclaimed it from nature, and 
after numerous disastrous experiments 
and unrecorded failures, has finall}' made 
of it a peaceful, happy home. 

In addition to being identified with the 
best interests of his locality as a farmer, 
Mr. Steven has filled the usual number of 
local offices, having been active in pro- 
moting the school interests of his district 
and serving his township as supervisor. In 
1874 he married, selecting as a life com- 
panion Miss Annie M. Henninger, a 
daughter of one of Buffalo county's best 
and most popular citizens, Solomon F. 
Henninger, a sketch of whom ap]iears in 
this work. Mrs. Steven was born in War- 
ren county, Ohio, and was mainly reared 
there, coming to Nebraska with her parents 
in 1872. She is a Iad\' eminently qualified 
to bear her husband the companionship 
which he sought with her hand, possessing 
the strong sense and many domestic vir- 
tues for which her race and sex are distin- 
guished. Mr. and Mrs. Steven are the 



parents of two children — LeAnna and 
Edna. They have a pleasant home, and 
within its walls friend and stranger alike 
are welcome, for they both possess, in 
addition to their many other good quali- 
ties of head and heart, that greatest of all 
domestic virtues — genuine, unstinted hos- 
pitality. 



K 



UGUSTUS HAAG, a prominent 
and successful farmer of 
Sharon township, Buffalo 
county, is a native of Germany, having 
been born in the kingdom of Wurtem- 
burg, August 15, 1837. His father, 
Frederick Haag, and his mother, Eva B. 
Hagelstein, were both natives also of 
Wurtemburg, the father having been 
born in 1800 and d\'ing there in 1850; 
the mother was born in 1801, and died 
in 1857. They were plain, substantial 
people, the father following the trade of 
a tanner and vine grower, at which he 
was fairly successful. Tliese were the 
parents of five children, of whom the 
subject of this notice is next to the 
youngest, the others being George (now 
deceased). Christian IL, John G. and 
Earnest. 

Our subject grew up in his native 
place to the age of fifteen, and then, with 
an ambition and an amount of self-reliance 
not often met with in one of his years, 
he decided to come to America to try his 
fortunes. He made his first permanent 
stop in Iniliana, and was variously 
engaged there till the opening of the 
Civil war. When the call was made for 
volunteers, he entered the Union army, 
enlisting in the fall of 1861, in Company 



364 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



E, Fifty-first Indiana infantry, and served 
one year, when he was discharged on 
account of pliysical disabilities contracted 
in the service. Returning to Indiana, he 
remained there only a short time and 
then went to New York City, but leaving 
there shortl}'^ afterwards he went to 
Newark, N. J. At that place he entered 
the grocery business, and Avas the pro- 
prietor of a grocery store for three 
years, and subsequently entered business 
as an insurance broker, which he fol- 
lowed up to 1877. Having married in 
the meantime and knowing the limited 
opportunities for getting on in the world, 
for one with a growing family, Mr. Haag 
made up his mind to come West in 1877, 
and that year he moved to Nebraska and 
settled in Buffalo county, taking a claim 
in Sharon township, where he located and 
has since lived, having a most pleasant 
home. He has become one of the most 
enterprising and successful farmers of 
his community, having thoroughly identi- 
fied himself with the farming interests of 
his locality. lie has filled the usual 
number of local offices, having been a 
member of the school board of his dis- 
trict and justice of the peace, and holds 
the position of director in the Farmer's 
Union Insurance Company, of the State 
of Nebraska. He married in June, 1873 
— the lady whom he selected for a com- 
panion being Miss Elizabeth K. Storr, 
daughter of Rev. Isaac and Mary S. 
(Ancelien) Storr, then of Newark, N. J., 
being natives of that state, but having 
moved to Pennsylvania, Mrs. Haag 
having been born in Strausburgh, Sulli- 
van count}', that state. Her father being 
transferred back into New Jersey by the 
conference, he removed again to that 



state, where he died in 1866. The 
mother moved to Kossuth, Iowa, 1876, 
where she lived with the rest of her 
family and where she married Mr. J. L. 
Yost; they finally moved to Hastings, 
Nebr., from which place Mrs. Yost went 
to visit her daughter, Mrs. Haag, at 
Shelton, Buffalo county, where she was 
suddenly taken sick of pneumonia, and 
died in Januarv, 1889. Three children 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Haag yet abide 
with them — Mary E., Grace C. and 
Homer A. 

In politics, Mr. Haag is a republican. 
He is a zealous member of the Farmers' 
Alliance, and has been of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. 



CS. BAILEY. Considering the 
great number of settlers who 
cast their lots in Buffalo county 
seventeen and eighteen years ago, the 
date of the greatest influx of immigration, 
it is a matter of frequent remark that but 
comparatively few now remain. The col- 
ony that located Gibbon comprised eighty- 
five qualified homesteaders, only about 
thirty of whom are now citizens of the 
count3\ Near the same date, but scattered 
over two or three years, about an equal 
number of settlers took homesteads in 
Shelton and Sharon townships, of whom 
hardly as great a proportion as the Gib- 
bon colony now remain. One of the latter 
number, however, who has stood stead- 
fastly by his first choice is C. S. Bailey, 
now of the town of Shelton. Mr. Bailey 
came to Buffalo county in the fall of 1873 
and settled four miles north of the pres- 
ent town of Shelton, in what is now 




C. S BAILEY. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



367 



Sharon township. He took a homestead 
of one hundred and sixtv acres, tiling on 
tiie sou til west quarter of section 12, town- 
ship 1(1, range 13 west. After a residence 
there of two or three years he purchased 
one hundreti and sixty acres of railroad 
land in section 11; lying opposite his home- 
stead, and went somewhat actively into 
farming. He lived on the farm for ten 
years engaged in agriculture and stock- 
raising, at which he was reasonably suc- 
cessful. In the spring of 1884 he moved 
into the town of Shelton and began at 
that date to handle agricultural imple- 
ments, pumps and wind-mills. Two years 
later he added harness, since which time 
he has been doing a fairly prosperous busi- 
ness in these lines. Mr. Bailey retains 
most of his farming interests, being a con- 
siderable land-holder as well as one of the 
representative business men of Shelton. 
While he has never sought office, he has 
nevertheless been called upon to fill some 
places of trust in connection with the 
administration of the public affairs of his 
town and township. He has served on 
the county board as township supervisor 
two years and he is now justice of the 
peace for Shelton township. He is, how- 
ever, a business man strictly, and his 
career has been that of the man of private 
affairs. The small offices he has filled he 
has been called to because of his recog- 
nized ability to handle tlie business part 
of them, and not to gratify any supposed 
personal pride he may have touching 
that ignis fatuus, public office. 

As this volume is designed to preserve 
something of the earlier history, ancestral 
and personal, of the old settlers of the 
county as well as an outline of their 
careers since locating here, some pertinent 



facts touching Mr. Bailey's origin and per- 
sonal record, particularly his military life, 
may here be inserted. 

Charles S. Bailey was born in St. Law- 
rence county, K Y., July 19, 18-13. He 
came "West in 1855 with his father, who 
settled in Tama county, Iowa, at that 
date. There Charles S. grew up. He en- 
listed in the army July 31, 1801, having 
just turned into his eighteenth year, en- 
tering Company C, Tenth Iowa volunteer 
infantrv. His militar}' record of course is 
merged in that of his regiment, as he 
served as a private. Let us therefore 
briefly review the history of the Iowa 
Tenth. The regiment was formed in Sep- 
tember, 1861. It moved to Jefferson Bar- 
racks, St. Louis, Mo., was ordered thence 
to Cape Girardeau, that state, and went 
into winter quarters at Bird's Point, oppo- 
site Cairo. In the spring of 1862 it was 
placed under General Pope, was present 
in the movement against Island No. 10, 
and after the evacuation of that place was 
ordered to Osceola, Ark. Active move- 
ments having begun in the meantime in 
western Kentucky, Tennessee and north- 
ern Mississip})!, it was ordered to join 
Grant's army, then preparing for the bat- 
tle of Pittsburg Lariding. It reached the 
latter place too late for the engagement 
there, but was placed in the arm\^ of the 
Tennessee, and after a few weeks' skir- 
mishing around Memphis entered on the 
Yicksburg campaign. It served through all 
that campaign and sustained some heavy 
losses — notably at Champion's Hill. In the 
engagement at that place its casualties 
were thirt\'-six killed, and one hundred and 
sixty -six wounded and eight missing, being 
tiie largest list of casualties sustained by 
any regiment in that engagement. After 



3G8 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



the evacuation of Vicksburg the Tenth 
was placed in Sherman's armj' and started 
towards what was afterwards the famous 
battlefield of Chickamauga, Lookout 
mountain and Missionary Eidge. Mr- 
Bailey's term of enlistment having ex- 
pired about this time he re-enlisted along 
with most of his regiment, got his veteran 
furlough and went home, missing a few of 
the intermediate engagements. He re- 
joined his regiment at Kingston, Ga., 
soon after it had started on the Atlanta 
campaign, and was in the series of battles 
from there down to Atlanta. On the 
division of the Union forces at Atlanta the 
Tenth continued with Sherman to the sea 
and took part in the Carolina campaigns, 
being present at the surrender of John- 
ston's army April 26, 1865. It was at 
tlie grand review at Washington, ordered 
on special duty thence to Louisville, Ivy., 
and afterwards to Little Rock, Ark., 
where it was mustered out, Mr. Bailey 
receiving his discharge at Davenport, 
Iowa, September 27, 1865. He returned 
to Toledo and was six years deputy sheriff 
of Tama county, or until the fall of 1873, 
then came to Nebraska as before stated. 

Mr. Bailey married at Toledo, Tama 
county, Iowa, in March, 1866, his wife 
bearing the maiden name of Margaret E. 
Fisher and being a native of Indiana. He 
has a family of children, some of whom 
are now grown, his oldest son, Fred A., 
being associated with him in business. 

Being an old soldier, Mr. Bailey natural- 
ly takes much interest in matters relating 
to the welfare of his comrades. He joined 
the G. A. R. association in Iowa before 
coming to this state. He helped organize 
Joe Hooker Post, G. A. R., the pioneer 
veteran association of Slielton, anil has 



taken an active part in the affairs of 
the post. He is also a zealous member of 
the Masonic fraternity. 

In matters of general interest he takes 
the part which every good citizen is ex- 
pected to take, and extends to all deserv- 
ing enterprises a helping hand, aiding 
when necessary with his efforts and giving 
liberally in proportion to his means. 



SH. GRAVES. Connected with 
the banking interests of Buffalo 
county are a number of men who 
deserve more mention in this volume than 
the mere statement of their official posi- 
tions. This is so because of the fact that 
the banks owe their origin and success in 
a great measure to these men, their his- 
tory being in truth onl\' a cross-section of 
the personal history of their founders and 
managers. 

A man falling within the scope of this 
statement is S. H. Graves, cashier of the 
Shelton Bank. Tiie bank with which he 
is connected is the oldest one in the town 
of Shelton. Mr. Graves is not the founder 
of it, but he has been the principal stock- 
holder in it for a term of years and has 
practically made it what it is. The bank 
was started as a private affair in June, 
1882, by Coleman & Leachey. They were 
succeeded in about a year by Huggins & 
Leachey, and these in turn were succeeded 
in June, 1883, by H. J. Bobbins and S. 
H. Graves, under the firm name of R()l)bins 
& Graves. For the first year Mr. Bobbins 
carried on the business alone, Mr. Graves 
not taking up his residence in Shelton till 



/>' UFFA L CO UN TV. 



369 



1884. For a year following the bank was 
under tlie joint management of Messrs. 
Ilobbins & Graves till June, 1885, when 
Mr. Graves purchased Mr. Robbins' inter- 
est and assumed exclusive control, con- 
ducting the bank still as a private affair 
till July, 1889. At this date it was 
organized under the state banking laws, 
retaining the name of the Shelton Bank 
and having an authorized capital of 
$50,000.00, half of which was paid in. 
The charter members were J. S. Hedges, 
D. P. Junk, George Mortimer, S. II. 
Graves and L. F. Stock well. Mr. Mortimer 
was elected president, Mr. Junk vice-presi- 
dent and Mr. Graves cashier. By reason 
of his greater term of service and liis 
official position, Mr. Graves was given, 
and continues to exercise, cliief con- 
trol over the bank's affairs. These, it is 
fair to say, are in a prosperous condition 
and have been at all times. It is also fair 
to say that the fact that they are so is 
due in no small measure to the judicious 
management of the cashier. Mr. Graves 
is not a born and bred banker, having had 
his first experience at banking in the pres- 
ent institution ; but he is a thoroughlv com- 
petent business man and has had a training 
as such that would enable him to take 
iiold of any general enterprise with a 
reasonable hope of conducting it success- 
fully. He is a hard worker, clear headed, 
systematic, painstaking and attentive. He 
knows the value of a dollar, as he has 
made what he has himself, and this knowl- 
edge of the labor value of money all the 
better qualifies him to jealously guard the 
earnings of wage-workers intrusted to his 
custody and management. 

Prior to coming to Nebraska, Mr. Graves 
was a commercial traveler for ten vears, 



and he has, therefore, seen a great deal 
of the world and knows much of the wavs 
of men. He started on the road at nine- 
teen years of age for a New York drug 
house, Curtis & Brown, and during the 
terra of his service with them he "made," 
in the parlance of the craft, all the towns 
in the province of Ontario, Canada, and 
those in six of the chief states and terri- 
tories of the west in this country. He 
traveled three years in Canada, and for 
seven years he traveled in Dalcota, Kan- 
sas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado 
and New Mexico. Mr. Graves has swung 
a sample case and " bached " in a grip over 
thousands of miles of territory; he has 
taken thousands of tradesmen by the hand 
and felt their pulse as to their commercial 
wants, and he has sujjplied those wants in 
instances without number and in a way 
which only the accomplished salesman 
knows how to do. What his success was, 
or whether above that of the average 
commercial man, need not be elaborated 
on here. But this much can be said : He 
did what not one traveling man in a hun- 
dred ever does— he quit the road with a 
good share of his earnings and settled 
down to a jileasant and remunerative busi- 
ness. The ordinary man of fixed habits 
and circumscribed views of living will 
hardly appreciate the amount of self-de- 
nial and rigid husbanding of resources 
that it takes to do this. Onl}' the man 
who has once been " in the swim," as it 
were, and knows what life on the road is 
in all its phases, will be able to understand 
the self-imposed discipline under which 
Mr. Graves constantly kept himself. 

"All, well lur liiin wliose will is strong: 
He sulTcTS, but will not sufTci' long; 
He siilTcrs, but can not sullcr wrony" — 



370 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



An excellent thought to which Mr. Graves 
has given point antl practical force worthy 
of note. 

But this sketch must, in pursuance of 
the plan of the work, embody some other 
facts to which we now turn. These are 
a few facts in reference to the subject's 
birthplace, earlier years and ancestral his- 
tory in which those of his name who come 
on in after years will feel most deeply 
interested. 

S. 11. Graves was born in Chazy, Clin- 
ton county, N. Y., March 10, 1855. He 
is descended from two old New York 
families, tracing his ancestry back b\^ 
family tradition for at least four genera- 
tions, beginning with himself. His pater- 
nal great-grandfather, Seth Graves, was a 
pioneer settler in northeastern New York, 
going into Clinton county when that and 
all the surrounding country was a wilder- 
ness. He was in his life, habits and 
exploits a "path-finder," not strictly of 
the novelist's kind, but one of the practical 
sort. After locating in Clinton count}' he 
spent the remainder of his days there. He 
was succeeded among others by a son 
named Chauncy, who was the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. The 
latter was a miller hy trade — a quiet, 
sober, earnest man, who devoted all his 
3'ears to the industrious ])ursuit of his call- 
ing, and died, leaving a family, one of 
whom, Joel W., was the father of our sub- 
ject. Mr. Graves' father is still living in 
Clinton count}', where he was born and 
reared. He is a farmer, a man also of 
modest pretentions, a respectable and 
fairly well-to-do citizen. 

Mr. Graves' mother, who is yet also 
livincr, bore the maiden name of Louisa 
J. McCulloch. She is a native of Clinton 



county, N. Y., and a descendant of an 
ancient family of respectability in that 
state. 

Mr. Graves is tlie only representative 
of his father's family who has ever come 
West to live. The advantages of the 
West, and particularly of Nebraska, were 
brought to his attention during: his travels 
over the state, and in fact, as already 
noted, he bought the interests which 
finalh' brouglit him as a i-esident to the 
state, while he was yet on the road. He 
still has interests, however, in his native 
county and his ])eople living there; he 
has for years paid occasional visits to his 
old home and has kept up an acquaint- 
ance with the scenes of his childhood and 
the friends of his youth. Tliese visits 
led to an attachment some years ago, 
which resulted, later, in his marrj'ing a 
neighbor girl of Chazy, who, though not 
a native of that place, was mainly reared 
there, and, like Mr. Graves, is a descend- 
ant of an old Clinton county family. 
This lady was Miss Myra W. Fisk, 
daughter of Hiram C. Fisk. The mai'- 
riage here referi'ed to took place Sep- 
tember 22, 1884. Mrs. Graves was born 
in Vermont, in which state her father 
lived for some years, although he was a 
native of Clinton county, N. Y., being 
reared there and dying there on the old 
Fisk homestead in the town of Chazy. 
Mrs. Graves' father was a man of note 
and above the ordinary run of men. He 
was distmguished for his persevering 
industry, his great enei'gy and determina- 
tion. He was a shrewd man of business, 
anil in the course of his lifetime accumu- 
lated a considerable fortune. The one 
wish of his life was to become able to 
re-purchase the old family homestead 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



371 



which, tlirough misfortune, liad ])assed 
into strangers' hands — a wish which he 
fully realized, buying this place as he did 
and spending his declining 3'ears tliere. 

It will hardly be necessary to add that 
the subject of this sketch has no polit- 
ical triumphs or defeats to record in this 
connection. Having set out with the 
fixed pur])ose of making of himself a 
man of business, he has had no time for 
politics. Even had he had the time and 
taste, his mode of life has precluded the 
possibility of gratifying any ambition in 
that direction. The extent of his public 
service has been his five years' term as 
treasurer of the Shelton public school 
fund, an office he has filled acceptably, 
handling the funds thereof with care and 
discretion ; also as member of the board 
of trustees of Shelton. As a citizen, Mr. 
Graves naturally takes considerable inter- 
est in public questions and public enter- 
prises, and he can usually be relied upon 
to perform his duty and bear his share 
of the expense in securing for his town 
and community any enterprise, institu- 
tion or interest of a public nature. In 
ordinary social and business intercourse 
he is exceedingly approachable, and has 
for friend and stranger alike a cheerful 
word and a hearty grasp of the hand. 
Having spent a large part of his life 
among strangers and in a situation where 
the friction of business competition brings 
out all the unpleasantness of men's 
natures, along with some of the noblest 
qualities as well, he has learned to place 
a pi'oper estimate on the value of those 
little social amenities which go far 
towards sweetening human intercourse 
and lessening the cynic's charge of "man's 
inhuuuinity to man.'" "We use no honeved 



woriis of doubtful import or propriety 
when we characterize him as a worthy 
citizen and a ]ileasant, affable gentlemen 



JOHN S. HEDGES. This gentleman 
is a well known business man of the 
town of Shelton. Buffalo county. He 
came to Nebraska in July, 1883, and 
settled at that date in Shelton. He came 
from Iowa to Nebraska, but Iowa not 
being his native state, nor \'et his native 
state the one where he was reared, it will 
be best for the purposes of tliis sketch to 
go back at once to the place and time of 
his birth and bring the record down in 
chronological order. 

John S. Hedges was born in Chemuii"- 
county, N. Y., April 2, 1839. He comes 
of New York parentage, his father, 
Jeremiah Hedges, having been born and 
reared on Long Island, and his mother, 
whose maiden name was Martha R. Saun- 
ders, having been a native of Steuben 
county. His father went into western 
New York when a young man, settled at 
Elmira, married, and there lived for some 
3'ears. As soon, however, as his famih' 
began to grow up he decided to moveWest, 
and in 1847 emigrated to Illinois and 
settled in Kane count}*. There he lived 
till 1864, when he moved to Fairfax, Linn 
county, Iowa, where he died the following 
year in the sixty-third year of his age. 
He was a farmer and led the plain, un- 
eventful life common to his calling. Mr. 
Hedges' mother survived her husbaml 



372 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



some years, d^'ing at her son's home in 
Nebraska, December 1, 1888, having 
attained her sevent3'-sixth year. 

The famil^^ to which the subject of 
this sketch belonged embraced eight cliil- 
dren, who reached maturity. These were 
Laura B., Emma C, John S., Isaac S., 
Edmund Julius, Charles H.,Mary K., and 
William G. These are all living but Isaac 
S., who died towards the close of the war 
from disease contracted in the army, and 
Edmund Julius, who died March 6, 1S66, 
at the age of twenty -two. The eldest 
daughter is now Mrs. Laura B. Gibson, 
of Aurora, III.; the next is Mrs. Emma C. 
Goodell, of Ellsworth, Kans.; Charles H. 
is a resident of Los Angeles, Cal.; the 
youngest girl is Mrs. Mar^^ K. Sargent, of 
Eoscoe, 111., and the last, William G., is a 
resident of Ainsworth, Nebr. 

John S., with whom this article is more 
immediatel}^ concerned, was, as the dates 
already given will show, onlv about eight 
years old when his parents immigrated to 
Illinois and settled in Kane county. He 
was reared mainly' in the towns of Aurora 
and Batavia, in that county. The first 
event of importance in his life, as it was 
an event of much moment in the lives of 
thousands of other young men of his age, 
was his enlistment in the army. He 
offered himself as a volunteer to the Union 
army when the first call was made in 
April, 1861, but was not mustered into 
service till the August following. He 
entered Compan}^ I, which was made up 
mainly of volunteers from Kane county. 
His company reported at once to Chicago 
for duty, and was placed in the Forty- 
second regiment of Illinois infantry, then 
forming to go to the front. From that 
date his compan3''s history of course be- 



came merged in the history of his regi- 
ment, a brief outline of which we will here 
give to preserve in its appropriate place 
the facts of Mr. Hedges' military career. 
On September 21, 1861, the Forty- 
second moved to St. Louis, Mo. It 
took part in various movements in 
Missouri till February, 1862 , when it 
was ordered to Fort Holt, K}'.; was sub- 
sequently engaged in the operations at 
Island No. 10 ; joined Pope 's army 
April 11 ; moved to Hamburg. Tenn., 
April 22 ; was engaged in the siege of 
Corinth, also the battle of Farmington, 
Miss., May 9, losing in the latter engage- 
ment two killed, twelve wounded and 
three missing; was ordered thence by 
forced marches into Tennessee ; was pres- 
ent at the siege of Nashville, and was held 
in that vicinity for two months during 
the see-saw campaigns conducted by Buell 
and Bragg in Kentucky ; was then at- 
tached to Sheridan's division ; took part 
in the battle of Stone river, where it lost 
twenty-two inen killed, one hundred and 
sixteen wounded and eight^'-five prisoners; 
moving thence south it was in the engage- 
ment at Chickamauga, where its losses 
were twenty-eight killed, one hundred 
and twenty-eight wounded and twenty- 
eight jirisoners. At Missionary Eidge it 
lost five killed and fort}' wounded, being 
on the skirmish line during the entire 
engagement. After pursuing the enemy 
to Chickamauga creek it returned and 
entered the east Tennessee campaign. 
Januarj' 1, 1864, it veteranized and was 
granted a thirty-day furlough. Returning 
it entered the Atlanta campaign and was 
engaged at Eock}' Face creek, Eesaca, 
Adairsville, New Hope church. Pine 
mountain, Kenesaw mountain, Peach Tree 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



373 



creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro ami Lovejoy 
station, losing in the campaign twenty 
killed, eighty-nine wounded and seven 
prisoners. Being then in the fourth corps 
it formed part of Thomas' array and was 
on the return campaign into Tennessee ; 
took part in the battles at Spring Hill, 
Franklin and Nashville, losing in these en- 
gagements twenty-six killed, one hundred 
and six wounded and thirty prisoners. It 
followed Hood to Decatur, Ala., and was 
there till April, 18(J5, when it was ordered 
into east Tennessee to cut off an antici- 
pated retreat of Lee into that locality, and 
it was there engaged in that niiss'on when 
the surrender took place. Returning to 
Nashville, it was ordered by way of New 
Orleans to Texas, being stationed at Port 
Lavaca as an army of occupation until 
December, 1865, when it was mustered 
out, left Indianola, arrived at Camp But- 
ler, Springfield, 111., January .'?, ISfiO, and 
on the twelfth received final payment and 
discharge. 

This record speaks for itself. Comment 
is not called for in this place. Mr. Hedges 
was with his regiment from the beginning 
to the end of its service, except the thirty 
days he was home on his veteran furlough, 
and twenty da3's when wounded. He 
participated in all the battles it fought? 
and helped to win for it the honorable 
position which it occupies in the annals of 
the war. He entered the service as a pri- 
vate, was promoted at once to corporal \ 
in May, 18G2, to sergeant ; in October' 

1864, to orderly sergeant ; in November' 
1864-, to first lieutenant, and in September. 

1865, to captain. At the battle of Chick 
amauga he was wounded by a gun-shot in 
the left leg below the knee, but was off 
duty only thirty days in consequence 



This wound gave him trouble during all 
the following winter, not entirely healing 
till the next spring. 

A man with such a record would natu- 
rally continue to feel much interest in 
militar}' matters, and so Mr. Hedges does. 
He joined the local post of the Grand 
Army of the Republic in 1883 and has 
been an active member since. Besides 
this he organized a '-Couave company at 
Shelton in 1886, which was re-organized in 
June, 1887, and made Company A, Sec- 
ond regiment of the Nebraska national 
guards, of which he was elected captain. 
August 25, 1887, he was made brigade 
commissary of the first brigade on General 
L. W. Colby's staff, which position he now 
holds. 

Adverting to Islr. Hedges' business 
career it may be recorded that when the 
war was over he went to Fairfax, Linn 
county, Iowa, ^"hither his people had 
moved during the war, and there settled, 
and in October, 1866, engaged in grain, 
lumber and coal business, which he fol- 
lowed successfully till coming to Nebraska. 
On locating in Shelton, this state, he 
embarked in the same line of business, 
forming a partnership with D. P. Junk, 
who came with him from Fairfax, Iowa. 
As this volume is not an advertising 
medium it will be sufficient to say that the 
firm of Hedges & Junk is one of the 
representative business firms of the town 
of Shelton and tiiat they handle their 
share of the trade in their line. Mr. 
Hedges is also a stockholder in and a 
member of the board of directors of the 
First National Bank of Shelton, having 
helped to organize that bank about a year 
ago. He has never lieen an aspirant for 
public otticc of any kind and we there- 



374 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



fore have no political successes or defeats 
to record of him. His career has been 
that of a business man strictly. He takes 
such interest in public enterprises and 
matters of general concern as any good 
citizen might be expected to, working 
witli liis own hands when his efforts are 
needed and giving of his means in propor- 
tion to his ability. As evidence of the 
interest he takes in the welfare of his 
fellow-men and the practical and com- 
mendable turn his charitable impulses 
take, it may be mentioned that he is a 
member in good standing in the following 
fraternities — The Knigiits of Pythias, 
Ancient Order of United "Workmen, 
Modern Woodmen of America and Iowa 
Legion of Honor. 

Mr. Hedges was married in Marcli, 1864, 
the lady of his choice being a girl witli 
whom he had been almost reared, Miss 
Lettie M. Hanvey. of Batavia, 111. Mrs. 
Hedges was born in Wyoming count}', 
N. Y., and moved to Kane county, 111., 
with her uncle, N. Wolcott, when small. 

Til is volume is not a work of romance 
and we can not therefore give way to 
flights of fanc}' or indulge the tender 
feelings, yet the reader who peruses this 
sketch carefully and notes the fact from 
the dates above given that the marriage 
of Mr. and Mrs. Hedges took place while 
he was home on his veteran furlough, 
carrying an ugly wound, will form for 
himself a mental picture, a wartime etch- 
ing, which can not but be pleasing to the 
fancy, albeit the picture may take on 
something of a sober coloring when he 
remembers how cruelly shoi't the honey- 
moon was and the long and weary months 
that passed before the mated ones were 
/•e-united again. 



DP. JUNK. Measured by the 
length of residence of the oldest 
settlers, the subject of this sketch 
ma\' be considered a comparatively recent 
accession to the population of the town of 
Shelton, Buffalo count}', where he settled 
in May, 1883. Mr. Junk came from Fair- 
fax, Linn county, Iowa, to Nebraska ; his 
native place, however, being Fa^'ette 
county, Ohio. He is descended from 
pioneer ancestors, people of strong limbs 
and stout hearts. He is of Welsh and 
Scotch exti'action, his paternal grand- 
father, Thomas Junk, being a native of 
Wales, who came to America when a lad 
and settled when a young man in Fayette 
county, Ohio, and his mothers people 
coming from Scotland to the Western 
states by way of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Junk's father, whose christian name 
was Thomas, was born in F:iyette county. 
Ohio, was reared and married there, and 
in after 3'ears moved to Blooraington, 
111., and then to Linn county, Iowa, where 
he subsequently lived and died. He lived 
till 1876, having reached his seventy- 
second year. 

Mr. Junk's mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Elizabeth Pinkerton, being a 
daughter of William Pinkerton, was born 
in Pennsylvania and came West at an early 
date with her parents, who settled in 
Fayette county, Ohio. There she was 
reared and married. She is still liv- 
ing. 

Tliomas and Elizabeth Junk were the 
parents of five children, of whom the sub- 
ject of this biographical notice is the third. 
The others are — Amelia, now wife of 
Thomas Springer, of Fairfax, Iowa; Emily, 
wife of Andrew D. Karr, of Dakota; Ada, 
wife of Calvin Harrow, of Des Moines, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



375 



Iowa, antl James C, of Fairfax, Iowa. 
These are all living. 

Tiie third, David P., an outline of whose 
life is here proposed, was born in Fayette 
county, Oliio, April 4, 1844. He was 
reared mainly in I]looniington. 111., whitiier 
his father moved when he was small, and 
was a 3'oung m.in when liis father moved 
to Iowa. Entering the army earl}' in the 
spring of 1862, when he liad just turned 
into his eighteenth year, the next three 
years of his life were spent " where the 
roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry 
made the only music that gi'eeted his 
ears," while the long, fatiguing marches 
and the privations and hardships of camp 
life contrasted forcibly with the ])eace 
and comforts of the home in which he 
had been reared. Mr. Junk enlisted in 
Company A, Fifteenth Iowa volunteer 
infantry, his regiment forming a part of 
the famous Iowa brigade, which, under 
the command of Colonel Crocker, did such 
noble execution, and an outline of its his- 
tory is here worth mentioning, as sliowing 
in some measure the part Mr. Junk took as 
one of the countless thousands of brave 
men, now " to fortune and to fame un- 
known." 

The Fifteenth Iowa was organized at 
Keokuk, February 22, 1862, and mustered 
in on March 14th. It left tlie state, 
one thousand and thirty-eight strong, on 
March 19th. stopping at St. Louis, where 
it was armed and equipped, and on the 
morning of April Gth arrived at Pittsburg 
Landing, just as the battle of Shiloh was 
beginning. It had been previously as- 
signed to Prentiss' division, but, unable to 
find that command, Colonel Keid ordered 
the regiment into line and it fought in 
McClernand's division; though entering 



the battl« with so little preparation, it 
rendered eiticient service and acquitted 
itself creditably. Its loss at Shiloh was 
twenty-one killed, one hundred and fiftv- 
six wounded, and eight missing — a total of 
one hundred and eighty-five out of seven 
hundred anil sixty engaged. Soon after 
this battle the famous Iowa brigade, com- 
posed of the Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fif- 
teenth and Sixteenth, was formed and 
placed under command of Colonel Crocker, 
and in the battle of Corinth fought in 
McKean's division. The Fifteenth, Col. 
AVm. W. Belknap commanding, sustained 
the principal loss in the brigade, its 
casualties amounting to eleven killed, 
sixty-seven wounded and eight missing, 
out of about three hundred and fifty en- 
gaged. In the early spring of 1803, the 
regiment encamped near Lake Providence, 
La., and assisted in digging the mditary 
canal, connecting the lake with the Mis- 
sissippi river. It was then placed in 
McArthur's division,seventeenth corps,and 
served through the Yicksbui'g cam})aign 
of tiiat summer. The regiment re- 
enlisted, and, retui-ning from its veteran 
furlough, joined Sherman's army, June 
10, 1S64, at Kenesaw, Ga., and served in 
the remainder of the Atlanta campaign. 
In the battle of Atlanta, July 21 and 22, 
the regiment lost one hundred and seven- 
ty-eightmen, killed, wounded and missing, 
and captured the flags of two Con federate 
regiments. It was on the march to the 
sea and in the campaigns through the 
Carolinas. Mr. Junk's term of enlistment 
expired while the army was around At- 
lanta and he did not re-enlist, lie was 
in all the engagements, however, up to 
that date. He served as ])rivateand laier 
as sergeant. He returneil iiome in the 



376 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



summer of ISOiand went to farmiiig. A 
few \'ears afterwards he embarked in tlie 
mercantile business in Fairfax, Iowa, and 
remained there in that business till coming 
to Nebraska, in May, 1883. 

On locating in Shelton, his present 
jjlace of residence, he entered into part- 
nership with John S. Hedges, who came 
from Fairfax, Iowa, with him, forming 
the firm of Hedges & Junk, and began 
handling grain, lumber and coal. He has 
been so engaged since. 

In addition to this, Mr. Junk has nn in- 
terest in the Shelton State Bank, having 
helped to organize that institution, and is 
now vice-president of it. He is chairman 
of the board of the town council of Shel- 
ton, and chairman also of the board of 
trustees of the Shelton high school. lie 
belongs to Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army 
of the Republic, at Shelton, and is a zeal- 
ous member of the Knights of Pythias. 

Mr. Junk is a man of family, having 
married in Fairfax, Iowa, in October, 
1867. His wife before marriage was Miss 
Anna McLaughlin, a daughter of Ira 
McLaughlin, a citizen then of Fairfax. 
Mrs. Junk was born and reared in Clare- 
mont, N. H., and comes of old New 
England stock. To this union have 
been born four children, three girls and 
one boy, the eldest two of whom are now 
dead, the others being — Bertha and Her- 
bert L. 

Mr. Junk has been an almost life-long 
member of the Presbyterian church, in- 
heriting his belief from an ancestry dis- 
tinguisiied for their attachment to that 
faith. 

The Junk family are socially of very 
higli standing in the community in which 
tiiey live. 



EL. SMITH, M. D. The town of 
Shelton, Buffalo county, has a 
population of nearl}' a thousand 
souls. It has a scope of country' tribu- 
tary to it which, in density of population, 
is hardly exceeded in central Nebraska, 
yet in all that community there are but 
two physicians. The citizens give two ex- 
planations for this. Tiie first is the re- 
markable healthfulness of the locality, 
and the second is that, as experiment has 
demonstrated, none but first-class physi- 
cians are needed or can prosper there. 
Each of these reasons seems reasonably 
satisfactory, and we dismiss the inquiry 
with them. 

One of th^ physicians of Shelton, a 
man of strictly first-class medical acquire- 
ments, is Dr. E. L. Smith, who located in 
Shelton, in May, ISSi. He came direct 
from Chicago, where lie obtained his med- 
ical education and where he was partly 
reared. He is a native of Cook county, 
111., having been born there November 24, 
1847. He was reared at Palatine, that 
county, and in Chicago; selected medicine 
as a profession when a young man, and 
secured his training under Dr. S. P. 
Brown, of Elgin, 111., and Dr. A. N.Shef- 
ner, of Palatine, reading with these gen- 
tlemen in all three years, and finishing at 
the Rush Medical College, of Cliicago, 
taking in that institution, besides the reg- 
ular curriculum, sixteen special courses. 
As these things constitute part of a phy- 
sician's public record, and especially as 
they show his qualifications for his pro- 
fession, they are things that the public 
are entitled to know, and it can therefore 
be deemed no bad taste on the part of the 
writer to state tiiem explicitly in this ar- 
ticle. Dr. Smith first attended the free 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



377 



dispensary of Chicago for two summers. 
He then tooli a special course in otology 
and ophthalmotology (eye and car), and 
afterwards these : Dental pathology, 
laryngology, dermatology, two courses in 
anatom\% one in gynecology, two in phys- 
ical diagnoses and diseases of the cliest, 
one under Prof. J. H. Etheridge in opj'^- 
naiology ; attended the clinical institute 
in the hospital, and subsequently also took 
a course in taxidermy. This training ex- 
tended over a period of more than five 
years, and was abundantly interspersed 
with the usual hospital practice and actual 
bedside experience. Such a course of 
training not only represents valuable time 
and much money, but also a vast amount 
of hard study, patient effort and pains- 
taking observation and experiment. But 
long, arduous and costly as it is, it is nev- 
ertheless necessary to the successful pur- 
suit of the profession, and the one who 
has gone througii with it goes to the dis- 
charge of his duties with a degree of 
preparation that is the surest guaranty of 
success. Dr. Smith is an entiiusiast in 
his profession. He inherits the taste that 
brought him to it. He comes of a family 
where some branches of materia mcdlca 
afforded a topic for daily discussion. His 
parents, grandparents and all his uncles 
and aunts read medicine as an accomplish- 
ment, but few of them, however, practic- 
ing it as a calling. He therefore received, 
with the hereditary bent for the profes- 
sion, exceptionally good advantages in his 
earlier years, and these, supplemented by 
the training he has had, admii'ably fit 
him for all the varied and responsible du- 
ties of his calling. Dr. Smitii has con- 
fined himself and his life entirely to tlie 
preparation for and the practice of his 



profession. His business has been such 
as falls to the lot of the general practi- 
tioner, and it could hardly be otherwise 
in a country practice. He attends, to 
all calls promptly ,responding with as much 
alacrity to the wants of the poor as of 
the rich. His services are at the com- 
mand of the suffering. His first thought 
is to give help. For tlie benevolent iiii- 
pulse that prompts such conduct he is as 
largely indebted to heredity as for the 
taste and knowledge which suggest the 
means of relief. To do good, to alleviate 
the sufferings of humanity and prolong 
and sweeten the life with which it is blest, 
were the chief incentives that actuated 
his people in their zealous pursuit of med- 
ical knowledge. And it will be appropri 
ate in this connection to make some more 
minute references to Dr. Smith's ances- 
trial history than we have done. 

Tlie doctor is a cross between New 
England and Pennsylvania stock. He 
combines in some degree the qualities of 
both — the religiously zealous, lil)erty-]ov- 
ing, knowledge-seeking Puritan and the 
sturdy, plodding, frugal, home-loving and 
peace-making peo]ile of Quaker training. 
His father, Israel Smith, was born and 
reared in Maine, and took up the line of 
travel to the West when a young man, 
settling iu Cook countv, 111., 18;i7, being 
one of the pioneers of that locality. He 
passed his J'oung manhood and maturer 
years there helping subdue the wild- 
ness of nature and opening the country to 
settlement, and there also spent his de- 
clining age, dying in the home of his 
adoption in 1878, well advanced in life. 
He was a farmer, devotedly attached to his 
calling and measurably successful at it. Dr 
Smith's mother bore the maiden name of 



378 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Caroline Baker and she was born and reared 
to young womanhood in her native state, 
moving thence West with her parents and 
settHng also in Cook county, 111., in the 
vicinity of Chicago, but long before that 
place had attained anything like its pres- 
ent population or commercial importance. 
She is still living, having through her sys- 
tematic habits and quiet peaceful life 
reached a good old age. 

Dr. Smith is the third of a family of 
three children and is the only professional 
one of the family and the only one who 
has taken up his permanent residence in 
the West. 

He married June 16, 1809, in his native 
place. Palatine, Cook county. 111., his 
choice falling on a girl whom he had 
known from childhood. Miss Carrie Kit- 
son, a lady eminently fitted to bear him 
the companionship he sought in this alli- 
ance. 

As a citizen Dr. Smith is progressive, en- 
terprising, and public spirited. He seeks 
no pi'ominence, political or otherwise, but 
for all that goes to build up his town and 
community he can be counted on to lend 
a helping hand. lie has a host of friends 
who on occasion give heed to his counsel 
and advice. Personally he is pleasant 
and agreeable, being large of mould and 
generous of heart, warm of his sympathies 
and hearty in manner. He would attract 
attention by his personal presence in an 
assembly of a hundred men, and could 
hold their attention by his conversation if 
he chose to do so, and his friends say that 
this attention, so attracted and so held, 
will change to admiration, and that to 
friendship, which will remain steadfastly 
to the end. 



GEORGE W. CARLETON, the 
efficient Union Pacific I'ailway 
agent at Shelton, Nebr., is emi- 
nently a self-made man. Losing his 
father at an early age, the entire support 
of a large family devolved upon him, and 
to the fact that he bravely met and 
shouldered the responsibility may be 
largely attributed those habits of business 
push and industry' which have since made 
him a most successful business man. Born 
on March 28, 1861, at IVIilford, Mass., he 
is still on the hither side of thirty. His 
father was a native of Derby Center, Vt., 
but while our subject was still a child, 
removed to Green Top, Mo. where, in 1S77, 
at the age of forty-six years, he suc- 
cumbed to the dread destroyer, his death 
being, perhaps, directly attributable to 
disease, the foundation of which was laid 
during his service to his countr}' in the 
war of the Rebellion. Mr. Carleton, 
senior, was a member of Company F, 
Thirty-sixth Massachusetts infantry, 
entering the army at the age of twenty- 
five years. Up to that time he had fol- 
lowed the ]iursuit of farming, but subse- 
quent to that time he engaged in the boot 
and shoe trade. The mother of our 
pi'esent subject bore the maiden name of 
Narcissa N. Doggett, was a native of 
South Carolina and was born in the year 
1840, March 28. She is the daughter of 
Samuel and Harriet (Watton) Doggett, 
and is still Jiving at Shelton. 

Mr. Carleton is the third eldest of eight 
children, of whom Mrs. Eva Wells resides 
at Green Top, Mo. ; Ella, now Mrs. 
Allister, and Anna,- live in Chicago; 
Frank, at Shelton, Nebr. ; Ida, in San 
Francisco, Cal., and Alfred, in Paxton, 
Nebr. The youngest of the family died 



BUFFALO COUNT Y. 



379 



in infancy. Our subject received his 
early education in the county schools at 
Mendon, in Worcester county, Mass., 
attending school during the winter season 
onh', his summers being spent in work- 
ing at the shoemaker's bench. At the 
age of fifteen, he removed, as before 
stated, with his parents to Green Top, 
Mo., where his father died shortly after- 
wards. Determining to find some more 
lucrative as well as less laborious occupa- 
tion than that which he had heretofore 
followed, he turned his attention to the 
subject of telegraph}^, which he studied 
for a short time at Green Top, finally 
completing his knowledge at Batavia, 
111., on the Chicago & North-Western line. 
Thence he went to Rochester, Minn., 
where he took charge of an office, work- 
ing for the railway company there for 
six years, at the end of whicli time he 
resigned, returning; for a short time to 
Batavia, and then in Jul}', 18S0, coming 
to Shelton, Nebr., where he began as 
night operator, subsequently being pro- 
moted to the position of station agent, 
which he has since held. By industry 
and careful habits, he acquired a little 
competency which, in 1889, he invested 
in a livery stable, w^hich he still owns and 
which is superintended by his brother, 
F. A. Carleton. In addition to this prop- 
erty, he owns the residence which he 
occupies and some forty-eight lots of city 
property. 

In 1885, he entered into life partner- 
ship with Miss Laura M. Hull, daugliter 
of John M. Hull, of Iowa, and to whom 
have been born two children — Ida S. and 
Allister G. 

In politics, Mr. Carleton is a republican. 
He is a member of the Ancient Order of 



United Workmen, and is also a master 
mason. In church matters he lias allied 
himself with the Methodist Episcopal 
denomination. Mr. Carleton is highly 
respected by his fellow-citizens, and is 
counted as one of the leading men of the 
city with whose interests he is identi- 
fied. . 



JAMES STEVEN. In making up a 
list of the representative business 
men of Shelton mention must of 
necessity be made of James Steven, 
the harness and agricultural im[)lement 
dealer. Mr. Steven is not a pioneer set- 
tler nor is he, strictly speaking, a new- 
comer. He located in the town in ISSD, 
but had previously visited the county and 
made some investments, coming "West first 
in 1ST3. He came from Ontario, Canada, 
his native place, being then young and un- 
married. He believed that this country 
had a good future before it, but he thought 
that he could afford to wait about taking 
up his residence here, and in the mean- 
time could spend a few j'ears to good ad- 
vantage further east. He returned home 
to Ontario, afterward crossed again into 
the States, and went to Monmouth, III., 
where he took a position with the AVeir 
plow company of that i)lace and was in 
their emplov for a perioil of five years. 
His business was mainlv gathering mate- 
rial for the factory and he spent most of 
his time in the timbers. He quit this posi- 
tion in ISSo and came AVest, locating as 
stated in the town of Shelton. His first 
and only business enterprise was his jires- 
ent one, naniel}' — harness and agricultural 
implements. In this line he was a pioneer. 



380 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



opening the first establishment of any con- 
sequence in the town. His business has 
grown steadily from the beginning, and 
he now owns and rims a house which is a 
credit to his town and to himself. What 
he has, he has made by his own exertions, 
and it is the result of patient industry, 
economy and strict attention to business. 
He not only carries a full stock in his line, 
such as implements, carriages, harness, 
organs and sewing machines, but he owns 
the large two-story brick building where 
he does business — a building he erected in 
1885, and which also repi'esents part of 
his earnings since embarking in trade ten 
years ago. It is not the purpose of this 
article to elaborate on Mr. Steven's suc- 
cess as having been anything phenomenal, 
for it has not ; but it has been exceptional 
and it is doing violence neither to truth 
nor good taste to sa}^ so. Success is what 
every one desires, and every rightly con- 
stituted man is glad to hear of others suc- 
ceeding, even though he fail himself. Mr. 
Steven succeeds simply because he sticks 
to his business and manages his affairs in 
accordance with business principles. 

" Stick to thy business, young man, and 
thy business will stick to thee," was the 
honest old Quaker's advice, and there are 
hundreds of men all over this country, 
besides the subject of this sketch, who are 
demonstrating the correctness of this 
maxim. Yet it is no more than right that 
he should be allotted credit for the point 
and practical force he has given it. As 
stated above, Mr. Steven is a native of 
Ontario, Canada, and was born January 
17, 1851. He was reared in his native 
place and brought up to the plain life of a 
farmer. He is of Scotch extraction, his 
l)areuts both being natives of Lanarkshire, 



Scotland. His father, James Steven, 
emigrated to Canada when a lad sixteen 
years of age and settled in the Province 
of Ontario, where he now resides, having 
led the quiet, uneventful life of a farmer 
all his years. He is a fair type of his race 
and his calling, being honest, frugal and 
intlustrious, and a man of serious views of 
life. 

Mr. Steven's mother bore the maiden 
name of Jean McGibbon, carrying in her 
name satisfactory evidence of her nation- 
ality. She was brought by her parents 
when an infant to the Province of Ontario, 
Canada, where she was reared, married 
and yet lives. Like her husband she is 
now well advanced in years, having led a 
life of activity and usefulness, the ciiief 
incentives to which have been her family 
and her church. She and her husband 
are of the religious faith of their native 
country — Scotch Presbyterians. 

James Steven, the subject hereof, is one 
of a famil}' of eight children, six of whom 
reached maturity and are now living. 
These, in the order of their ages, are as 
follows — Jennette and Walter, inShelton; 
James, Jean, Allen and Pobert. Mr. 
Steven married, Oct. 1, 1879, Miss Jessie 
J. Nichols of Monmouth, 111. To this 
union have been born four children — J. 
Ilalph, Glenn A., Laureen A. and Eifie L. 
While personally pleasant, Mr. Steven 
shows by his conduct and conversation 
that he is strictly a man of business, and 
his methods are the short, direct methods 
of the business man. He is plain and 
pointed in his address, sees quickly, acts 
promptlv, and is matter of fact in all 
things. He is progressive and public 
spirited, entering with zeal and energy 
into all public enterprises whicli his judg- 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



3S1 



ment approves of. He is member of a 
number of benevolent associations and his 
charitable impulses take the practical turn 
inculcated bv these. 



OLIVER PERRY GUFFEY was 
born in Cladwell county, Mo., 
October 29, lSi2. Ilis* father, 
William Guffey, was a native of Tennes- 
see and died in Clad well county, Mo., 
whither he had moved in 183G, his death 
taking place twenty years later. All his 
life he spent in farming. The mother of 
Mr. Guffey bore the maiden name of 
Margaret Pile. She, also, was a native of 
Tennessee — dying in Cladwell county, 
Mo , in 1886, at an advanced age. 

The subject of this sketch is one of a 
family of fourteen children (seven sons 
and seven daughters), seven only of whom 
are living. Of this number William F. 
resides in Cladwell county. Mo., as also 
does Stokely S.; Ashley R. is in Indian 
Territory; Andrew J. resides in Stone 
county, Ark.; the subject of this sketch 
in Shelton; and Abner J. on the old 
homestead in Cladwell county. Mo.; 
Delilah, now Mrs. Pemberton, lives in 
Caldwell county. Mo. Mr. Guffey has 
seen in his time a good deal of Western 
life and has also experienced man}' of its 
common and some of its uncommon phases. 
Reared on a farm, at an early age he 
engaged in freighting goods overland 
from Atchison, Kans., to Denver, Colo. 
This was before the day of railroads. lie 
drove across tlie plains with an ox team, 
making the trip in forty-five days. Spenil- 



ing a few months in the vicinity of Denver 
he then went to New ]\[exico, hauling: 
supplies with mule teams to the military 
post at Ft. Union. Subsequent to this he 
engaged, with indifferent success, in 
mining, but abandoned it for the saw-mill 
business, and finally returned to Caldwell 
county, Mo., making the return trip this 
time with mules. For a time he settled 
down to farming, operating the old home- 
stead; then, buying forty, acres and rent- 
ing some adjoining land, he continued to 
farm till 1882, when he removed to Ham- 
ilton, Mo., and engaged in live stock spec- 
ulation. This business he followed for 
four years, buying, feeding antl shipping, 
at the end of which time he removed to 
Shelton and engaged in the same business 
This was in 1886. In the following year 
he bought out the general store of F. H. 
Moore, which he has since operated in 
connection with his stock interests. The 
style of the firm is Guffey, Fine & Co. 

Mr. Guffey was married in 1871 to Miss 
Mahala Hale, daughter of Richard Hale 
of Missouri. From this marriage came 
two children — Richard A. and Lulu M. 
Mrs. Guffey died in the spring of 1880, 
being at the time at her father's home in 
Daviess county, Mo. In 1883 Mr. Guffey 
contracted a marriage with Miss Ella 
Brooks, born in Ohio, daughter of James 
Brooks of Missouri. One child has come 
to bless this union — James P. by name. 

Mr. Guffey is a democrat in politics and 
is a member of the order of A. O. U. W. 
In all his wanderings Mr. Guffey has found 
no section of the great West which pleases 
him more than central Nebraska, and 
he has wisely concluded that this is a 
good enough country in which to spend 
his renuiining days. 



383 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



NELSON A. BAKER, mayor of 
the city of Kearney, Nebr., has 
been a resident since 1879. 
He is a native of Clinton county, N. Y., 
and was born December 2, 1S51. His 
father, Zebulon Baker, was also a native 
of Clinton county and died there, at the 
old home where his life had been ])assed, 
in 1855. Mr. Baker's mother, whose 
maiden name was Elizabeth Albee, was a 
native of Vermont. She died in 1890 at 
Grand Island, Nebr. 

The subject of this sketch is the young- 
est of a family of eight children. His 
education was obtained in common schools 
and at an early age he began to assume 
the trusts and responsibilities of mature 
life. His first business venture was the 
building and operating of a grist-mill at 
Oak Creek, Lancaster county, Nebr., to 
which place he had emigrated the year 
before. This business he continued for 
two years, re]in(|uisliing it then for a 
more lucrative situation as traveling sales- 
man for an Iowa nursery concern. "While 
working for this concern he was married, 
in the year 1875, to Miss Ximeua M. 
Brooks, a native of northern Pennsylvania. 
In 1879, having previously become con- 
vinced that Kearney, with which he had 
become acquainted in his travels, was to 
be a city of future great importance, he 
decided to locate there, and severing his 
connection with the tirm for which he 
had previously operated, he moved to 
Kearney and started in the nursery busi- 
ness for himself. This he successfully 
conducted till the j'ear 1888, at which 
time he embarked in the real estate busi- 
ness, which he has since followed. He is one 
of the leading promoters of East Lawn, 
the beautiful sulnu'b of Kearney, and is 



also largely interested in real estate in all 
parts of the city. 

Mr. Baker has ever been active in all 
enter])rises looking to tlie advancement of 
the public interest of the city with which 
he is identified. He was a prime mover 
in the organization of the Kearney Street 
Car Company, of which he was also 
secretary till the time of its sale to the 
G. W. Frank Improvement Company. 
He also organized the Midway Land 
Compan3% becoming its first vice-president 
and one of its business managers, which 
position he has continuously held since. 
In the spring of 1889 he was appointed to 
fill the vacanc}' caused by the death of 
one of the members of the city board, and 
at once took an active part in the affairs of 
the city, displaying always sound business 
judgment and broad public spirit. His 
favorable record as a public citizen led to 
his nomination and subsequent election to 
the ofliice of mayor of the city at the en- 
suing municipal election in the spiung of 
1890. Among other enterprises in whose 
organization Mr. Baker has been active, 
may be mentioned the Canning Company, 
one of the leading industi'ies of Kearney, 
and the inception and organization of the 
Chamber of Commerce, which has been a 
ver}' potent factor in the development of 
the Midway City. 

Three children grace the home of Mi', 
and Mrs. Baker — Earle R., M. Claire, and 
Nell Marie. Mr. Baker is a Knight 
Templar Mason, also a member of the 
Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a repub- 
lican. He is counted one of the substan- 
tial, public-spirited citizens of Kearney 
and has before him, undoubtedly, being 
\-et in the prime of life, a successful career 
of still wider usefulness. 




N. A BAKER. 



BUFFALO aOUNTF. 



.-iSo 



WILLIAM NUTTER, one of a 
family of nineteen children 
born to John and Elizabeth 
(Knowles) Xutter, is a native of England 
;nid was born January 3, 1829. He comes of 
English ancestry and is the only represent- 
ative of his family in this state. He was 
reared in his native country and in his 
earlier years was apprenticed to the trade 
of cotton carder and spinner, which trade 
he mastered and followed for some time in 
some of the chief cotton factories in Eng- 
land. He married in April, 1853, taking 
for his wife a neighbor girl of his native 
))lace, Miss Dinah Hingam, a daughter of 
William and Olive (Hayworth) Hingam. 
In the latter part of March, 1855, with his 
wife and two children, Mr. Nutter set sail 
for the New "World, on the sliip Juventa. 
After a voyage of six weeks, he landed in 
Philadelphia, May 5, 1855, looked around 
the factories for work, but could not get 
the kind of work that he had been raised 
to and so went to Gloucester, N. J., and 
engaged in the print works, in the mean- 
time keeping his eyes open for a chance iu 
the cotton factories. He was there two 
years, and in the spi'ing of 1857 engaged 
with Guy Taylor *fe Co., in Philadelphia, 
to superintend their carding and spinning 
departments. He held that position for a 
period of three years and then, in the 
spring of 1860, with his faniil}', he started 
west to seek a home in the trackless 
prairies beyond the Mississippi, ilaking 
his wa}' by rail and boat he reached the 
Missouri river about the middle of that 
year and joined the great caravan of over- 
land immigrants then making their way 
to Utah. Locating in Session settlement, 
Utah Territory, he remained there for 
twenty months engaged in fai-ming and 



laying the foundation for what he hoped 
would be a peaceful and happy home. 
But with the rapidly passmg events of 
those times he soon found that he had 
mistaken his company, and breaking 
friendshi}) with his former associates, he 
turned his back upon the treacherous 
Mormons and retraced his steps towards 
the East. He settled in Hall count}', Nebr., 
in the spring of 18G2, taking a homestead 
on the banks of Wood river near the west- 
ern line of the count}'. That was an early 
date for central Nebraska — some years 
before the advent of the railroad with its 
civilizing influences. " Life on the plains I " 
What memories are awakened in the 
breast of many a resident of Nebraska at 
the sight and sound of these words : 
When the golden spike was driven which 
bound together the iron links in the great 
national highway, the knell in that wild 
period in the history of the West was 
struck. The whistle of the first locomo- 
tive in its fierce rush across the hitherto 
trackless expanse ended forever that scene 
in the drama of progress, which was alike 
comedy and tragedy. " I crossed the 
plains," are words which, spoken by the 
bronzed and hardy pioneer, signify more 
than the men of a later generation can 
conceive of. The toiling caravan of im- 
migrants to the El Dorado of the Pacific 
slope ; the venturesome cavalcade of dar- 
ing huntsmen ; the solitary group of 
mountaineers have passed beyond the 
view, and all that now remains of them 
are scattered traces of forgotten graves, a 
few survivors of those scences, busied with 
other tasks, and vague traditions of the 
times, which horrify or charm, as deeds of 
murder, robbery or love perchance give 
colorinc; to the tale. Among the verv 



386 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



early trials were the dangers incident to 
crossing a country inhabited b}' fierce 
Indians. If the truth could be known, 
probably ever}' mile from the Missouri to 
tiie Pacific would demand at least one 
headstone to mark a victim's grave. The 
stages of life, from birth to the closing of 
tiie drama, were here exemplified. Many 
a poor mother hushed her new-born babe 
amid the rough scenes of a camp while she 
herself was suffering from lack of those 
comforts so essential to maternity. Along 
the trackless plains many a maiden awoke 
to the revelation of love and many a troth 
was plighted. Even the marriage rite 
was sometimes celebrated ; and death, in 
every form, paid frequent court to the lone 
wanderer and the straggling settler. 
Through these scenes and the manj' changes 
since, the subject of this sketch has passed 
and from them he has gained a world of 
observation and experience not met with 
in the lives of many men. When he 
settled on his present homestead there 
were but few settlers along the Platte 
river in central Nebraska ; all the central 
and western part of the state was one 
unbroken prairie, threaded by a few 
streams and dominated by the aboriginal 
red man and roaming herds of buffalo ; 
the county of Buffalo had not then been 
marked on the map. When Mr. Nutter 
settled on Wood river there was a stage 
station where the village of Shelton now 
stands, and a family or two settled along 
the river in that vicinity. To the west, 
north, south, and one might almost say 
to the east, the country was simply part 
of the unknown world so far as the 
abodes of white men were concerned. 
The Union Pacific railroad had not then 
been projected, this part of the great 



public domain had not then been sur- 
veyed, and the country at large was con- 
sidered worthless, except as a hunting- 
ground for the Indians. These were 
present in great numbers, and included 
some of the most powerful and warlike 
tribes on the continent. The Cheyennes, 
Sioux and Pawnees roamed over this part 
of the country then, and they not un fre- 
quently left the evidences of their savage- 
ry in murdered men and women and in 
desolated homes. To peoj)le of a later 
generation, not one in ten of whom ever 
saw a "'painted red devil," it is hard to 
convey an adequate idea of the terror 
which these prowling bands of savages 
spread tii rough the country, and tlie con- 
stant strain which the settlers labored 
under. The air was often full of rumors, 
and occasional outrages were committed 
in the settlement, but no organized forays 
were made against the whites as far east 
as Buffalo county, after Mr. Nutter 
settled there. Indian scares occurred 
frequently, and even if they were not 
prompted by any real danger, the danger, 
nevertheless, seemed imminent to the 
settlers, and they were for the time being 
exceedingly serious affairs. The greatest 
of these scares, which occurred after Mr. 
Nutter settled, was in August, 1864, (hir- 
ing the Indian outbreak, wliicii culminat- 
ed in tlie Plum Creek massacre. Tliat 
scare depopulated the country, and Mi'. 
Nutter, abandoning for the time all hope 
of making for himself and family his 
long-wished-for home in the AVest, re- 
turned to his native country, England, 
leaving behind him to the ravages of the 
Indian and the freebooters of the jilains 
his several yeai's' earnings. Remaining 
in England only a short time, however. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



387 



be came again to the United States in 
April, 1865, and was again, for a period 
of three j'ears, engaged with the linn of 
Guy, Taylor & Co., of Philadelphia. 
Returning then to Nebraslia in 1868, he 
settled again on Wood Kiver, Buffalo 
county, buying a place where he has since 
resided. 

Mr. Nutter has raised up around him a 
large and interesting family of children, 
some of whom are married, settled off in 
life, and are themselves heads of families. 
The christian names of his children in 
the order of their ages are as follows — 
Olive (deceased), Maroni (deceased), John. 
William, Hingam (deceased), Ellen, lona, 
Liona, Elizabeth, Jennie, Frank, Mira- 
beau, Louise, Alice and Thomas (de- 
ceased). 



REED BROTHERS. One of tiie 
oldest newspapers in Buffalo 
^ county, as it is one of the best, is 
the Clipper, published at Shelton, by 
Frank D. and Williani M. Reed, under the 
firm name of Reed Brothers. The Clip- 
per office was opened and the first paper 
published December 1, 1879, by A. C. 
Edwards, under tlie name of the Shelton 
Clariiin. It so continued to be published 
until October l<i, 18S0, when, having 
passed into the hands of IT. C. McNew in 
the meantime, he changed the name at 
that date to the Shelton Clipper. He ran 
the paper till 188i, selling out then to the 
present proprietors. The Clipper was 
started as a seven-columu folio, but was 
afterwards changed to a six-column quarto. 
It is publisheti weekly, is i'e{)ublican in 
politics, and has a good local circulation. 



It has a splendid job department and 
turns out job work of a superior quality. 
Messrs. Reed Brothers are both practical 
workmen, and Frank D., junior member 
of the firm, is an old newspaper man. 
They are both natives of Ohio, having 
been born and reared in Midtileport. 
William M. came to Shelton in 1883, 
where he has since been located. Frank 
D. served an apprenticeship in his native 
place in Ohio, and \vorked as a journey- 
man for several years before coming to 
Nebraska. He has traveled extensive!}' 
over the West and has worked in a num- 
ber of offices in this state. He at one time 
owned an interest with his uncle. Dr. F. 
B. Reed, in the Hercild, published at Peru, 
this state, being associate editor, and 
bought his present interest in the Clipper 
in lS8i. He is a good hustler for news, 
a strong and forcible writer, a man of in- 
telligence, sound taste and discriminating 
judgment ; wielding his pen with force, 
he vet uses it with discretion. 



JACOB W. CLANCY was born in 
Canada July 9, 1854, and is the son 
of William and Hannah (Powley) 
Clancy. The senior Clancy was born 
in England, and came to America with his 
parents when quite small. He owns a 
large dairy farm near Nappenee, Canada, 
and is also largely interested in the rais- 
ing of sheep. 

Jacob W. Clancy left the paternal home- 
stead when he was eighteen, and worked 
for a time in an oil refinery. He also be- 
came an expert engineer, and was sta- 
tioned at Petrolia, Canada, for nine \'ears. 
He came to St. Clair, Mich., in September, 



1877. and followed fanning for a short 
time, and in the fall of 1877 came to 
Biilfalo count}^, Nebr., and purchased a 
quarter section of good land in Thornton 
township. He built a sod house and pre- 
pared to receive his family, which fol- 
lowed the next year. But little of the sur- 
rounding country was settled then, and 
neighl)ors were few and far between. It 
was not an uncommon thing, even in those 
days, to see deer and antelope on a dis- 
tant bluff or bounding down through a 
draw to escape possible danger. The 
winter of 1880-1 was an exceptionally 
severe one, and great suffering was expe- 
rienceii, generally among tl e new arrivals. 
Many were not prepared for the severe 
storms and deep snow, which began that 
season about the fifteenth of Octobei-, and 
continued until the next April. The 
scarcity of fuel was cause for a great deal 
of inconvenience and suffering, and some 
wei-e even w-ithout the actual necessities 
to sustain life during so long and disa- 
greeable a winter, and were in a measure 
dependent upon their more fortunate 
neighbors. 

Mr. Clancy was married, September 27, 
1875, to Miss Elva A. Ward. She was a 
Canadian by birth, but her parents were 
born in the United States. Six children 
have been born to this union, namelv — 
Elmer A., born September 6, 1877; Pearl 
E., born April 30, 1879 ; Delia A., born 
November 28, 1880; Yernia A., born 
March 27, 1882; Ethel M., born Decem- 
ber 30, 1883 ; and Victor E., born March 
25, 1886. 

Mr. Clancv has held various local offices, 
but is inde])endent in politics. lie and his 
wife are both members of the United 
Brethren church. 



FRANK W. MAGEE. one of the 
young and enterprising farmers 
of Thornton township, Buffalo 
county, was born at "West Camden, N. Y., 
June 22, 1855, and is a son of Abrara 
S. Magee and Mary (Dible) Magee. His 
fatlier was a native of New York, in which 
state he continued to reside until his death 
in 1878. He was a sawyer by occupation 
and a man of considerable inffuence in the 
community where he lived, was alwavs 
quiet and peaceable and never was known 
to have an\' trouble with his fellow-nieu. 
He was a model man in every respect and 
his example is well wortliy of imitation. 
He was the fatlier of three children, of 
whom Frank W. was the second. James 
Magee, the paternal grand fatlier of the 
subject of tills sketch, wasaPennsylvaniaii 
German, and his wife, Mary (Dible) Ma- 
gee, was a native of New England. Her 
father, John Diljle, was quite a prominent 
man during his time, being deacon in the 
Methodist church for many yeai'S. He 
also hekl various official positions of honor 
in his country. Frank W. Magee was 
reared under the parental roof until eight- 
een years of age, when he began working 
out by the month on a farm. He did not, 
however, confine himself strict!}' to farm 
labor, but varied his occupation by work- 
ing at whatever he thouii'lit he could do 
the best and earn the most. He emigrateil 
to Buffalo county, Nebr.. June 13, 1879, 
and spent his first summer working on a 
farm. The following spring he took up a 
homestead in Tliornton township, whei'e 
he has since resided. The country in that 
part of the county was sparsely settled at 
that time afid neighbors were few and far 
between. Young Magee came West with 
limited means; in fact, it might almost 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



389 



be saul tluit lin luul no nutans whatever. 
But he came with the determination to 
succeed, and notwiliistandint^ his great 
suffering on account of Jiis poverty he is 
now on the road to success and is num- 
bered among the substantial farmers of 
his section. It is indeed diiBcult for one 
to fully appreciate the condition of a per- 
son coming to a country like this at that 
time with no money or friends, and being 
compelled to work his way through under 
such embarrassing circumstances. None 
but the brave and courageous succeed. 

Frank W. i\Iao:ee was united in marriao-e 
December 10, 1878, to Miss Mary Fester, 
of Clinton, N. Y., and from this union 
four children were born — Arthur, born 
April 6, 1881 (deceased); Maud, born 
March 17,1884; a third child born July 
6, 1885 (deceased), and Sarah E., boi'n 
November 4, 1887. Mrs. Magee was born 
in Lewis county, N. Y., February 22, 
1857, and is the daughter of John and 
Sarah Fester, both of whom came from 
Germany. Mi's. Magee is a member of 
the United Brethern church. Mr. Magee 
has been chosen to fill vai'ious local offices 
and has always performed his official 
duties in a highly creditable manner. He 
is a man who strives at all times and under 
all circumstances to merit the respect and 
approbation of those around him. 



HOLLOWAY W. KINNEY was 
born in Hunterdon county, 
N. J., February 21, 1832, and 
is the son of Adrian and Catlierine (Van 
Syckle) Kinne_y. His father was a native 
of New Jersey and was born in 1803, 
was a farmer by occupation and died in 



1863. J J is mother, who was also a native 
of New Jersey, is still living. There were 
nine children in the family — three boys 
and six girls. Both parents were identi- 
fied with the Presbyterian churcii. His 
paternal grandfather, Daniel Kinney, 
came from Gernumy in early maniiood 
and settled in New Jersey, where he died 
in 1858. His maternal grand fatlier, 
Aaron Van Syckle, was a native of Eng- 
land, who, when he came to this country, 
selected IN ew Jersey as his place of resi- 
dence. H. W. Kinney was married Octo- 
ber 6, 1855, to Miss Sarah Welter. She 
is a daughter of Jacob and Eliza (Hender- 
son) Welter, and was born in Wai-ren 
count}', N. J., Ma}' 5. 1835. Their union 
was blest with two children — -Cordelia, 
born August 15, 1856, and Carrie I. born 
July 26, 1873. Mrs. Kinney's parents 
were natives of New Jersey. Her father 
died in JS62, and her mother in 1885. 
There were four children in the family, of 
which she was the only girl. H. W. Kin- 
ney possesses a most honorable military 
record. Enlisting August 20, 1862, in the 
Fifteenth New Jersey regiment, he served 
for three years, during which time he 
participated in man\' of the most notable 
engagements of the war. He was at 
Fredericksburg, Va., May 3, 1863 ; Salem 
Height.s, May 3 and 4,1863; Franklin's 
Crossing, Ya., 6 to 14, 1863 ; Gettysbui'g, 
Pa., July 2 and 3, 1863 ; Fairfield, Pa., 
July 5, 1863; Fairfield P. O., Funkstown, 
Md.; Rappahannock station, Va., Octo- 
ber 12; Rappahannock station, Va., No- 
vember 7 ; Mine Run, Spottsylvania. Va., 
May 8 to 11, 1864; Spottsylvania C. II., 
Va., May 12 to 16, 1864 ; North and South 
Anna river, Hanover C. II., Tala]>otoni y 
creek, Weklon railroad, Snicker's gap. 



390 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Strasburg, "Winchester, Charlestown, 
Opequan, Fisher hill, Newmarket, Mount 
Jackson, Cedar creek and Middletown, 
Hatcher's run, Fort Stedman, capture of 
Petersburg, Ya., April 2, 1865, Sailor's 
creek, April 6,1865; Farmville, April 7, 
1865 ; and at Lee's surrender, Appomat- 
tox, April 9, 1865. He came out of the 
battle at Cedar creek with nineteen bul- 
let holes in his clothes. His regiment was 
composed of the best men, physically, in 
Hunterdon county, N. J., and was made 
up exclusively of farmers, but his health 
was ruined in the hospitals. He was 
mustered out June 22, 1865. He came to 
Nebraska in March, 1878, and settled in 
Thornton township, Buffalo county. At 
that time there were only four families 
located within a radius of four or five 
miles of him. His farm, which is a splen- 
did one, is located on the highest point in 
the township and commands an.excellent 
view of the surrounding countr}'. Per- 
haps no man in Buffalo county has taken 
more interest in fruit raising than has he, 
and certain 1}' none has succeeded better, 
as he has a large number of thrifty fruit 
trees of excellent varieties. He also has 
succeeded remarkabl}' well in raising 
small fruits, and he has demonstrated, 
be\'ond doubt, that with proper care 
fruit can be grown in this countr}'. 



HON. SAMUEL W. THORNTON, 
one of the oldest settlers of 
Thornton township, was born in 
Madison county, Ohio, October 23, 1832. 
His father, Abner Thornton, was born 
in North Carolma in the j'ear 1800 and 
was of Scotch-Irish extraction. He emi- 



grated with his parents in early child- 
hood to Highland county, Ohio, where the 
family resided for several years, when they 
removed to Madison county. The senior 
Mr. Thornton was a school-teacher for a 
quarter of a century and was a man noted 
for his intelligence and good judgment. 
He was a man of exemplary habits and 
was strictly honest in all his dealings with 
his fellow-men. He joined the Presbyter- 
ian church in his early boyhood days and 
served as deacon during the major ])or- 
tion of his life. He died in September, 
,1864, respected and loved by all who 
knew him. Samuel Strain, the maternal 
grandfather of the subject of our sketch, 
was a native of Highland county, Ohio, 
was a most zealous Presbyterian and a 
man of extraordinary influence in the 
community where he lived. He was mar- 
ried four times and was the father of 
twenty-two children. His first wife was 
Nancy Watts, by whom he had four chil- 
dren ; his second wife was Elizabeth Miller, 
who bore him seven children ; his thii-d 
was ]\Iartha Wilson, who also bore him 
seven children ; the fourth and last was 
Nancy Johnston, by whom he had four 
children. A hewed log house erected b\' 
Mr. Strain, in Highland countj% Ohio, in 
1808, is still standing in a good state of 
preservation. The subject of our sketch 
was married September 14, 1854, to Miss 
Sarah A., daughter of Thomas and Mary 
(Br3'son) Larimer. Both parents were 
natives of Pennsylvania, the father having 
been born in Fayette count}', September 
7, 1802, and the mother in Fayette county, 
September 23, 1805. . Thomas Larimer 
was a farmer by occupation and a promi- 
nent and influential man in the commu- 
nity in which he lived. He held various 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



391 



local offices, but never aspired to political 
honors. He wiis a devoted member of 
the Presbyterian church for fiftv vears 
and never kne\y that he had an enemy in 
liis life. The maternal grandparents of 
Mi's. S. W. Thornton, were Andrew and 
Elizabeth (Porter) Bryson, both natives 
of Ireland. They were driven from 
their native land, however, during the 
religious revolution in the time of Charles 
I. Immediately after marriage, Mr. 
Thornton engaged in farming in Fayette 
county, Ohio, until 1S59, when he emi- 
grated to Washington, Washington county, 
Iowa, where he resumed his chosen occu- 
pation, about three miles from the countv 
seat. In August, 1861, he responded to 
the bugle call of his country by enlisting 
in Company C, Eighth regiment, Iowa 
infantry. He participated in various skirm- 
ishes in Missouri in 1861-2. In the spring 
of 1862 his regiment was ordered up the 
Tennessee river as far as Pittsbura- Land- 
ing, where it arrived in time to take part 
in the terrible battle of Shiloh. It was 
here on the eve of April 6, 1862, that Mr. 
Thornton was taken prisoner. He was 
first taken to Memphis, Tenn., later to 
Mobile, Ala., and finally to Macon, Ga., 
where he was paroled and sent home to 
await exchange. He soon re-entered the 
service and participated in the siege of 
Vicksburg, and in Forrest's raid on the 
city of Memphis. Here, on the twenty-first 
of August, he was shot in the thigh and 
wounded so badly that he was confined to 
the hospital until February 6, 1865, when 
he was discharged. lie returned home 
on crutches, which he was obliged to use 
for sometime afterwards. After his re- 
turn from the service, lie filled acceptably 
several public positions of honor and trust. 



He served as city collector, assessor and 
marshal of Washington, and one term as 
deputy sheriff. lie also took the census 
of Washington county, Iowa, in 1870, 
receiving the appointment without pre- 
vious knowledge. He immigrated to Buf- 
falo county, Nebr., in June, 1874, and 
took a homestead and timber claim in what 
has since been called Thornton township. 
The country was wild and exceedingly 
barren, there being no settlement in the 
immediate vicinity at that time. Wild game 
was quite plenty, deer and antelope being 
frequenth' seen on the surrounding bluffs. 
No grass of any consequence grew, except 
in the "draws.'' Mr. Thornton was 
obliged to cut all the grass, for two years, 
that grew in the "draws" within a 
radius of two miles, in order to pi'ocure 
enough hay to feed his stock during the 
winter. In July, 1874, the grasshoppers 
made their first appearance and destroved 
everything that was gi-een. The next 
year the few discouraged settlers suc- 
ceeded in raising a fine crop, considering 
the extreme newness of the country. In 
the summer of 1876, however, when the 
growing crop gave ever}' promise of an 
abundant yield, and when the few scatter- 
ing settlers had renewed their courage in 
the hope of gathering a rich liarvest in the 
autumn, behold, the festive grasshoppers 
rose in black clouds in the distant hori- 
zon and descended wherever a green blade 
of anything was visible, and before night 
of the same day not a vestige of anvthin"- 
green could be seen. Fortunately this 
was the last year of the grasshoppcM-s. 
Since then there has been unexcelled 
prosperity. Mr. Thornton now has four 
hundred and eight}' acres of splendid 
land adapted to ])roducing anything 



302 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



usually grown in this section of the 
country. He has been experimenting for 
twelve years in raising tame grasses and 
has a reputation for raising more tame 
grass than any other farmer in the 
country. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thornton have reared a 
family of eight chiltlren, namely — Eva J., 
born June 5, 185.5, wife of John Swenson ; 
William D., born February 24, 1858, mar- 
ried to Fann\" Borders; Charles A., born 
November 28, 1860, drowned at the age of 
sixteen in Loup river; Mary E., born Sep- 
tember 6, 1865, wife of T. R. Lionberger; 
IJarry L., born October 3,1867; Mabel C, 
born February 9, 1870, wife of Albert S. 
Lionberger of Hancock county, HI.; Kate 
D., born October 28, 1872; and Lillie B., 
born November 10, 1877. 

Mr. Thornton was elected in the fall of 
1886 to represent Buffalo county in the 
State legislature and took an active part 
in the discussion of various important 
measui'es which passed during the session. 
Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are both consistent 
members of the Congregational church 
and Mr. Thornton is also an honored mem- 
ber of the Grand Army of the Eepublic. 



BAKTLETTE TURNEE was born 
in Scotland county, Mo., October 
6, 1851. His father, William A. 
Turner, was born in Virginia in 1827 but 
emigrated to Illinois when quite 3'oung, 
and in 1845 moved to Missouri, where he 
engaged in farming. He has alwa3's 
taken great interest in agricultural pur- 
suits and still resides at Granger, Scotland 
county. Mo. His wife is Eliza Powers, born 



in Indiana in 1831. William H. Turner, 
the paternal grandfather of our subject, 
emigi'ated from Virginia to Illinois and 
later to Missouri, where he died in 1877. 
The maternal grandfather, Richard Pow- 
ers, lived in Missouri and died before the 
war; his wife, Mary Powers, died in Mis- 
souri in 1885. 

Mr. Turner, the subject of this sketch, 
began life for himself in 1872 by working 
a farm by the month. His sole ambition 
was to get a home of his own, and with 
this purpose in view he provided himself 
with a "prairie schooner" and set out for 
the boundless West. He joui'ne\'ed as far 
as Buffalo county, Nebraska, where he 
arrived on the first of October, 1873. 
After prospecting about for a while he 
concluded to take up a homestead in 
Thornton township. Here he built a sod 
house and went to work in earnest to 
secure a home. The country was new, 
and he had to labor under many disadvan- 
tages, but he eventually overcame these 
obstacles antl is to-day one of the prosper- 
ous farmers of his locality. His farm con- 
tains 240 acres of land, mostly under cul- 
tivation and otherwise improved. A sub- 
stantial farm dwelling has superseded the 
old sod house and beautiful forest trees 
break the monotony of tlie rolling prairie. 

Mr. Turner was united in marriage 
December 26, 1872, to Miss Mary E.Stand- 
ard. Three children have been born to 
this union, namely — William L., born Jan- 
uary 30, 1874 ; Fred A., born July 6, 1876, 
and Frank, born June 25, 1885. The 
father of Mrs. Turner was Thomas Stand- 
ard, who was born in Ohio and who emi- 
grated to Missouri when a 3'oungman, and 
engaged in farming. He died in the ser- 
vice of his country at Cincinnati, Ohio, 




R. BEECHER. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



395 



during the war. lie was inarrieil to i[iiry 
Phelps, a native of Missouri, who is now 
living at Arbela, Mo. Both were devoted 
members of the Christian church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bartlette Turner remem- 
ber seeing herds of antelope passing only 
a few rods from their present home, and 
the former has seen buffalo in this country 
since his residence here. He has hauled 
fuel, during his earl}' settlement, from fif- 
teen to thirty' miles and has paid as high 
as $1.20 for a busiiel of corn. He erected 
his first sod house, fourteen by sixteen feet. 
at an outlay of only $3.00. Mr. Turner has 
never aspired to political honors, but has 
several times served in the capacit}' of 
clerk and treasurer of his township, lie 
has always afiiiliated with tiie democratic 
party. 



RBEECIIER, M. D. Dr. R. Beecher 
is a homeopathic piiysician of 
prominence residing in tlie town 
of Shelton, Buffalo count}', and is also an 
old Nebraskan, having come to the state 
in 1872. His record, tlierefore, will be 
doubly interesting to a volume like this. 

Dr. Beecher was born in Ashtabula 
county, Ohio, December 13, 1835, and 
was reared there to the age of thirteen, 
moving thence to Winnebago county. 111., 
with his parents, who settled in that 
county in the vicinity of Rockford in 
18i8. There his youth was spent. He 
received a good literary education in the 
schools of Beloit, Wis., and on reaching his 
majority went to Iowa and started in the 
world for himself. He selected medicine 
as his profession and prepared himself for 



lectures under tlie direction of Dr. II. C. 
Markham. of Inde])endence, Iowa, and 
Dr. R. B. Cauch,of Winthrop, Iowa. The 
former of these belonged to the allopathic 
school of medicine and tiie latter to the 
homeopathic school. Having posted him- 
self on the relative merits of the two 
schools sufficiently to enable him to make 
a judicious choice, Dr. Beecher decided to 
give his allegiance to the latter, and set 
about vigorously to prepare himself for 
tiie piactice. He graduated from the 
Medical College of Missouri, at St. Louis, 
and settled to the practice of his profes- 
sion in Iowa. He spent some years 
there successful!}' engaged at the practice 
till 1872, when he made up his mind 
to change locations, and came that year 
to Nebraska and located at the town of 
Exeter, Fillmore county. He followed 
his profession there for a period of nine 
years, moving in 1881 to Shelton, Buffalo 
county, where he now lives. Since the 
date Dr. Beeclier embarked in the profes- 
sion he has given his time whollv to it, 
and the great success he has met with has 
been a just reward for his diligent labor 
and faithful application. He has been in 
the {)ractice now over a third of a cen- 
tury ; he has ridden over thousands of 
miles f)f territory and has visited the bed- 
side of hundreds of suffering fellow-mor- 
tals. His practice has been that of the 
general practitioner. Much of it has 
necessarily been done for those too poor 
to pay the "accustomed doctors' fee," 
yet not the less faithfully has it, on that 
account, been done. He has made it a 
point always in his practice to respond to 
the wants of those in distress, and render 
his best professional services, regardless of 
the prospects of financial returns. He 



:m; 



BUFFALO CO UN TV. 



looks upon liis profession as one of the 
highest honor, and believes that every 
member of it should be actuated by the 
one supreme purpose of doing good. 

Of his methods, his conduct towards his 
patients and his cures it is not necessary 
to speak with great minuteness in this 
place. If witnesses on these points were 
needed, clouds of them could be summoned 
from many soui'ces. He has, time and 
again, effected cures of cases pronounced 
hopeless by other plu'sicians, and his 
patients restored to health are living all 
around him. There are numbers of people 
of the highest official position and social 
prominence living in his county who will 
readily testify to the satisfactory cures 
he has made falling under their observ- 
ation. Some of these people are them- 
selves the subjects of such cures. With 
two malignant troubles, particularly, 
has Dr. Beecher been most successful. 
These are typhoid fever and rheuma- 
tism. With an\'thing like a reasonable 
start with either of these he never fails of 
a cure. In his practice Dr. Beeclier uses 
the simple remedies devised and made use 
of b^' his school. He is particularly 
attaciied to the use of the electric battery, 
and not the least of his most noted cures 
have been made through this modern 
agency. 

Dr.Beecher has in a course of a long prac- 
tice accumulated a vast amount of valu- 
able matter, being a man of close observa- 
tion and diligent research. This he 
designs giving to the medical profession in 
printed form as soon as the work of digest- 
ing and re-writing can be performed. His 
work will cover all the years of his prac- 
tice and will embody a wide range of 
study and actual bed-side experience. Dr. 



Beeclier takes an active interest in the 
literature of his profession and in the 
workings of the various medical associa- 
tions. He takes the journals, of course, 
and does some contributive work for them. 
As often as the exacting duties of liis 
practice will allow, he attends the sittings 
of the various associations and contributes 
articles for discussion. 

As illustrative of the oft-repeated obser- 
vation oriffinatino- with the medical 
fraternity — that men are what they are 
more by heredity than by education — it 
may be well to record some facts in this 
sketch touching Dr. Beecher's ancestral 
history in order to show how far his case 
falls within the scope of this observation. 

Dr. Beecher is a descendant of New 
England stock and connected on both 
sides of his house with two distinguished 
families. His grandparents were all 
natives of Connecticut. His father, Augus- 
tus B. Beecher, who was a cousin of the 
eminent divine, Henry Ward Beecher, 
was a native of Hartford, Connecticut. 
He was a ship carpenter by trade, but 
tiring of his location came West when a 
young man and took up his residence in 
Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he married, 
settled down to carpenter work, following 
that occupation there for years, subse- 
quently moving to Illinois, then to Iowa, 
and finally to Nebraska, dying in the 
latter state at his son's home in Shelton in 
188i, having attained the eighty -third year 
of his age. He was a man of quiet life, 
sober, industrious, of a serious turn of 
mind and very domestic in his tastes. 

Dr. Beecher's mother bore the maiden 
name of Mary Ann Sweet and was a 
daughter of Ara Sweet, who emigrated 
from his native place in Connecticut, came 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



397 



West and settletl in Ashtabula county, 
Ohio, soon after that ])ai't of the state was 
thrown open to settlement, beincr the first 
one to take up a permanent residence in 
Geneva township, Ashtabula county. Dr. 
Beecher's mother was born in Ashtabula 
county, was reared and married there. 
She lived to the age of sixt3'six, dying in 
1879 of injuries received from a fall. The 
Sweets from whom she sprang were a 
family that furnished many eminent 
physicians, there running through the 
family a strong tendency to the medical 
profession. It is from this source chiefly 
that Dr. Beecher gets his taste for his 
calling. His people upon this side, as well 
as upon his father's, were tlistinguished 
for their quiet, even, temperate, S3'stematic 
habits and their sober, settled views of 
life. They were noted also for their 
strong vigorous constitutions and their 
great longevity. 

Dr. Beecher married in 1857 wliile still 
living in Illinois, the lady on whom his 
choice fell being Miss Adella Adams, a 
native of Rochester, New York. To this 
union have been born two children, both 
now grown and both of whom remain 
with their parents. These are a son and 
a daughter. 

In physical, mental and moral make-up. 
Dr. Beecher preserves many of the charac- 
teristics of the people from whom he is 
descended. Though not strong and robust 
in apjiearance, he has a closely knit, tough, 
wiry physique, indicative of a sti'ong in 
herited physical culture and temperate 
habits. He has the broad humanity and 
benevolent impulses that one would look 
for in a man bearing his name, and 
especially does he exhibit that love of 
home and attachment to his family wliich 



lias run through his people for several 
generations. 

Dr. Beecher is agreeable in personal 
appearance, being entertaining in conver- 
sation and engaging in manners. He is 
small of stature, but his frame is sur- 
mounted by a large head. His square jaw 
and partially shaven face, revealing his 
thin lips, indicate the decision of character 
that has marked his course through life, 
while the pleasant smile with which his 
countenance lights up in ids softer moods, 
tells of the warmtli of his nature and the 
genuineness of his feelings. 



PETER F. H. SCIIARS is one of 
the most popular and influential 
men in Buffalo county. One has 
but to call at his beautiful home in Thorn- 
ton township and be greeted with that 
warm and genial welcome extended alike 
to everyone, to discover the real secret 
of Mr. Schars' popularity. The " latch 
string" of his door hangs out to king 
and peasant alike, and no one goes from 
his threshold without having been made 
to feel that the welcome he received came 
from the heart of an honest and sincere 
man. Mr. Schars is a native of Germany, 
was born December 20, IS-t-i, and came 
to America in 1852, with his parents, both 
of whom were natives of the "Father- 
land." Young Schars was not old enough 
yet to appreciate the great possibilities 
offered in the new world to the honest, 
industrious sons of toil who flock to its 
shores from the overcrowded marts of 



398 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



other lands. A periiKiiient settlement 
was made at jS'ew Baltimore, Micb., 
where the parents of this worth3' son 
still reside. It was here that young 
Schars was reared to manhood ; where he 
enjoyed the blessings of free schools; 
where he received his first lessons in 
patriotism ; and where he had the prin- 
ciples of American manhood instilled in 
his ver\' being. After Mr. Schars had 
attained his majority, he engaged in mer- 
cantile business at New Baltimore, Mich., 
and for eight years he continued to do a 
successful business. During his career as 
a business man, he was called upon by 
the people to fill various local positions 
of trust, and the prompt and efficient 
manner in which he discharged his public 
duties have been the chief characteristics 
of his successful career since. In 1879, 
he came to Buffalo county, Nebr., and 
immediatel}' purchased a farm in Thorn- 
ton township, where he now resides. His 
home-farm comprises a half-section, and a 
more beautiful tract of land can not be 
found in the country. The buildings are 
neat and substantial, and the sprinkling 
of numei'ous shade trees lend an air of 
ciieerfulness that is so essential to a pleas- 
ant and beautiful home. Mr. Schars was 
married, September 13, 1870, to L3'dia H. 
Hatheway, who was born in Marion, 
Mass., and is the daughter of New Eng- 
land parents. He was elected sheriff of 
Buffalo county, Nebr., on the republican 
ticket, in 1883, and reelected in 1885. His 
career as sheriff was distinguished chiefly 
by the fearless, j-et courteous, promptness 
with which he discharged his official 
duties. He has since served as supervisor 
of his township two terras, and is now 
the president_of the county board. 



JAMES JENKINS is one of the oldest 
settlers, one of the first business 
men and one of the most reputable 
citizens of Kearney — a man, who, 
from his naturally retiring disposition and 
his settled habit of attending strictly to 
his own personal affairs, would jirobabl}' 
never become known to the casual visitor 
were he not so well and favorably known 
to all the old settlers of Kearney and by 
them pointed out to strangers as one of 
the first men of tlie place. ]\[r. Jenkins 
settled in Buffalo county Jfarch 22, 1872. 
He located at first in the country, taking 
as a homestead the southwest quarter of 
section 21, township 9, range 16 west, his 
place lying two and a half miles north of 
Kearne\\ This was six months before 
the town-site of Kearney was surveved. 
When the town was started in the fall of 
1872, he saw an opening for himself at his 
trade and he came in and started a boot 
and shoe shop. He continued to reside 
on his farm, worked at the bench during 
the day, and returned home at night. His 
business increasing and the growth of the 
town demanding it, he subsequently 
bought a stock of ready made boots and 
shoes to supply the local trade. He did 
well from the start, and in October, 1881, 
he gave up farming and moved his family 
to town, and has since given his entire 
time and attention to his store. The 
Boston Boot tt Shoe Store is the result of 
his long years of patient industry and 
close attention to business, and it is no 
more than justice to saj' that it is one of 
the largest and best retail boot and shoe 
houses in central Nebraska. A simple 
story, shortly told ; yei back of it is a use- 
ful lesson. This success has not been 
achieved by happ\' accident but only by 



BUFFALO CO f 'A TV. 



39. 



the exercise of great patience, great 
industry and an amount of self-sacrifice 
tliat but few men are willing to practice. 
Throughout all discouraging seasons and 
amidst all distracting considerations Mr. 
.Jenkins has toiled steadily on, working 
out his own unchanging purpose of build- 
ing up a house with a trade that will be a 
credit to his town and an honor to his 
name. Others of his comrades of former 
years, after ineffectual efforts to establish 
themselves in one line and another, have 
moved on, most of them further west. 
Some did establish themselves, but, failing 
for one reason and another, have dropped 
to the rear. Still others, caught witii the 
frenz}' of speculation, have had their earn- 
ings swallowed up and are either left 
penniless or so tied u]) as to be helpless, 
and still others have succeeded even at 
speculation, and some in legitimate lines. 
Buttlie last mentioned ai-e not numei'ous, 
and of tiieir nuinber— that is of the strictly 
legitimate business men and not money 
grubbers — none have been more successful 
or achieved their success by the exercise 
of better virtues than has the subject of 
this sketch. Mr. Jenkins served the City 
of Kearney as mayor in 1SS2, being 
elected on the republican ticket. He has 
been town councilman twice. For the 
general growth and development of the 
city he has been active at all times, yet he 
is no boomer. He believes that solid 
results are attained only by hard persist- 
ant effort — that there is no "talking 
point" about any man or measure equal 
to real merit — that lasting success is 
reached only b}' it. He has absolute faith 
in Kearney and TUiffalo county. He has 
shown his faith by his works, for he has 
spent seventeen years of the best part of 



his life building up a business here, which, 
were he so inclined, he could not abandon 
without irreparable loss. Of the town 
and county of his adoption, of the people 
among whom he lives whose pluck and 
energy have made the town and county 
what they are, he is proud, and of him as 
a sturdy, self-reliant, industrious useful 
citizen, the City of Kearney and her 
appreciative people are equally as proud. 
So much for Mr. Jenkins' business 
career since coming to Buffalo county. 
For the benefit of his posterity who may 
turn to this volume in years to come to 
learn something of the early history of 
their first ancestor who settled on Ne- 
braska soil, the following notes may be 
added : James Jenkins was born in Wales, 
March 1, 1845, and is a son of Charles and 
Mary (Bevan) Jenkins, natives also of 
"Wales. His jiarents immigrated to 
America in 1S51 and settled in Green 
Lake county. Wis., where they both now 
live, the father aged eighty-one, tlie 
mother seventy-seven. They are plain, 
unpretentious people, and have reached 
their great age by the tcnqierate. oi'derly, 
systematic lives they have led. Mr. Jen- 
kins is one of a family of eleven chihiren, 
the list in the order of their ages being as 
follows — Marv, Eliza, Charles, Thomas, 
James (the subject hereof), Maggie, Kate, 
John, Winnie, William I. and Frank. 
The three eldest sons, being all that were 
then of a sulficient age, were in the late 
war. Charles and Tiiomas were members 
of Company B, Fourth AVisconsin infantry, 
Federal army. Tiie former died at Port 
Hudson, La., of wounds received in battle 
at that place, and the latter died at Car- 
rollton, a suburb of New Orleans, of 
disease contracted in service. The Fourth 



400 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



Wisconsin has a record as one of the best 
fighting i-egiments in the Union army. 
It was changed to cavahy in September, 
1863, and did its best fighting prior to 
that date. It sustained its greatest loss 
at Port Hudson, La., where its loss in 
killed, wounded and missing was two hun- 
dred and nineteen, the actual death loss 
being forty-five or twenty per cent, of the 
total number of the regiment engaged. 
The subject of this sketch enlisted in 
Compan^v K, Foity-third Wisconsin volun- 
teer infantr}', September 12, 1864, having 
just turned his seventeenth year. His 
regiment was commanded by Col. Araasa 
Cobb, present associate justice of the state 
supreme court of Nebraska. Mr. Jenkins 
served nominally under Gen. George II. 
Thomas, being stationed at Nashville, 
Tenn. Going into the army late he saw 
but little active service. He was mustered 
out at Milwaukee, Wis., July 8, 1865. 
Eeturning to Green Lake county he en- 
gaged in work at his trade — boot and 
shoe making. January 1, 1868, he mar- 
ried Miss Emma L. Morse, of Seneca Falls, 
N. Y., and came as stated to Buffalo 
county, this state, in March, 1872. Aug- 
ust 12j 1875, his wife died, leaving two 
children — Frank B. and Florence L. July 
15, 1877, he again married, iiis second wife 
being Miss Mary E. Morrison, of Mt. Pleas- 
ant, Iowa. By this marriage he has the 
following children — Charley A., Paul B. 
and Noble. Mr. Jenkins is a man of social 
turn, has a heart full of sympathy for 
his fellow-men and is willing at all times 
to. help any in need or distress. He has 
been an active worker in a number of the 
beneficial orders, using these orders as a 
means to do what good he is able to for 
struggling humanity. 



ELIZA K. MORSE, M. D. Among 
the women who have had the cour- 
' age and independence to devote 
their lives to some special line of endeavor, it 
is no rash prediction to say that the subject 
of this sketch is destined to hold a useful 
and honorable place. Born in the town 
of Metamora, Woodford county, III., the 
daughter of Levi P. and Mary (Parmiler) 
Morse, she passed her earlier years in 
that locality' and from the schools of her 
native place received a thorough com- 
mon and high school training, acquiring 
her literary education at Eureka and after- 
wards at Knox (Jollege at Galesburg, 111., 
which education was supplemented by a 
special course in the ])rivate Normal at 
Valparaiso, Ind. With a desire to de- 
vote her life to one of the liberal pro- 
fessions and having a special taste and 
aptitude as she believed for the practice 
of physic, she began to read medicine in 
1884 with Dr. W. Mansfield of Meta- 
mora, III., pursuing her studies assiduously 
under this gentleman for many months. 
As she progressed in her knowledge of 
the profession, she became more and more 
enamored of it and the more firmly fixed 
became her determination to master its 
m3'steries and to thouroughly prepare 
herself for its practice. Entering the 
Woman's Medical College at Chicago, 
III., she graduated from that institu- 
tion in the spring of 1888, and 
then returned to Metamoi'a, where she 
began the practice of her chosen 
profession with her preceptor, and met 
with the most flattering success from 
the beginning. Encouraged by this, she 
determined to enter upon an independent 
professional career, and with an instinc- 
tive confidence in the American sense of 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



401 



honor and fair play — displayed nowhere 
on this continent to such good advantage 
as in the great West, where all are abso- 
lutely free and equal according to merit. 
Slie came hither and in the spring of 1889 
cast her fortune with the promising city 
of Kearney,where she at once took up the 
practice and has since continued at it. 
Her venture has not proved disappointing. 
She has met with as cordial reception 
from the fraternity as she could have 
asked and as liberal patronage from 
the public as she had any reason to 
expect. She has met the crucial re- 
quirements as to honesty and capability 
and her subsequent career therefore is 
only a matter of time and patient labor. 
She has qualified herself for the general 
practice and she pursues her profession in 
in all its branches, giving special attention 
only as time and opportunity afford to the 
tliseases incident to women and childi'en. 
She is a thorough student and keeps fully 
abreast of the best thought of the day in 
her profession. She realizes that in the 
science of her profession as in all progres- 
sive sciences there are but few axioms, the 
perfection of the known and the discovery 
of the unknown being the constant ends 
in view. In the adaptation of the infinite 
variety of means to these ends, the realm 
of materia med'ica unfolds and discovers 
to the eye of the student, philosopher and 
humanist an ever widening field of 
research and labor, so that he or she who 
has selected this line of endeavor for his 
life work is not only not privileged to rest 
his knowledge on the dicta of the curric- 
ulum and the teachings of the books, but be 
commits a grave crime against his race 
when he does so, and one which soon or 
late returns in its consequences to plague 



him in his professional career. Not only 
is Dr. Morse fully alive to the responsibil- 
ities of her profession, but she is admira- 
bly fitted by nature for its successful pur- 
suit. Endowed with that subtile symjia- 
thy which makes the whole world akin, 
her presence in the sick room is felt before 
she begins to prescribe. Cautious in the 
steps by which she proceeds, hei" first ef- 
forts are always directed to the task of se- 
curing the confidence of her patient, then 
an understanding of the ailment and then 
an application of the resources of her art 
to the trouble in hand. AYith such meth- 
ods, re-inforced by a natural and profes- 
sional acumen rare even in one of her sex 
and fraternity, distinguished each alike 
for their signal intuitiveness, she does not 
often fail of a cure when called in time, 
and where, from a neglect of proper pre- 
cautions at the outset or from a dissolu- 
tion of the forces of nature, restoration to 
health and vigor are beyond the reach of 
her skill, with a frank acknowledgment of 
this to herself and a discreet intimation of 
the un})leasant fact to the friends and rela- 
tives of her patient, she plies her utmost 
care to lengthening the feeble span of life 
for her unhajipy sufferer and to robbing 
the dark and shadowy vale and depriving 
the death bed of at least its physical agonies. 



CHAKLES D. A YRES, one of Kear- 
ney's successful and enterprising 
citizens, had his birth in the Buck- 
eye State in Medina county, Ohio, thirty 
miles from the city of (Cleveland, on the 
twenty -second of October,! 852. His father, 
Nathan W., a native of New York State, 
moved to Ohio with his parents at an 



402 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



early age; subsequently removed to Henry 
county, Iowa, in the year 1867, and 
shortly thereafter to Van Buren count\', 
Iowa, where he spent his remaining \'ears 
till his death in 1878. His father — the 
grandfather of the subject of our present 
sketch — was a physician and a native of 
Connecticut, but spent his last days with 
his son in Medina county, Ohio, dying 
there at the age of sixty-nine. The father 
of Charles D. Ayres followed the business 
of farming all his life. Mr. Ayres' mother, 
Mary J. (Quilhot) Ayres, is a native of 
Johnstown, N. Y., where she was born in 
1823, is still alive and resides in Kearney. 

The subject of our present sketch moved 
to Kearney from Iowa in the year lS7i, 
and is consequently one of the pioneers of 
this section of the country, and could 
doubtless relate many interesting occur- 
rences to which the present generation of 
new-comers are utter strangers. Mr. Ayres 
is the second of four cliiidren, of whom 
three — Edward J., William K. and him- 
self — are still living, all in Kearnej'. One, 
Gertrude, is dead. 

Mr. Ayres was educated in the common 
schools, and when he was of sufficient 
age to begin the active duties of life he 
engaged in farming. In ISSO, however, 
he embarked in the coal business, to which 
lie has continued since to devote his time, 
handling also farm machinery. Mr. 
Ayres is a republican in politics, but has 
never given it very much attention, being 
content to discharge the duties of an en- 
terprising and progressive citizen and de- 
voting his energies to business pursuits, 
which are more to his taste. 

Mr. Ayres is a man of quiet and modest 
demeanor, but of very social disposition. 
He has passed all the ciiaiis in the I. O. O. 



F., and encampment, and last year his 
brethren recognized his worth and ability 
by making him grand patriarch of the 
State of Nebraska. For the past six years 
he has been a member of tlie committee 
on appeals and grievances of the grand 
lodge of this state. He is also a member 
of the Rebecca lodge and of Canton Ex- 
celsior, No. 3, Patriarchs Militant. Mr. 
Ayres has also allied himself with the 
order of Knights of Pythias, both subordi- 
nate and uniform rank, and for the past 
year has been captain of the division. He 
is one of the substantial citizens of Kear- 
ney and is taking an active part* in the 
development of this thriving j'oung city. 



GEORGE FLEHARTY was born 
in Grant county, "Wis., August 27, 
1837, and is a son of William and 
Martlia (Toogood) Fleliarty. His father 
was born in Maryland in 1802, and emi- 
grated to Ohio when a boy, where lie re- 
mained for a few years, after which he 
moved to Springfield, 111.-, and subse- 
quently located at Galena. He taught his 
first term of school near Springfield, where 
he also studied law. He was a man of 
marked ability. He served througii the 
Black Hawk war, and entered the min- 
istry of the Methodist church in 1S3.5. 
His efforts in the ministry were attended 
with marked success, but he was com- 
])elled to retire after ten years' service on 
account of failing health. He was a mem- 
ber of what was then known as the Rock 
River conference. -He died on his farm 
near Apple River, 111., in 1873. 

Two hundred years ago a person stand- 




GEO. FLEHARTY. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



405 



ing on the wharf at Baltimore, Md., might 
iiave seen two persons swimming towards 
shore in advance of a ship; one of these 
was no other than William Fleharty, the 
founder of the Fleharty family in America, 
lie determined to reach America in ad- 
vance of his comrades. He was a native 
of the north of Ireland. He became an 
extensive slave owner, but freed tiieni all 
before his death. 

George Fleharty's mother was born in 
Troy, N. Y., in 1796. She resided after 
her marriage at Wilkesbarre, Pa ; removed 
from there to St. Louis, Mo., where her 
husband died. She had a flat-boat con- 
structed, and placing her few household 
utensils thereon, she and three little chil- 
dren, with the aid of a hired man, poled 
their little boat up tlie river to Galena, 
111. Here she met AVilliam P'leharty, to 
whom she was married in 1S30. Four 
children were born of this union — Eveline 
M., William H., Margaret A. and George. 
Mrs. Fleharty died at the home of her 
daughter, Eveline, February, 1887. She 
was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 

George Fleharty was married, Decem- 
ber 25, 1860, to Annie Kell}', daughter of 
Eichard and Katie Kelley, and born in 
Ireland in 1838. She emigrated to this 
country in 18-t5. Her father died in 
Warren, 111., March 10, 1862 ; her mother 
resides in Chicago. Eleven children were 
born to them, seven of whom are still 
living, namely — Rosette, born November 
11, 1863 (wife of William W. Pierce); 
George F., born July 27, 1868; Jennie, 
born August 15, 1870; Josepij II., born 
December 12, 1873; Nellie, born March 
21, 187G; Charles F., born May 1, 1878; 
and Walter B., born December 28. 1881. 



Mr. Fleharty came to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., November 13, 1871, and took a 
homestead in Center township, upon which 
he has resided continuously ever since. 
He made wiiat imj)rovements he could the 
first year, but the next winter his only 
team died, and for several years the grass- 
hoppers swept away his crops, but he 
never became discouraged, like many 
others, and return to whence he came. 
The Indians were quite numerous, and 
were a source of constant annoyance to the 
settlers on account of their habit of beg- 
ging and stealing. He was elected county 
surveyor in the fall of 1872, and served 
two years, and was elected county com- 
missioner in the fall of 1873, and served a 
term of three years. The county jail, 
Platte river bridge, and other works of 
internal improvement were completed 
during his supervision. He was the first 
postmaster at Buda. He is an old soldier. 
Enlisting in a Wisconsin regiment, in 1862, 
he served his country' faithfully during the 
war of the rebellion. He is an influential 
member of the republican party and a man 
of considei'able learning. 



JOHN WILSON, sheriff of Buffalo 
count}^ is one of the best known gen- 
tlemen as well as most pojiular and 
efficient public officials in central 
Nebraska. He comes of Scotch-Irish par- 
entage, and retains in his make-up many 
of the most signal qualities of the race 
from which he springs. His parents, 
Samuel and Maiy (Owens) Wilson, were 
brought to the United States by their 
jiarents when young, the former at the 



406 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



age of nine and the latter at the age 
of sixteen. They grew up in the city 
of Pittsburgh, Pa., where they met and 
were married, and from which place they 
emigrated West in 1865, and settled in 
Henry county, 111., where they now live, 
being engaged in the peaceful pursuit 
of agriculture. They are the parents of 
nine children, of whom the subject of this 
sketch is the eldest, the others being Mary 
A., Jane L., Samuel, William A., James, 
Archie, Eichard B. and Ella — the last 
named now deceased. 

The subject of this notice was born in 
Allegheny county, Pa., on the twenty- 
first day of February, 184:9. He was 
reared mainly in his native county, going 
to Henry count}', 111., with his parents 
in the spring of 1865. He was brought up 
on his father's faim, received a good com- 
mon-school training, and began his career 
as a farmer in Henry county, 111., but 
remained on the farm only a short time, 
when he was appointed deputy sheriff of 
Henry county b\' W. J. Vannice and 
served as such for three years. Vannice's 
term of office having expired and B. H. 
Goodell having been elected as sheriff, 
Mr. Wilson received the appointment of 
deputy under that gentleman and held 
this position for four years. In the fall of 
1883 he moved to Nebraska and settled in 
Kearney, and began to speculate in real 
estate, following this for about a year. 
In 1884, in company with his brother 
Samuel, he engaged in the livery business 
in Kearney, continuing at it till the fall of 
1887, when he was elected sheriff of Buf- 
falo county. He was re-elected to the 
same position in the fall of 1889, and is 
now holding under that election. As evi- 
dence of the popularity he has achieved, 



he was re-elected by a majority of 1,300 
votes, the largest majority ever given any 
public official in Buffalo county. He is a 
faithful and efficient officer and discharges 
his duties without fear or favor. He has 
won the popularity he has attained in the 
only wa}' such things can be done — that is, 
by treating his office as a pxiblic trust and 
bringing to the discharge of his official 
duties the same zeal, energy and discrimi- 
nating judgment that he exercises in the 
prosecution of his own affairs. That he 
should have some enemies is naturally to 
be expected, yet, as was said of another, 
his warmest friends "love him most for 
the enemies he has made." His name is 
a terror to evil-doers, as his presence is 
the best guarantee of peace, order and the 
faithful execution of the laws. Besides 
being a capable public official, he is a suc- 
scessful man of business and a wideawake 
progressive, public-spirited citizen. He 
has been identified with the best interests 
of his community since locating in Kear- 
ney and has worked with a will for the 
promotion of all the enterprises which 
have sought favor there, giving liberally 
also in pioportion to his means. He is 
now and has been for years chief of the 
Kearney fire department, is also president 
of the State Fireman's Association, and at 
the State convention held January, 1890, 
at Wahoo, he was elected delegate to rep- 
resent the state at the National Conven- 
tion of Engineers to be held at Detroit, 
Michigan. He is president of the Sheriffs' 
State Association and is now serving his 
second term as such. 

Mr. Wilson married. May 18, 1880, Miss 
Eosa M. Beecher, daughter of Benjamin 
J. Beecher, of Henry county. 111. To this 
union have been born four children, two 



/)' UFFA L CO UNTY. 



407 



living — John Howard and Ella Mary. 
Pearl "W. and Archie E. died in infancy. 
Mr. Wilson is a republican in politics and 
is a stanch supporter of the principles of 
his party. He is a member of a number 
of the beneficial orders, among them the 
masonic, in which he has taken all the 
degrees up to and including tlie Knight 
Templar; the other societies of which he 
is a member comprise the Knights of 
Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica, and the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. In private life he is polite, 
companionable and accommodating. No 
man would go further to assist a friend or 
a stranger than he, and this is the secret of 
much of his popularity. He counts his 
friends by the hundreds, and no man in 
ISuffalo county has warmer ones than he 
has. Mrs. Wilson is a member of the 
First Baptist church. 



CW. YAN ALSTINE is the leading 
artist and photographer of Kear- 
ney, has his studio at 2111 Main 
street, and has had an experience of thirty 
years in photographic work. When a lad 
of twelve years he lost his father and at 
that early age started out to make his own 
way in the world He first went to work 
at Watertown, N. Y., where he learned 
the trade of carriage trimming. Aband- 
oning it on account of his poor health he 
learned the daguerreotype business, trav- 
eled two years, and then located at Pots- 
dam, N. Y., where he remained until 1877. 
Poor health again caused him to relin- 



quish his business, but in 1878, however, 
he regained his health and removed to 
Big Rapids, Mich., where he opened a 
photographic gallery, remaining there six 
years, when, being attacked once more 
with poor health he sold out and went 
south to Kansas ; soon afterward he went 
to Richmond, Va., where he remained a 
few weeks and recovered sufficiently to 
remove to and open a gallery' at Red Oak, 
Iowa, where he soon became fully restored 
to health and where he remained until 
1889, when he sold out and opened his 
present photographic parlors at Kearney. 

Mr. Van Alstine has been married twice 
— first, in 1864, to Miss Theresa A. Clark, 
bv whom he had one son — Charles H. 
Van Alstine, now a practical photographer. 
Mrs. Van Alstine died in February, 1878. 
She was a member of the Episcopal 
church and for many years was organist 
of recognized merit. In April, 1884, Mr. 
Van Alstine was united in marriage to 
Miss Emma T. Green, then of Big Rapids, 
Mich., but a native of Belmont, N. Y. 
Mrs.Van Alstine is an artist and a finished 
and natural retoucher, and has had, for 
the past eight years, the reputation of 
being one of the finest artists in this re- 
spect in the country. She makes it very 
pleasant for the ladies, as she has excel- 
lent taste in the arrangement of drapery. 

Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstine rank among 
our best people and enjoy the confidence 
and respect of all who know them ; they 
are members of the Episcopal church and 
Mrs. Van Alstine is amemberof thelv. P. 
Sisterhood. Mr. Van Alstine is a Royal 
Arch Mason. The negatives used in mak- 
ing the portraits of Buffalo county citizens 
that appear in this work were made by 
Mr. Van Alstine. 



408 



BUFFALO couxry. 



HOMER J. ALLEX. One of the 
prominent and influential citi- 
zens of Kearney, Nebr., as well 
as one of the oldest settlere in this section 
of the state, is Homer J. Allen. Born in 
Erie county, Pa., in ISiS, he came to this 
state while the major pai't of our beauti- 
ful and now well-settled territory was lit- 
erally a howling wilderness. His father, 
Josiah X. Allen, was a Congregational 
preacher, born in Otsego county, X. Y., 
but wiiile yet an infant movirg with his 
parents to Erie county. Pa., where the 
earlier years of our subject were passed. 
It was in 1S72 that Josiah X. Allen emi- 
grated with a colony of neighbors and 
friends to this county, locating near the 
present village of Shelton. His entire 
life has been given to the Master's ser- 
vice, his labors having begun as early as 
1S5S. He is still alive and resides near 
Shelton, where he first located. He can 
tell manv an interesting and thrillincr tale 
of pioneer experience, but for these there 
is scarcely room in a brief sketch like 
this. Suffice it to say that he preached 
the firet sermon in what is now Buffalo 
county, and also married the first couple. 
His faithful wife, Polly Miller, a native 
of Erie county. Pa., was born on the third 
of August, 1S37, and still lives to share 
the comforts and trials of his declining 
veai-s. The Aliens trace their lineage 
back to Samuel P., the great-grandfather 
of Homer J., who was of English de- 
scent. His son, Clother B., was born in 
Xew York Stale, but passed the greater 
part of his later life in Erie county, Pa., 
whither his son, as above stated, had emi- 
grated about 1S27. He died there at the 
age of seventy -seven years. 

The subject of this sketch is the eldest 



of six children, of whom five are still liv- 
inar. Emoijene, wife of a Mr. Geortre, is a 
resident of Custer county, this state; Er- 
nestine, now Mrs. S. J. Hedges, lives near 
Sidney, Xebr.; Milly. wife of Stephen 
Stonebarger, lives at Shelton; Mertie B. 
lives with her parents at Shelton ; Had ley 
Dean is dead. 

Our subject was reared up a farm boy 
in Erie county. Pa., and during his boy- 
hood yeai-s attende<i the common schools 
of that state; but at the age of twenty- 
one, desiring to still further increase his 
fund of knowledge, he entered the excel- 
lent normal school located at Eilinboro. 
Pa. It was his intention to take the en- 
tire coui"se at this school, but his labore 
were broken in upon by an accident whicli 
he met with at the end of his second term, 
and which precluded his further attendance 
until other interests seemed to make it 
impossible for him to carry out his origi 
nal intention. The remaining time that 
he liveil in Pennsylvania was devoted to 
farming, and when, in 1S72, having accu- 
mulated a little property, he came to Xe- 
braska and bought eighty acres of land 
located about two miles southwest of 
Shelton. 

He is one of the many men who have 
demonstrated beyond a doubt tliat good 
business habits, coupled with industry, 
will make a success of farming in Xe- 
braska. Beginning with but eighty acres. 
he gradually added to his landed posses- 
sions till at the present time he owns four 
hundred and twenty acres. Mr. Allen 
continuetl the business of farming up to 
the year 1SS3, when his fellow-citizens, 
deemine: his services would be of value to 
them, electetl him to the office of county 
treasurer, and, for the better discharge of 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



409 



his dutj', he in that year removed to 
Kearney, the county seat. At the end of 
his first term he was re-elected, holding 
the oflBce continuoush' from his first elec- 
tion in the fall of 1883 until 1888. His 
services in this capacity were entirely 
satisfactory to his constituents. lie has, 
since 1888, been engaged in the abstract 
and real estate business, which he still 
follows. He is, however, interested in 
various other commercial enterprises, hav- 
ing been active in organizing the Kear- 
ney National Bank, one of the strongest 
banking concerns in the city of Kearney, 
of which he has been a stockholder from 
its incipiency, and during a large portion 
of that time one of the directors. He is 
also treasurer of the Kearney Land and 
Investment Companv, which company he 
also assisted in organizing. 

Mr. Allen was married in 1875, March 
18, to Phoebe S. Hotchkiss, of Erie county. 
Pa. Three children have come to bless 
this union — Elmer W., Edna M. and 
Leon. Mr. Allen and his wife are both 
members of the Congregational church 
of this place. 

In the midst of his arduous and suc- 
cessful business enterprises, Mr. Allen 
lias found time to develop the social side 
of his nature as well. He is a Knight 
Templar, member of Mount Hebron Com- 
mandery No. 12, and is also a member of 
the shrine located at Omaha. He is also 
connected with the A. O. U. W. of this 
place. Mr. Allen is a stanch republican 
in politics, but, as will be seen from the 
foregoing sketch, has preferred the more 
congenial walks of a business life to the 
turmoil and intrigue of a political career. 
He is a man of fine and commanding 
presence, and, be.st of all, ha.s the respect 



and confidence of his fellow-citizens. In 
a city which can, perh{\ps, boast a larger 
number of enterprising and able men 
than the average city of its size. Homer 
J. Allen occupies an honorable place. 



FEED URWILLEPt, one of the first 
settlers of Gardner township, Buf- 
falo county, Nebr., is a native of 
Switzerland ; was born May 21, 1849, and 
accompanied his parents to the United 
States in 1854. His father was a silk 
weaver by trade, but engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits some, while a resident of 
his native country. The family lived at 
Rochester, N. Y., three years after land- 
ing in this country, and this consisted 
of eight children, five of whom died in the 
old country. In 1857 they moved to 
Marshall, Calhoun county, Mich. A farm 
was purchased near that place and success- 
fully cultivated by Mr. Urwiller and his 
three sons, who proved themselves to be 
hard-working, industrious young men. 
The parents were both zealous members 
of the Lutheran church and were among 
the most respected citizens of the com- 
munity. The educational advantages of 
Fred Urwiller were limited to the common 
district school, which he was only permit- 
ted to attend during the winter months. 
He assisted his father on the farm until 
he was twenty, when he began learning 
the carpenter trade. 

In the fall of 1878, Fred Urwiller, accom- 
panied by his two elder brothers, J;icob 
and Samuel, came to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., in search of land. They finally 
filed claims in Gardner township and 



410 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



began the arduous work of founding a 
home on the frontier of civilization. They 
were the first settlers in that immediate 
locality and the surroundings were indeed 
anything but encouraging. Fred came 
with limited means and borrowed money 
to procure material for a house. He 
erected a small, comfortable frame house, 
and when lie got it finished he had but 
$25.00 left to carry himself and family 
through the winter. lie worked out when 
he could get work, and earned what he 
could whenever opportunity afforded. 
He and his brother Samuel worked at 
Shelton and would often wade home 
through the deep snow to see how their 
families were getting along. Spring 
opened, crops were planted, and harvest 
time awaited with great eagerness by Mr. 
Urwiller and his neighbors. The harv^ests 
gathered were not always abundant, but 
Mr. Urwiller has never sown but what he 
reaped, though the harvest may have 
sometimes been small. 

On New Year's day, 1873, Mr. Urwiller 
was united in marriage with Miss Nevada 
Paul, a native of Michigan and a daughter 
of Arthur Paul, who was born in New 
York. Tills union has been blessed with 
five children, as follows — Cora M., born 
January 12, 1874 ; Cornelia, born Septem- 
ber 24, 1877; Frank D., born November 
9, 1882 ; Lillie, born April 9, 1886, and 
Florence E., born April 13, 1890. While 
Mr. Urwiller has not been a seeker after 
public office, he has, nevertheless, been 
called upon to fill various responsible posi- 
tions of public trust. He has served as 
town treasurer, also as justice of the 
peace, and at this present time is a mem- 
ber of the county board of supervisors. 
He and his estimable wife are devoted 



members of the Presb^'terian church, and 
are liberal contributors to every worthy 
cause. Mr. Urwiller has one of the best 
improved farms in the township and under 
his careful and judicious management it 
produces equal to any of the same number 
of acres in the count}'. As above stated, 
Mr. Urwiller came here with very limited 
means ; he has tasted some of the bitter 
and disagreeable things of life, but he has 
boldly and courageouslv overcome every 
obstacle in this way ; and by hard work, 
good management and rigid economy, has 
succeeded beyond his most sanguine expec- 
tations. He has denied himself and family 
many of the luxuries of life to avoid get- 
ting in debt, and to this, perhaps more 
than any other one thing, is due his suc- 
cess. 



BYPtON N. SPPJNGER, an enter- 
prising hardware dealer of Ar- 
mada, Nebr., was born near the 
city of Council Blulfs, Iowa, April 17, 
1853, and is the son of George W. and 
Hannah (Calmere) Springer. His father 
was born near New YorkCit}', March 27, 
1809. He was a farmer by occupation 
and has resided in several states. In 
1850 he moved to Iowa and was one of 
the first settlers in Pottawattamie county, 
that state. His paternal grandfather was 
William M. Springer, who was a native of 
New York, and served with distinction in 
the Revolutionary war. His mother was 
born in England, in February, 1813, but 
came to America in 1835, her parents hav- 
ing preceded her. Byron N. Springer 
was married March 19, 1874, to Miss Mary 
H. Tripplett, daughter of Thomas .and 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



411 



Sarah (Pallock) Tripplett ; the former was 
a Virginian by birth and the hitter was a 
native of Pennsylvania. Tliey emigrated 
West in ISSi and are now livingin Dawson 
county, Nebr. After marriage, Byron N. 
Springer engaged in farming in Iowa, 
which occupation he continued for several 
years, although he had become proficient 
as a blacksmith and followed that trade 
for ten years. He immigrated to Buffalo 
count}', Nebr., March 4, 1884, and settled 
in Armada, where he worked at his trade 
as a blacksmith until December 1, 1886, 
when he engaged in the implement busi- 
ness. In October, 1887, he began the 
hardwai'e business and is now known as 
the pioneer hardware dealer of the town. 
In the spring of 1889 his store with its 
contents was burned, but he soon started 
up again, and is now doing a lively and 
prosperous business. He is confident of 
the future success of Armada (now Miller), 
being situated as it is in the rich valley of 
Wood river. He has been a close observer 
of the progress of events since his resi- 
dence in the town and he believes it only 
a question of a sliort time until the future 
of Armada will be assured. When he 
first came to the town there were only 
three or four sod houses; he built the first 
frame house, and since then the town has 
become an imjiortant trade center. He 
has been justice of the peace for Armada 
township; is a member of the Good Tem- 
plars and I. 0. O. F., and a most ardent 
tempei'ance man. He and his most esti- 
mable wife are members of the Methodist 
church. They have five children — EvaE., 
Clara E., Julia E., Gilbert O., and Ellis C. 
B. N. Springer's business building was the 
first to be placed in Fox's addition to 
the village of Miller, to which, and the 



original plat of Miller, the whole village 
of Armada moved during the summer of 
1890, making Miller the largest and best 
town on the Kearney & Black Hills rail- 
road, built up the Wood Iliver valley dur- 
ing the year last named. 



JOHN" HENDRICKSON, one of the 
early settlers in Gardner township, 
Buffalo county, was born in Iowa, 
November 2, 1846. He is a son of 
Samuel and Hester (Lewis) Hendrickson. 
the former a native of Ohio, and the latter 
of Michigan. The parents were married 
in the Buckeye State and soon afterwards 
emigrated to Muscatine county, Iowa. 
They were among the very first settlers in 
the western part of that count}' and two 
hundred and forty acres of the land owned 
there now by the senior Ilendrickson were 
pre-empted by him. The mother died in 
1855. John Hendrickson,the subject of this 
sketch, is one of a family of eight chil- 
dren. His educational advantages were 
limited to the common district schools, 
which in that new country were not very 
far advanced. 

Mr. Hendrickson enlisted in May, 1864, 
at the age of eighteen in the Forty -fourth 
regiment of Iowa volunteers and served 
three months. His regiment was assigned 
to patrol duty but was not in any noted 
battles, and he was mustered out in the 
fall of 1864. After the war he moved to 
Cass county, Iowa, where he lived for 
eight years, engaged in farming. He came 
to BulTalo county, Nebr., in the fall of 
1878 and settled in Gardner township, 
where he lived in a dugout for three years 
and at times had a hard struggle to keep 



412 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



the wolf from the door. Plenty of ante- 
lope and deer could be seen grazing on the 
wild prairie when he came here and the 
country was very sparsely settled. He 
brought a small team and a mule with 
him from Iowa, and traded the team for 
a good yoke of cattle, but another man 
had a chattel mortgage on them and of 
course took the cattle, leaving Mr. Hend- 
rickson without a team at all. This added 
greatly to liis embarrassment and inter- 
fered materially with his progress for 
some time. During the summer of 1880 his 
team consisted of a young mule and a bull. 

He was married November 12, 1866, to 
Miss Mary A. Dobson, a native of Ireland, 
who came to this country with her parents, 
n 1848, when only three 3'ears old. They 
have had seven children, namely — Samuel, 
David, Katie, Willie, Emma, John (de- 
ceased) and Abnor. 

Mr. Hendrickson has one hundred and 
sixty acres of good land, fairly well im- 
proved and under a splendid state of cul- 
tivation. He is familiar with almost every 
phase of pioneer life and has undergone 
about as many hardsiiips as any other 
man who came here when he did. He has 
survived them all, however, and is now on 
the road to success. He is a man who 
takes pride in keeping good stock and is 
keeping abreast of the times as nearly as 
it is possible for any man to do. 



HON. S. C. BASSETT is one of the 
original members of the Sol- 
diers' Free Homestead Colony, 
by which the town of Gibbon, Nebr., and 
its vicinity were settled, and is one who 
has stood steadfastly by the home of 



his adoption amidst all discouragements 
and disappointments, and who in so doing 
has been profited far beyond the average 
old settler. 

Mr. Bassett is a native of New York, 
having been born in Delaware county, 
that state. He was reared parti}' in A^ir- 
ginia, whither his parents moved when he 
was young, and partly in Steuben county, 
N. -Y., whither they returned after a resi- 
dence of eight years in the South. He 
entered the Union army in 1863, at the 
age of nineteen, enlisting in Company E, 
One Hundred and Forty-second New 
York infantry, and served till the surren- 
der. His regiment remained on garrison 
duty about Washington till Api-il, 1863, 
when it went to the front and participated 
in the campaign of Gordon's division up 
to the Peninsula in June, and in the Mary- 
land march, and was then ordered to 
Morris Island, S. C, where it remained 
till May, 1861. Joining Butler's Army 
of the James, at that date it began 
its real service. It participated in nine 
hotly contested engagements in Virginia 
and the Carolinas, Avinding up with Fort 
Fisher, and lost, out of a total enlistment of 
one thousand, three hundred and seventy 
men, five hundred and two in killed and 
wounded. The subject of this notice was 
with it during its entire term of service 
from the date of his enlistment, and so far 
as fell to him, as a private soldier, helped 
to win for it its laurels and the distinctive 
appellation as one of the " Three Hundred 
Fighting Regiments '" of the Union army. 

Eeturning to New York, he settled 
down to farming, the jiursuit to which he 
was reared, and followed it till coming to 
Nebraska in April, 1871. On locating in 
Buffalo county, he took a homestead in 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



413 



Shelton township, two and a half miles 
northeast of the town of Gibbon, where 
lie has since resided, having been actively 
engaged in agricultui-e and kindred 
jiursiiits. Mr. Bassett is one of the pros- 
perous, well-to-do farmers of his com- 
munity. He has other interests besides 
farming, and has held some offices of an 
official and semi-official nature. lie is 
now, and has been for a number of years, 
prominently connected with the Nebraska 
State Dairymen's Association, having been 
the first ])resident of that association, and 
is now, and has been for three years past, 
its secretar}'. His duties in connection 
with this association absorb much of his 
time. He collects a vast amount of 
material of value to the dairy interests of 
the state, which he la^'s before the reading 
public from time to time, in the shape of 
printed reports, and also contributes 
extensively to the journals of the day 
articles of a practical'bearingon the dairy 
and live stock interests of the state. He 
is an unfailing attendant at the fairs, con- 
ventionsand associations of an agricultural 
nature, and participates in the discussion 
of topics relating to subjects falling within 
the line of his endeavor. Mr. Bassett 
filled acceptably, for one term, the position 
of representative from Buffalo county to 
the state legislature, having been elected 
November, 1884, and served during the 
session of 1884-5. In the discharge of his 
public duties he exhibited the same zeal, 
energy and sound intelligence that char- 
acterize him in private life and in the 
prosecution of his own affairs, and he quit 
his office at the expiration of his term, 
bearing with him the gratitude and 
highest esteem of the people whom he 
served, as well as the respect and good 



will of his associates and co-laborers. For 
the churches, schools, social and moral 
interests of liis communit}', he has at all 
times exerted a favorable influence, and 
for every interest of tliis nature, as well 
as of a material kind, his name stands 
pledged, and his help is counted on as a 
foregone conclusion. Mr. Bassett has as 
much modesty as he has merit, and he 
shrinks instinctively from public notice. 
He is a student of books as well as of men, 
and, while making no pretension as a 
scholar, he possesses many of the accom- 
plishments of a man of letters, carrying 
into the practical affairs of life the close, 
systematic habits of tlie student, having 
the student's zeal for research and inves- 
tigation, and his clear, analytical methods 
of statement and exposition. He is a 
pleasant, genial gentleman, whom it is a 
pleasure to know and whose friendship is 
of value. 



NELSON JACO is a representa- 
tive farmer of Platte township, 
Buffalo county. He is not an 
old settler, speaking of the county in 
general, but he is, nevertheless, one of the 
first settlers in the locality where he lives. 
He came from West Virginia, moved into 
the county in November, 18T8, and settled 
on the northeast quarter of section 7, town- 
ship 8, range 13 west, filing a homestead 
claim thereon. His farm is located on 
part of the old Fort Kearney militai'v 
reservation, which, it will be remembered, 
was opened to settlement about the above 
date. He has one hundred and forty-five 
acres in this tract, eighty acres of which 
are under cultivation. He has improved 



4U 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



his place, huvinga very <i;()od class of farm 
buildings on it, besides orchard, groves 
and other conveniences. Lying between 
the channels of the Platte river, his place 
is admirably adapted to farming purposes 
and yields well, producing an abundance 
of Nebraska's sovereign products — corn 
and haj^ Mr. Jaco is a practical farmer, 
having followed the business all his life, 
and having met with reasonably good suc- 
cess, lie began on limited means when 
he opened his present farm, twelve years 
ago, and the first few years of his resi- 
dence in the county were not marked for 
any astounding amount of progress. With 
him the case was very much like it was 
with numbers of others, and was mostly 
a matter of bread and butter. But Mr. 
Jaco came West to make a home, and he 
was prepared to endure a reasonable 
amount of hardships, but a detailed 
account of his earlier struggles in the 
county need not be given here. It will 
be sufficient to say that he met the obsta- 
cles as they arose, and successfully dealt 
with them, and that whatever praise the 
genei-al public is prepared to award the 
old settlers for their pluck, energy and 
endurance, a fair share of it must be given 
him, for he faithfulW performed his duties 
in the general undertaking of opening the 
country to settlement. He has resided on 
his farm continuously since locating there, 
with the exception of four years he was 
back East— from 1882 to 1886. 

Mr. Jaco was born in Preston county, 
(now West) Virginia, June, 1848, and was 
reared there, growing up as a farm boy, 
to the age of sixteen. Then came an 
event in his life which has been duly 
chronicled in the lives of hundreds of 
others, and yet an event that should 



never cease to be told. It occurred in 
those eventful years when patriotism 
flashed through the land like an electric 
thrill ; when the canker of gold and 
the dust of cotton dropped from the 
manhood of the nation, and men went 
forth to battle for their countr\' ; 
when men surrendered the search for 
wealth, dropped the plow in its furrow, 
the hammer at the forge, the pen at the 
desk, and marched forth cheerily to 
wounds and death. Mr. Jaco enlisted in 
defense of the Union in January, 1864, 
entering Company K, Fifteenth West 
Virginia infantry', and serving in Tho- 
burn's division, eighth army corps, but 
most of the time he was under Sheridan, 
and served as a private from the date of 
his enlistment to the surrender — a boy 
soldier — carrying a musket in defense of 
his country at sixteen. The facts need no 
comments. They speak abundantly for 
themselves. Freedom — prosperity — equal 
rights — the dignity of labor — the glories 
of the republic — these were won by the 
citizen-soldiers of 1861-5 — stalwart actors 
they, though many were young in years. 
Mr. Jaco comes of old Virginia parent- 
age, his father and mother both being 
natives of Preston county. His father, 
Job Jaco, was a farmer in earlier years, 
but during the war gave up farming and 
embarked in merchandising, in which he 
was moderately successful. He led a 
quiet, unpretentious life, dying in the fall 
of 1883, at the age of sixty-five. Mr. 
Jaco's mother bore the maiden name of 
Sarah Gandy. She died in the fall of 1884 
at the age of sixty-three. These were the 
parents of eleven children, of whom the 
subject of this sketch is the ninth. The 
others are: Allen, Dorcas, Mahala, Jesse, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



415 



William, Amos, Man', Jane, Susan ami 
Wesley. 

Mr. Jaco married, November 26, 1868, 
Miss Sarah Jenkins of Evansville, Preston 
count}'-, West Virginia. Mrs. Jaco was 
born and reared in Evansville and is a 
daughter of Joseph and Parmelia Jenkins 
of that place. She is one of eleven chil- 
di'en born to her parents. Mr. and Mrs. 
Jaco have had born to them a family of 
six children, four of whom are living and 
two dead. The full list is as follows — 
Minnie (deceased), Ollie, Donie, Nettie 
(deceased), Pearl and Hazel. 

While Mr. Jaco has never aspired to 
any public position, he has nevertheless 
been called on to fill some offices of 
responsibilitv in connection with the 
administration of local and township 
affairs. He has served as director of his 
school district; has been township clerk 
and is now serving as township assessor. 
He and all his family are members of the 
Methodist church and he is a liberal con- 
tributor to charitable purposes. He is 
a republican in politics and a zealous 
member of the Masonic fraternity and 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
As a citizen he is jirogressive, enterprising 
and public spirited — liberal in his views 
and in his means as far as his ability will 
allow. He is kind and accommodating, 
a good neighbor, a valuable friend and an 
intelligent, pleasant gentleman. 



B FRANK JONES, M.D., is among 
the leading surgeons of Kearney, 
Nebr., and none is more success- 
ful. He was born in Wadsworth, Medina 
county, Ohio, November 1, 1857, and is 



a son of John V>. and Sarah A. (Mabry) 
Jones, both natives of Pennsylvania — the 
former being born in Philadelphia and the 
latter in Berks county. They have a 
family of nine children, of whom seven 
are living, viz. — Sarah, the wife of Milton 
Spangler; Margaret R., wife of C. C. 
Case; George W.; P.. Frank ; Lilly, wife 
of Noble McClelland ; Nellie S., wife of 
Ebenezer Butterfield ; Lena B., wife of 
Norman Hazlett. John B. Jones was a 
railroad conductor and was killed in 
an accident, when our subject was 
but five years of age. After attending 
the AVadsworth schools until fourteen 
3'ears of age, B. Frank Jones became a 
tlrug clerk in his native town, and in this 
position he remained for four years, then 
clerked in Medina, Ohio, and Akron, for 
five years. He then traveled for Ault- 
man. Miller & Co., manufacturers of the 
celebrated reapers and mowers, for five 
years, when he entered the Jefferson Med- 
ical College, at Philadelphia, from which 
he graduated April ■!, 1888, having taken 
a special course in anatomy and surgery. 
He at once settled in Kearney, and being 
a natural mechanic as well as a natural 
anatomist — the two essential things that 
make a surgeon — his success has been phe- 
nomenally great. 

Dr. Jones was united in marriage to 
Miss Dyraae Jane Hurling, Januarv 8, 
1881 ; she was born at Wadsworth, Ohio, 
and he and she were schoolmates in youth. 
She is a daughter of James K. and Lydia 
(Copley) Hurling — the former a banker 
of Wadsworth. Dr. Jones and wife have 
had one child — a girl that died at the age 
of four years. Dr. Jones is a member of 
the K. of P., R. A., and other societies. 
He has performed a number of the most 



416 



BUFFALO COUXTY. 



difficult operations known to surgery, and, 
best of all, ever}' one has been entirely 
successful. This fact has given the doctor 
the reputation he so justly deserves. 
Among other qualifications he has devel- 
oped a taste as a naturalist, and taxider- 
mist, and his office and residence contain 
many fine specimens of birds and animals 
which he has mounted himself at times 
when not otherwise occupied. His work 
speaks for itself andean only be produced 
bv one who is a close observer of nature. 



GEORGE S. POST is one of the 
leading and influential men of 
Gardnertownship, Buffalo county, 
as well as a progressive and prosperous 
farmer. He was born in Niagara county, 
•N. Y., January 4-, 1S37, and is the son of 
Orange and Lucy (Capron) Post. Orange 
Post was a native of Vermont, born in 
1806. He located in Canada, then in New 
York, and then came West to Iowa, and 
afterwards settled in Michigan. He was 
a carpenter, but made farming his princi- 
ple occupation. His father, Moses Post, 
was a New Englander by birth, but chose 
Michigan to live in. He died in 1856. 

George S. Post was the sixth in a familv 
of seven children, and, when fourteen, 
worked out away from home most of the 
time. He participated in the late struggle 
between the North and South, being a 
member of an Iowa regiment. He saw 
some rugged service in the Vicksburg 
campaign, and also was present at the 
capture of Jackson, Miss.; Champion hills 
and Cedar run. He was also present 



during the heav}' charge on the rebel 
works around Vicksburg on May 22, 1863, 
and took an active part in the capture of 
Winchester and Fisher's hill. He was 
taken prisoner at Cedar creek, was con- 
fined four months in a Richmond prison, 
and was in Libby prison during the admin- 
istration of " Dick " Turner. The date of 
his discharge is Ma}' 12, 1864. He im- 
migrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., from 
Iowa in 1878. took a soldier's homestead 
claim in Gardnertownship, was one of the 
first settlers in the township, and saw some 
pretty tough times. He had limited 
means when he came here and conse- 
quently labored under great difficulty in 
getting a start. He cites the winter of 
1880-1 as being the longest and severest 
he ever experienced, and a great deal of 
suffering was experienced, principall\' 
among the new arrivals. Many had to 
grind corn with their coffee-mills for food 
and burn wet straw and cornstalks for 
fuel. 

George S. Post was married March 5, 
1861, to Miss Caroline M. Turck, who was 
born August 14, 1831, and is the daughter 
of Abrara and Marv (Draper) Turck ; the 
former was a Hollander and the latter 
was a native of New York. Mr. and Mrs. 
Post have had seven children — Willie, 
born March 11, 1862 ; Annie, born April 
10, 1863 ; Edwin, born December 25, 1865 ; 
Fannie, born Ma}^ 12, 1867 ; Frank, born 
March 4, 1870 (deceased) ; Jeff A., born 
November 4, 1872, and Herbert, born 
January 31, 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Post and 
all their children belong to the Presb\'- 
teriaii church. Mr. Post affiliates with 
the republican part}', has had various local 
offices, and he is a man who stands high 
socially and morally in the community. 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



417 



GEORGE N. SMITH, one of the 
oldest and most highly respected 
residents of Center townsiiip, 
Butfalo county, was born at Goffstown, 
N. 11., October 30, 1843. His father, 
William Smith, was born a* New Boston, 
N. H., in 1802. The senior Smith was 
married, in 1826, to Susan Eastman, by 
whom he had five children, namely — 
Eichard (deceased), Esther (deceased), 
Esther Ann, Tliomas and William. His 
second marriage was in 1835, to Betsy 
Eowell, who bore him eight children — 
George W. (deceased), David R. (deceased), 
George N., Esther A., Erastus K. (de- 
ceased), Reuben G., Susan A. (deceased), 
Isaac (deceased). Mrs. Smith died Ajiril 
6, 1859, a devoted christian woman and a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
William Smith's third marriage was in 
1861, to Mary Hook. Thomas Smith, the 
paternal grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch, w^as a native of New Hamp- 
shire. He was the father of thirteen 
children and a man of prominence and 
influence, especially in church affairs, being 
a Presbyterian deacon for forty years. 
The maternal grandfather, Rowell, was 
also a native of New Hampshire. 

George N. Smith enlisted August 17, 
1864, at the age of twent}', in the First 
New Hampshire heavy artillery, and 
served one year. He cast his first presiden- 
tial vote for Abraham Lincoln while in the 
field. Soon after returning from the war 
he met and married, August 25, 1866, 
Elizabeth Dunbar. He then engaged in 
the hotel business at Woodstock, Vt., but 
was not pleased witii hotel life, and after 
an experience of two years he returned to 
the old homestead in New Hampshire, 
where he remained one year. He emi- 



grated to Gibbon, Buffalo county, Nebr., 
in October, 1871, and on Novemljer 3d of 
the same year he took up a homestead in 
Center township. There were onlv three 
or four families then in that township 
and the surrounding country looked wild 
and desolate. In exactly ten days from 
the time he settled on his claim, 
there was a terrible blizzard, which 
lasted three days, during which time 
there was great suffering and some loss of 
life, and considerable stock perished for 
want of food and shelter. The following 
winter was a noted one for the large snow- 
fall and intense cold weather. He built 
a sod house and in the spring of 1872 was 
joined by his wife and family. When he 
arrived at Gibbon seventy-three cents was 
all the money he had, and it was two 
years before he bad any stock of his own. 
The country was full of Indians, who 
hunted and trapped along the Platte and 
Wood rivers. In the summer of 1873 he 
raised his first crop — seven and a half 
bushels of wheat. During this j'ear a 
great many settlers came in, and by fall 
the population of the county had increased 
quite materially. The three following 
years the crops were almost entirely de- 
stroyed by the grasshoppers, and it was 
not until the year 1877 that a fair crop 
was harvested. During these discouraji- 
ing times Mr. Smith was in destitute cir- 
cumstances financially and was compelled 
to live within his means. He made 
hominy and ground corn in his coffee 
mill. He had no flour and no money to 
get any. The following winter he received 
two sacks of corn meal from the general 
supi)ly store at Kearney, and never ft;lt 
richer in his life. There were scores of 
families in a destitute condition at that 



418 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



time and provisions were sent in from the 
Eastern cities to supply' the needy. He 
has had apparently more than his share of 
bad luck. In the spring of 1875 he lost 
seven head of horses and one thousand 
dollars' vrorth of hogs at one time. He 
now owns one of the best farms in the 
county, on which is some valuable timber 
set out by his own hands. He has paid 
particular attention to fruit, and has some 
fine apple trees ready for bearing. Mrs. 
Smith's father, William Dunbar, was a 
native of New Hampshire and a tailor 
by trade. Her mother was Catherine 
(Elumphry) Dunbar, daughter of Capt. 
Nathaniel Humphry of New Hampshire. 
Eight children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith, namely — Minnie B., born in 
New Hampshire February 20, 1868 (wife 
of John Power) ; AVilliam (deceased), born 
March 18, 1870; George W., born Febru- 
ary 24, 1872 (deceased); Grace P., born 
April 21, 1874; Flora A., born August 17, 
1876 (deceased) ; Bert, born July 26, 1878 ; 
Arthur G., born August 10, 1880, and 
Orren, born July 10, 1882 (deceased). 
Mr. Smith has filled various local offices, 
is a member of the G. A. E.,I. O. O. F., K. 
of L., O. U.W., Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
icaand Farmers' Alliance. August 30, 1890, 
Mr. Smith was nominated for senator from 
the twenty-sixth senatorial district of Ne- 
braska, by the Farmers' Alliance, endorsed 
b}"^ democrats. 



GOTTLOB SCKEIHING is one of 
the earliest settlers of Buffalo 
county and one of its most sub- 
stantial farmers. He was born at Wit- 
tenburg, Germany, December 13, 1853, 



and is one of a family of ten children 
born to John G. and Christena (Munck) 
Sckeihing, both of whom are natives of 
Germany, the former having been born in 
1819 and the latter in 1824. Gottlob, the 
subject of this biography, came to this 
country in 1869 with his parents, being 
then sixteen years old, and located near 
Burlington, Iowa, where he engaged in 
farming for six years. Arriving at his 
majority, and being thrown upon his own 
resources, he decided to seek his fortune 
in the far West, and, accordingl}!-, came to 
Buffalo county, Nebr., Api'il 4, 1876, and 
pre-empted a quarter section in section 6, 
township 10, range 16 ; built a small house 
and " bached it."' He broke twenty-five 
acres that spring and put it into sod corn, 
which flourished for a time and gave 
promise of an abundant crop, but was to- 
tally destroj^ed in August by the grass- 
hoppers. For three consecutive years the 
grasshoppers had destroj'ed the crops in 
that section, and the few settlers, beine: 
discouraged, left that fall for the East, 
with the exception of Mr. Sckeihing, who 
alone remained to spend the winler. He 
lived on corn bread, a few potatoes, with 
an occasional jackrabbit sandwiched in; 
and his nearest neighbor being some 
three miles distant, there was a time when 
for two months he never saw the face of 
a human being. He hauled some wood 
from government lands upon the Loup 
river, it requiring three days to prepare 
and market in Kearney a single loail of 
wood, and he received the small sura of 
$2 per load for his trouble. The follow- 
ing spring he entered a homestead of a 
quarter section in section 6, township 10, 
range 16, and took a timber claim in sec- 
tion 32, township 11, range 16, and put 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



419 



out a large amount of crops. That year 
proved to be a ver}' prosperous one, and 
from thirty-five acres of wheat he thrashed 
five hundred and eighty bushels, which he 
sold at 80 cents per bushel. He has been 
very prosperous ever since, and now has 
three hundred and twenty acres of fine 
land, two hundred and twenty acres of 
which are under cultivation. He has a 
spacious frame dwelling and has just cora- 
jileted a new frame barn. 

Mr. Sckeihing was married, April 5, 
1880, to Mary Sterley, who was born 
April 15, 1857, and is the only daughter 
in a family of eight children born to 
George and Barbara (Kroft) Sterley, both 
of whom are natives of Germany, the for- 
mer having been born in 1825 and the lat- 
ter in 1822. Her father is a I'esident of 
Buffalo county, having located here in 
18(i9. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Sckei- 
hing has resulted in the birth of six chil- 
dren, as follows — George, born May 1, 
1881 ; Christena (deceased), born October 
13, 18S2; Barbara, born March 23, 1884; 
Emma, born July 13, 1885 ; Samuel (de- 
ceased), born January 7, 1885, and Julia, 
born August 28, 1888. 

ilr. and Mrs. Sckeihing are both active 
members of the Lutheran church. Polit-- 
ically he is independent. 



A 



F. SILVERTHOEN. "Tisnotin 
our stars but in ourselves that we 
are underlings." Practical illus- 
trations of this poetical expression can be 
found in the lives of hundreds of men all 
over this country. One is found in the 
life of tiie subject of this notice. A. F. Sil- 
verthorn is neither rich nor famous ; he may 



never be, but he is now on the highway 
to prosperity, on the road to success, and 
he owes it solely to himself. Born with- 
out the traditional silver spoon in his 
mouth, but with the greater gift of an affi- 
davit of honesty and good nature in his 
face, he has made his way from a position 
of dependence to one of comparative ease; 
from a position of toil for others to one of 
well remunerated labor for himself. He 
is one of Kearney's most enterprising and 
most popular druggists, a 3^oung man 
with a good business and a host of friends. 
Arthur Fiavel Silverthorn was born in 
Muscatine count}', Iowa, Februar\', 1857. 
He is the third of six children, the result 
of the union of Oliver J. and Harriet H. 
Silverthorn, the former of whom was a 
Pennsylvanian by birth, the latter a 
native of Illinois. His parents came of 
the staple stock of the localities where 
they were born and reared, being plain, 
substantial, frugal folks with sufficient 
industry to crown their lives with the 
wholesome fruits of toil, and sufficient 
integrity and fixity of purpose to enable 
them to build up characters of stabilitv, 
rising on occasion into the higher graces 
of benevolence, kindness and chi'istian 
charity. The father, after a life extend- 
ing over fifty -five years of labor in various 
avenues, pursued in different localities and 
under varying conditions as to success and 
failure, died at Kirwin, Kans., in 1888, his 
loss dee)il\' regretted by those who knew 
him and sincerely mourned by those whom 
he loved. The mother is still livino:, beino- 
at present a resident of San Antonio, 
Texas, where also live two of her sons. 
The eldest of the children of the family, 
a daughter, Lucy by name, died j'oung; 
Oliver resides at San Antonio, Tex., 



420 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



engaged in the drug business; Maggie, 
wife of Dr. A. J. Meyers, lives at Creston, 
Iowa; Grace, wife of Burton Jones, lives 
also at Creston; and Wood, the youngest, 
lives at San Antonio, Tex., engaged with 
his brother there in the drug business. 

The subject of this notice was reared in 
his native place and in his youth received 
an ordinary common-school training. On 
growing up he selected teaching as his 
first employment and taught for a period 
of three years, giving his time assiduously 
to his school-room work, and it is not the 
least of the achievements of his early 
career that he, as he now relates with 
some pride, taught as good a school as any 
pedagogue in all the country round. Since 
coming West he has been too much ab- 
sorbed in other matters to keep up with 
the whereabouts of his old pupils to see 
how man}' of them have reached the 
higher paths of life as the result oi the 
excellent precepts he instilled into their 
3'outhful minds. But he feels morally 
certain that those who have lived up to 
his teachings have at least become good 
citizens, even if they have not reached 
any great eminence. Quitting the school- 
room at last, Mr. Silverthorn went to 
Creston where he learned the drug busi- 
ness under his father, subsequently enter- 
ing into partnership with him and 
remaining there so engaged for five 3'ears. 
Marrying in the meantime he took his 
wife and worldly possessions and in 1881 
moved to Kearney, casting his fortunes 
with the Midway City, where he has 
allowed them to remain and where they 
have steadily prospered since. The first 
year he was in Kearney he clerked for J. 
M. Hoi)wood in the drug business. lie 
then formed a partnership with A. J. 



Shepard as Silverthorn & Shepard, which 
lasted for three years. He then sold out 
to his partner, soon afterwards engaging 
in business alone and remaining alone 
since. ^h\ Silverthorn runs an exclusive 
drug house. He has built up a good trade 
and each 3'ear his stock grows in bulk as 
his trade increases in volume. He is a 
thoroughgoing business man, wide awake 
and up with the times. He has also 
invested some money in Kearney real 
estate and is earnestly in sympathy with 
every movement for the success and pros- 
perity of his town. He has an open hand 
and a generous heart, and to the extent of 
his means he ! elps everv public enterprise 
that comes his way. 

Mr. Silverthorn was married July 26, 
1883. His wife before marriage was Miss 
Anna E. Battey, daughter of S. W. and 
Mary C. Battey, tlien of Creston, Iowa, 
now of Hoxie, Kans. Mr. and Mi's. Sil- 
verthorn have a pleasiwit home in Kearney 
and their friends ai'e numbered by their 
acquaintances. 



^LFRED E. THOMAS first saw 
/ \ the light of day at Ilicksville, 
1 V Ohio, February 28, 1848. He is 
a son of James and Eunice (Strong) 
Thomas, both of whom were natives of 
Ohio. Young Thomas volunteered his 
services to his country when not seven- 
teen 3'ears of age, enlisting October 29, 
1864, but the war was drawing to a close 
and he was not assigned to active duty. 
Returning to his home he engaged in 
farming in Defiance county, Oliio, but he 
was not altogether satisfied with farmins: 
among the stumps in Ohio, and deter- 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



421 



mined to emigrate westward. The j'ear 
18r>6 found him in tlie State of Missouri, 
where he remained for about seven years. 
In 1873, after a wearisome journey of 
twenty-one daj's in a " prairie schooner," 
he located in Buffalo count\', Nebr. It 
was early in the spring, and the first 
thing he did was to look for a house to 
shelter his family until he could select a 
claim and provide a home of his own. He 
finally succeeded in finding a newlj' built 
sod house on the shore of the Wood river, 
almost directly north of Kearney. About 
the time he got his family comfortablv 
housed there came up suddenly a terrible 
blizzard, April 14th and 15th of the same 
3^ear. The wind blew so fiercely that it 
removed the roof from the house, leaving 
the occupants without shelter. It was in 
the night-time when the storm commenced, 
and Mr. Thomas and family, including his 
sister and brother-in-law and three vouno- 
men stopping at the house at the time, 
sought shelter in their beds for two da3'S 
and two nights. The snow was very deep, 
when Mr. Thomas, with his wife and child, 
started for a neighbor's through the terri- 
ble storm. It was intensely cold, and Mrs. 
Thomas was almost chilled through before 
they started, but to remain there was 
certain death. On the way Mrs. Thomas 
became exhausted, and had their cries for 
help not been heard by the neighbors, 
whose house the^' were endeavoring to 
reach, they doubtless would have perished. 
The storm lasted three days and was the 
most severe in the history of the country. 
There was great suffering among the set- 
tlers, and hundreds of cattle were frozen 
to death. 

Mr. Thonuis has alwa3's taken great 
pleasure in hunting, and during his early 



settlement in this country wild game was 
plenty, and the time was when the rafters 
of his sod house hung full of smoked ven- 
ison of the choicest kind. He killed 
plenty of deer, antelope, and some elk. 
During the summer of 1874, Mr. Thomas, 
in company with two companions, set out 
on a hunting expedition in the Loup river 
countr}'. On their return, one bright 
moonlight night, they passed by a herd of 
Texas cattle, numberingseveral thousand. 
Their wagon was filled with venison and 
antelope, and the cattle smelling the fresh 
meat started to follow. Mr. Thomas and 
his companions, knowing as they did 
the viciousness of Texas cattle, became 
alarmed at the terrible noise made by them 
and at once started their horses on the 
run. For a time it seemed that the cattle 
would stampede them, but fortunately 
they succeeded in making their escape, 
after being chased by the cattle for several 
miles. Mr. Thomas never experienced any 
trouble with the cow-boys, always treat- 
ing them courteously and frequently wel- 
coming them to his home for a meal. 
Alfred E. Thomas was married January 

3, 1871, to Miss Isabelle Lewis, who was 
born December 16, 1852, and whose pa- 
rents were Milton and Sarah (Clark) 
Lewis. Milton Lewis was a native of 
Pennsylvania," but was reared in Rich- 
mond county, Ohio. In 1866 he emigrated 
to Missouri and in 1881 to South Dakota, 
where he now resides. There have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas five children 
as follows — Lewis J., born in Grundy 
county. Mo., March 6, 1872 ; Clarence B., 
born May 10,1874; Ella M., born March 

4, 1878 ; Zenoa C, born January 25, 1880, 
ami Oscar V., born January 26, 188G. 



422 



BUFFALO COUiMV 



JAMES McCREAEY. a prominent and 
successful farmer of Buffalo county, 
and an old settler of Sharon town- 
ship, where he lives, is a Pennsyl- 
vanian by birth. His father, Enoch 
McCreary, and his mother, Margaret 
Pearson, were both natives of the " Key- 
stone State," and always resided there, 
the father dying in 1856, at the age of 
fifty-nine, and the mother in 1885, at the 
age of eighty. These were the parents 
of eight children, of whom the subject of 
this notice is the sixth, the full list being — 
Pearson, Belinda, Samuel, Sarah, William, 
James, John and Enoch. 

James, our subject, was born in LaAv- 
rence county. Pa., September 26, 1838, 
and was reared in his native place, grow- 
ing np on his father's farm, receiving 
a fair common-school education, and 
being trained to the habits of industry 
and usefulness common to his calling. In 
August, 1861, when it became known that 
the country must go through a civil war 
of greater or less length, and preparations 
began to be made therefor, by calls for 
volunteers to defend the Union, Mr. 
McCreary, with the enthusiasm of youth, 
and a devotion to his country born of the 
purest patriotism, responded promptly to 
the call, enlisting in Company F, One 
Hundredth Pennsylvania infantrj^. ■ His 
military history is best told in the recorded 
triumphs, suffering and losses of his regi- 
ment, whose fortunes he followed from 
the date of his enlistment to the close of 
the war. The One Hundredth Pennsyl- 
vania, which bore the designation of 
"roundheads,'" was recruited mainly in 
the part of the state which was settled b}' 
English roundheads and Scotch-Irish cov- 
enanters, and it proved itself eminently 



worthy of its ancestral origin and name- 
sakes. It was officered by Col. Daniel 
Leasure and Col. Norman J. Maxwell, 
both brevet brigadier-generals. It began 
its service at the opening of the war and 
continued on the front and in the thickest 
of the fight till the surrender. Like most 
of the other Ninth corps regiments, its ser- 
vice was a varied one ; it made long jour- 
neys b}' sea and land, and fought its battles 
in many and widely separated states. It 
participated in twenty-three of the hardest 
fought battles of the war, being present 
at only four engagements in which it did 
not ])articipate, and it lost, out of a total 
enrollment of two thousand and fourteen 
enlisted men, eight hundred and eighty- 
seven in killed and wounded, only twenty- 
nine of whom died in Confederate prisons. 
Its heaviest losses were sustained at James 
island. South Carolina; ]\Ianassas, Vir- 
ginia; South mountain, Maryland ; Spott- 
sylvania, Cold Harbor, siege of Peters- 
burg, Petersburg mine and Port Sted- 
man. Lieut.-Col. Dawson fell, mortally 
wounded, in the assault on Petersburg ; 
Lieut.-Col. Pentecost was killed at Fort 
Stedraan ; Major Hamilton and Adjutant 
Leasure fell in the fighting at the Peters- 
burg mine, and five line-officers fell at 
Manassas. Mr. McCreary was temporarily 
disabled by the explosion of a shell before 
Petersburg, receiving a severe shock and 
having his hat cut into holes. He was 
mustered out at the close as sergeant, 
having entered as private. He retui'ned 
to Pennsylvania, and moved afterwards to 
Ohio, and then to Illinois, and still later, 
in 1873, to Nebraska, settling at that date 
in Buffalo county, where he took a home- 
stead in Sharon township, where he has 
since resided, except a year or so spent in 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



«3 



Shelton, near by. Mr. McCi'eary has 
become thorouohlv identified with the 
farming interests of his community, and 
it is no flattery to him, nor injustice to his 
neiglibors, to say that he has made better 
success than the average farmer. He 
owns five hundred and sixty acres of 
splendid land, agricultural and grazing, 
all of which he has in a paying condition. 
lie is a large cattle feeder, and is recog- 
nized as one of the clear, level-headed 
business men of his locality — solid and 
I'eliable. 

Mr. McCreary married, in 1863, a lady 
of his native county, Miss Catherine Craig, 
and this union has been blessed with five 
children— J. Craig, Frank A., Lula, Gertie 
and Nettie. He and his excellent wife 
are zealous members of the Methodist 
church, and he is a member of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen and the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America. 



JEKEMIAH TAWNEY, farmer, was 
born in Westmoreland count}'. Pa. 
June 30, 1836, and there learned the 
trade of a stone mason. His father, 
Adam Tawney, was also a native of Penn- 
sylvania and was brought up to black- 
smithing, which trade he followed until 
his death in 1854. Adam married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of John Rudolf, of (Tcrman 
descent. John Rudolf was a pioneer of 
Westmoreland county, was the keeper of 
the fort in that territory during the Indian 
troubles, and followed the vocation of a 
farmer during the intervals of peace. To 
the marriage of Adam and Elizabeth 
Tawney were born seven ciiildren, Jere- 



miah being the sixth ; he and his brother, 
David M., are now the only survivors of 
the family — the latter residing still on the 
old homestead in Pennsylvania. 

Jeremiah Tawney, responding to the 
call to arms in defence of the Union, vol- 
unteered in Company F, Eleventh Pensyl- 
vania infantry, was mustered in at Har- 
risburg, October 14, 1861, .and assigned 
to the arm\' of the Potomac. He took 
part in twenty-six battles in Virginia, 
Maryland and Pennsylvania, taking an 
active part in that of Gettysburg and 
being present also at the surrender of Gen. 
Lee. At Fredericksburg he was shot 
through the right ear and also received a 
gun-shot wound in the top of the head. 
His gallantry in action and his attention 
to his military duties in general raised 
him to the rank of second lieutenant, 
which position he held until mustered out. 
At the close of the war his command 
marched from Richmond to Washington 
and took part in the grand review, and 
thence went to Harrisburg, Pa., Avhere he 
received an honorable discharge. After 
his return home he pursued his regular 
trade, and in 1867 married Miss Melissa, 
daughter of Samuel and Sarah Snow, both 
natives of Pennsylvania. Samuel Snow is 
a cooper by trade, is also a farmer, and is 
still living in his native state. To the 
union of Jeremiah Tawney and wife have 
been born six children, named as follows 
— Harry A., Lettie M., Alice M., Delia M., 
Nannie E. and Sarah Maud. 

February 4, 1881, found Mr. Tawney 
and his family in Nebraska, with his 
homestead in section 26, township 12, 
range 14, he having purchased a quarter 
section, of which twelve acres had been 
broken. He has now a comfoi'table frame 



434 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



duelling, one hundred and forty acres of 
land under cultivation and fenced in, and 
an orchard of one hundred and fifty apple 
trees, all the result of his own industry 
and enterprise, as he had but little capital 
when he settled here. He had become 
very popular in his neighborhood and has 
been twice elected justice of the peace, 
but refused to qualify for the second term ; 
he has also served two terms as road over- 
seer and five years as school director. 
While in Pennsj'lvania he was for five 
years a captain in the National Guards, 
his company having been named the Col- 
ter Guards, in honor of Gen. Colter, who 
had presented it with a fine stand of col- 
ors. In religion, Mr. Tawney is a, Pres- 
bvterian, to which church he and his fam- 
ily belong and in which he has been a dea- 
con over five years. He is a member of 
the G. A. E. and of the Farmers' Alliance. 
Politically he is a republican. 



JUDGE WILLIAM K. LEAKN, one 
of the most popular citizens of Kear- 
ne3', Nebr., was born in New York 
State, December 19, 1853, and is a 
son of William R. and Charlotte (Green) 
Learn, the former a native of Wales, who 
came to America when 3'oung and here 
met and married Miss Green, but was not 
spared long to aid and comfort her, nor 
even to behold the face of her offspring, 
as he died a few months before the sub- 
ject of this sketch was born. Subse- 
quently, however, Mrs. Learn found a 
protector in the person of H. Z. Hayner, 
who in 1851 was chief justice of the 
supreme court of Minnesota. 



William R. Learn, the subject proper of 
this sketch, received a preparatory educa- 
tion at Yonkers, N. Y., and at the early 
age of fourteen entered the law office of 
E. Delafield Smith, ex-United States dis- 
trict attorney and corporation counsel 
for New York Citj', with whom he began 
the study of law, but afterward read with 
R. W. Ilawkes worth, of 115 and 117 
Broadway, in the same city, and later 
studied further with W. Q. Judge, also of 
New York City. After being admitted 
to the bar he began practice on his own 
account in the New York World building, 
and was so employed when that noble 
structure succumbed to the ravages of 
fire. In 1881 the aspiring and now well 
qualified j'oung attorne}' came to Kear- 
ney, Buffalo count}", Nebr., yet did not at 
once enter on the practice of his profes- 
sion, but took a more prudent course and 
eno-affed as clerk in the store of G. Kra- 
mer, preferring an appreciable and certain 
income for a time, rather than depending 
on the somewhat precarious fees of a 
newh'-come attorney. He afterwards en- 
gaged in the insurance business, but. the 
office of constable having become vacant, 
he accepted that position, under appoint- 
ment, and filled out the unexpired term, 
his knowledge of the law being of no 
mean assistance to him in the performance 
of the duties pertaining to the office. At 
tlie expiration of the term he was elected 
to the office, so great was the satisfaction 
he had given in carrying out its functions 
under appointment. Following the expira- 
tion of his duties in this position, he was 
advanced a step in political life by his 
admiring constituents, and in November, 
1887, was elected justice of the peace, the 
county stepping-stone to higher official 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



425 



preference. April 1, 1888, he was elected 
police jiuloe of the city of Kearney, and 
in the fall of 1889 was re-elected justice 
of the peace, and in April, 1890, was 
elected police judge, this fact showing 
that his executive abilities have been fully 
recognized. He is, in reality, a conserv- 
ative executor of the law, and his thorough 
knowledge of the statutes is his guide in 
making his almost infallible decisions. 
His intuitive knowledge of human nature 
also comes to his aid and enables him to 
discriminate between the hardened crimi- 
nal and the novice in transgression of the 
law. To the former he deals out the full 
penalty due as an expiation of his 
offense, while to the latter his leniency is 
extended, with a hope that a redemption 
to virtue may be made of the incipient 
culprit, and that he may in the hereafter 
become a good and worthy citizen. 

The matrimonial union of the judge 
took place April 18, 1884. Two children 
have blessed this marriage and are named 
William R. and Eugene George. The 
Judge is a member of the A. O. U. W., of 
the K. of P., and also of the Modern 
Woodmen's fraternity. 



A 



F. GIBSON is one of the few re- 
maining old settlers left of the 
original eighty-five composing 
the Soldiers' Free Homestead Colony', b}' 
which the village and township of Gibbon 
were mainly settled. He came with the 
colonv m April, 1871, and has been a resi- 
dent of the town and township since. He 
had just turned into his twenty-first year 
when he came to Buffalo county, and was 
one of the unmarried men of the colonv. 



He came West like all of his associates to 
better his condition. He came to stay, 
and, whether by accident or design, he 
came in a condition to effectually carry out 
this purpose, being unincumbered by any 
ties and unconcerneil for the future except 
as to himself. In the general selection of 
homesteads which took place a few days 
after the settlement of the colony, Mr. 
Gibson chose an " eighty " in the south- 
west quarter of section 22, township 9, 
range 14, west, lying only a short dis- 
tance from where the town of Gibbon 
was located. He settled on this soon 
after selecting it and immediately began 
his improvements. His first efforts toward 
making a farm on the raw prairies, with 
little or nothing to go on, in a new and 
untried condition of agriculture, far from 
market and unsurrounded by an}^ of the 
helps and conveniences common in the 
older communities of the East, were such 
as are well known by experience to hun- 
dreds of old settlers all over this state, but 
which doubtless will not be sufficiently 
known to or appreciated b}' those who 
will come in after years. He began in 
an humble way, as did all. The first 
tedious stages of building and breaking 
being over, the seasons of grasshoppers 
and dry years followed. He suffered the 
privations and hardships which all were 
forced to sufiPer during those times of 
trial, but he stuck to his purpose and 
never allowed his interest to flag or his 
courage to weaken. He took a cheerful 
and even hopeful view of the situation and 
remained, confidently awaiting better 
times. Better times came, but they came 
very gradually. Even after the crisis of 
1873-4-5 was passed it was a long and 
arduous struggle and a conflict of ajipar- 



426 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



ently unequal strength and often of seem- 
ingly doubtful issue. Mr. Gibson remained 
on his farm making his way as best he 
could and demonstrating the virtue in the 
homely old maxim of '' keep pegging 
away" until in time his footing was as- 
sured and he reached something of a 
breathing spell. During this time he had 
remained single, fighting the battle alone, 
determined to win it if he could, and if he 
could not to go down without dragging 
an}' one with him. In the fall of 1877, 
however, when he felt that he had reached 
a point where he could afford to take the 
step, he decided to marry, and on Octo- 
ber 9th of that year he was united to 
Miss Louisa A. Brodrick, daughter of 
James and Maria Brodrick, then of Buf- 
falo count}'^, having moved to this county 
a few years previous. Mr. Gibson re- 
mained on the farm and continued to im- 
prove his homestead and gradual!}' ac- 
cumulated property till 1883. He then 
moved into Gibbon, where he now resides, 
but 3'et retains his farm interests. In 
1883 he engaged in the livery business 
and at the same time began, in 1886, to 
deal in agricultural implements. He sold 
his liver}' business in 1886 and in 1888 
bought of T. B. George the Enterprise 
mill, which had recently passed out of the 
hands of its builders and was then strug- 
gling to maintain its existence as a paying 
institution. Mr. Gibson divides his time 
between his farm, his implement business 
and his mill. The mill is one of the 
promising- enterprises of Gibbon and will 
doubtless groW into an industry of great 
profit. It was built in 1886 by F. C. 
Hitchcock, then cashier of the State bank 
of Gibbon, with funds which, as it after- 
wards turned out, belonged to the bank. 



It was transferred to the directors of the 
bank to secure them against loss, and by 
them sold to T. B. George and thence 
passed into the hands of the present 
owner. When built, it was designed to 
meet what was then believed to be a 
growing demand for mill products such as 
were not made in the regular flouring 
mills. It is a buhr-stone mill, run by 
steam, and makes everything excejjt wheat 
flour. Formerly it was not a paying in- 
vestment, but under its present manage- 
ment it is developing a good local trade 
and is reaching out considerably towards 
the northwest, in which direction there is 
unquestionabh' a good field for its prod- 
ucts. Mr. Gibson's farming and stock in- 
terests and agricultural implement busi- 
ness are gradually growing, so that all 
round his affairs seem to be in a reasonably 
pi'osperous condition. Further comment 
on his ability and standing as a business 
man or his value to the community as a 
citizen need hardly be given. The above 
facts show what he is and what he has 
done. He has been a quiet but neverthe- 
less a ver}' efficient force in the growth 
and development of his adopted home. 
He is a prudent, thoughtful man. He 
watches the details of his business with 
care and personally sees that all things 
are done in a proper manner. He has 
been schooled mainly in the affairs of the 
world and is in the strictest and best 
sense of the word a business man. He is 
plain and straightforward in his dealings 
and practical and matter of fact in his 
methods. Probably his chief characteris- 
tics are those which have been developed 
and brought into p'ominence by his long 
residence and hard experience in this com- 
munity, these characteristics being his 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



427 



persevering- industry, strict attention to 
his own personal concerns, his liberal 
manner of dealing with others and his 
broad and generous sympathy with those 
struggling under difficulties or misfortunes. 
As remarked at the beo'innino: of this 
sketch, Mr. Gibson is one of the few old 
settlers who still remain in this vicinity. 
He is one of the fewer still who have never 
resided elsewhere, even temporarily, since 
he first settled here, now nearly twenty 
years ago. How much courage it has 
taken to pull patiently througl* twenty 
years in Buffalo county those who do not 
know ma}' gain some idea of by reading 
tlie history of the county. The first dec- 
ade were yeai-s of toil, of privation and 
suffering, which none but those possessing 
the stoutest hearts could endure. They 
were years of pathetic interest, for they 
carried with them the issue of life and 
death to strug-oling men and women. In 
the men who passed through the trials of 
these years are to be found some of the 
best specimens of manhood, some of the 
highest-minded, most reputable citizens of 
the country, not the least of whom is the 
subject of this memorial article. 

Reverting to his earlier \'ears in order 
that we may preserve something of his 
ancestral history for tliose who may 
grow up to read this work, it may be 
recorded that A. F. Gibson was born in 
Mercer county, Pa., July 17, 1850, of 
parents who were also Pennsylvanians by 
birth. He is a son of Samuel and Mary 
E. Gibson and a descendant of two of the 
first settled families of western Pennsyl- 
vania. His father is a native of Lawrence 
county, and his mother was born in Mer- 
cer county. Tiiese counties join, and his 
parents have at times been different resi- 



dents of each, and are still living. His 
mother bore the maiden name of Wilson 
and was a daughter of John Wilson, a na- 
tive of Westmoreland county, Pa., who 
settled many years ago in Mercer county. 
Mr. Gibson comes of good stock, his peo- 
ple as a rule being substantial well-to-do 
farmers. They are marked chiefly for the 
quietness of tlieir lives and, on his 
mother's side, for their love of home and 
their attachment for one another. They 
are not as a rule migratory, though both 
his grandfathers were pioneers, with, it 
may be presumed, a taste for the pleasures 
of pioneer life, and were not unacquainted 
with its hardships and dangers. These 
qualities Mr. Gibson in a large measure 
inherits ; and these qualities, modified by 
the peculiarities of his local surroundings, 
have made him what he is. 

Mr. Gibson has a pleasant home and a 
family of four children — Claude Wilson, 
Carl Brodrick, Guy and Glenn. 



JACOB GABPJELis one of Kearney's 
oldest, and has been one of her most 
industrious citizens. He is a native 
of Prussia and comes of Prussian- 
born parents. His father, Jacob Gabriel, 
Sr., was born in the town of Sarlonis, 
Prussia, in the year 1797. He was 
reared in his native country, served in the 
Austro-Prussian war, married a few years 
after and immigrated to the United States, 
coming in 1841 and settling in Grant 
county, Wis., where he shorth' after- 
wards died, and was buried at the town 
of Plattville, that county. He was 
an industrious, upright, useful citizen, a 
devout member of the Catholic church 



428 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



and a devoted husband and father. Mr. 
Gabriel's mother came to the United 
States a year or so after her husband did, 
bringing with her the subject of this 
sketch. He was then quite small, having 
been born in 1841 in Sarlonis. He was 
reared in Grant county, Wis., and as soon 
as he was old enough began the battle of 
life alone and unaided. He followed his 
first employment as a laborer in the lead 
mines in Grant count}' ; then, in his twen- 
tieth year, he started for the great mining 
reo-ion of the Pacific coast, making his 
wa}' across the "plaint" in the early days 
before the time of the railroads. He 
lived in California for six j'ears, engaged 
in mining in one locality and another, and 
making during the time some money and 
gathering a world of experience. Return- 
ing in 1867, he paid a short visit to his 
old home in Grant county, Wis., and then 
went to Memphis, Tenn., where be en- 
gaged as overseer on a cotton plantation. 
Two years later he came to Nebraska, and, 
settling at Nebraska City, in Otoe county, 
began stock-raising and boring wells. In 
1872 he came to Buffalo county, locating 
at Kearney, which was then just starting. 
He took a homestead at that date in the 
county and continued farming, stock-rais- 
ing and well-boring. In 1878 he opened 
a saloon in Kearney, which he conducted 
successfully for some years. He built the 
third brick house that was erected in 
Kearney, which was occupied by him as 
a saloon, he furnishing the capital and 
his partner, Casper Cornelius, conducting 
the business till 1886, when they closed 
out. He has since gone into the stock 
business, for which he has always had a 
liking and at which he has been very suc- 
cessful. 



Mr.Gabriel married, February 10, 1879 — 
his wife being Miss Jennie Pearson, of Kear- 
ney. This union has never been blessed 
with any issue, but in 1884 Mi\ and Mrs. 
Gabriel adopted a bright little fellow, 
now thirteen years old, whom they have 
named Joseph Cower Gabriel and to 
whom they are gi'eatl^^ attached. Mr. 
Gabriel is a member of the Catholic 
chui'ch, while Mi's. Gabriel is a member 
of the Lutheran church, and, being of a 
kind and generous disposition, give liber- 
ally to all benevolent purposes. 



WL. COOK. The subject of 
this sketch is one of Kear 
ney's enterprising 3'oung 
business men. He is a native of Han- 
over, Prussia, where also his parents and 
grandparents were born, his people being 
of German ancestry' from time imme- 
morial. Mr. Cook, with that commendable 
adaptability to local surroundings that 
characterizes his counti'ymen as well as 
in accordance with good taste and sound 
sense, Americanized his name on coming 
to this country, it originally being Will- 
iam Ludwig Joachim Kock. Mr. Cook's 
father, Johan Heinrich Joachim Kock, 
was born in 1831, grew up in his native 
country, served his term in the Hanover 
army, married Louisa Stephens, of his 
native place, in 1851, and immigrated to 
America in 1869, settling at Laporte, 
Ind. There, after several years of suc- 
cessful business pursuits, he was over- 
taken by financial disaster, and lost the 
bulk of his life-earnings, spending his 
later years in an ineffectual effort to 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



429 



regain his wasted fortunes. He died in 
1887 and was buried in Laporte. lie 
was a lifelong member of the Lutiieran 
church and a man of warm heart and 
generous impulses. 

The subject of this notice was born 
May 15, 1852. He came alone to America 
in 1869, and was reared mainly at La- 
porte, Ind., where they settled. His early 
education was limited. Being of an 
active and independent disposition, he 
struck out for himself at the age of fif- 
teen, finding his first em]iloyment as a 
farm hand. Since that date, his career 
has been a checkered one, he having 
seen much of the ups and downs — the 
sunshine and the shadows — of this life, 
lie has visited many places and followed 
manj' different vocations for a liveli- 
hood. He came to Nebraska in 1878, 
driving through from Laporte, Ind., 
with wagon and team. He traveled 
extensively over this state during the 
first few years of his residence here, and 
taking two or three trips back East, and 
one or two further West. He came to 
Kearney in 18S1, and after following 
different pursuits secured a position with 
the Union Pacific Land Comi)any, anil 
went to Europe in their interest. He 
succeeded, after two years' residence and 
hard labor in the old country, in inducing 
many of his countrA'raen to immigrate to 
America, and assisted them in securing 
homes in Nebraska along the line of the 
Union Pacific railroad. He located per- 
manently in Kearney in 1886, engaging 
at that date in manufacturing cigars and 
tobacco, a business he lias prosecuted 
steadily since. He is one of Kearney's 
live, progressive men, public-spirited and 
wide-awake, thorough-going in iiis busi- 



ness methods, and attentive to his own 
personal concerns. He is popular not 
only in his trade, but as a citizen at large 
and has a host of friends and well-wish- 
ers. He is a zealous member of the 
Knights of Pythias, having been past 
chancellor of that fraternity, and is now 
chairman of the boai'd of trustees of his 
lodge. He is an efficient member of the 
Kearney fire tlepartment, being foreman 
of Wide-Awake Hose Company. 

He married at Behring, Mich., in 1875, 
the lady whom he chose for a companion 
being a native of that place. His wife 
died May 26, 1876, leaving one child — 
Birty William Cook. Mr. Cook married 
again August 2, 1879, his second wife 
being Miss Hukla Strand. He was elect- 
ed councilman of the third ward of 
Kearney, Nebr., the spring of 1890, also 
received his commission as lieutenant 
adjutant of the Third regiment, Nebraska 
brigade, U. R. K. of P., in the year of 
1889. 



DR. J. C. HULL, born June 14, 
1827, is a son of Joseph and Eliza- 
beth (Van Winkle) Hull. His 
father was a native of Pennsylvania, but 
went with his parents to Knox county, 
Ohio, when fifteen j'ears of age. After 
some years there he moved into Iowa, 
where he resided until he died. His life 
was devoted to agricultural pursuits and 
was a quiet, uneventful one, filled with 
peace and contentment. 

Dr. Hull is of old Pennsylvania and 
Virginia stock. He was born and reared 
on a farm, and followed the vocation of 
farming until he reached his majority. 



430 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



He possessed a bo\'ish ambition to become 
a physician, and the desire to gratify the 
ambition of his boyhood increased with 
his 3'ears. At the age of twenty-five he 
left the old farm home, and all its endear- 
ing ties, and entered the office of Dr. 
Henry Hull, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where 
he began reading medicine. He after- 
wards attended lectures at the Eclectic 
College of Medicine at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
graduating from that institution in 1854. 
He entered upon the practice of his pro- 
fession at Trenton, Henry county, Iowa, 
and remained there till 1874, when he 
went to Colorado Springs, Colo. After 
remaining there one year he moved to 
Kearney, Buffalo county, Nebr., locating 
there in 1875, and resuming the practice 
of his profession. Dr. Hull is one of the 
pioneer ph3'sicians of Kearney. His prac- 
tice has increased with the growth of the 
city, and no phj'sician ranks higher in 
Kearney tlian he. 

Februar}' 15, 1855, he married Miss 
Nancy Updegraff. This union has been 
blessed with four children — Charlie M., 
Frank W., Howard J., and George M. 
Mrs. Dr. J. C. Hull's birthday was April 
22, 1832. She is a daughter of Abraham 
Updegraff of Henry county, Iowa. He 
was a leading and influential citizen in his 
county, and took an active and conspic- 
uous part in its affairs. He was a popular 
man, and was elected by his fellow-citi- 
zens to represent their county in the legis- 
lature. He was born September 30, 1807, 
and died June 13, 1855, in Henry count}', 
Iowa, after a short but well spent life. 
Mrs. Hull's mother was Elenor Updegraff, 
daughter of Kobert Currigan. She was a 
faithful member of the Presbyterian 
church, and died in the happy consolation 



of her religious faith. Mrs. Dr. Hull is 
an exce])tionall\' intelligent woman, and 
is a leading spirit and zealous worker in 
the cause of tempei'ance. She has been 
for ten 3'ears a member of the Women's 
Christian Temperance Union, is known 
for her zeal and enthusiasm in promoting 
its cause, and has served as president of 
the organization in Kearney for several 
years. 

Dr. Hull is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity. He for many years affiliated 
with the democratic party, but is now a 
prohibitionist and is a co-worker with his 
estimable wife in the cause of temperance. 
Dr. and Mrs. Hull move in the highest 
social circles of Kearne}', and their friends 
are numbered by their acquaintances. 



PATEICK DOOLEY was born in 
Ireland, March 18, 1843, and is 
the son of Michael and Alice 
(Murray) Dooley. His parents were both 
devoted members of the Catholic church, 
and died about 1850. Patrick Dooley 
came to America in 1860, landing in New 
York City on the fourth of April, after a 
tempestuous voyage lasting six weeks and 
five days. He first located at Marshall, 
Calhoun county, Mich., but when the 
tocsin of war was sounded, Pat. Dooley 
was among the first to volunteer, the date 
of his enlistment in the Second Michigan 
cavalry, being September 12, 1861. He 
faced the enemy fii'st in Missouri and 
afterwards at the battles of Pittsburg 
Landing, Corinth, Stone river, Franklin, 
Spring hill, Perryville, Chickamauga, 
Nashville and Blue mountain. He was 
taken prisoner at the last named place and 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



431 



sent to Coon Bridge, Ala., where he 
was paroled May S, 1805. lie was also 
taken prisoner at Brentwood, Tenn., but 
was released soon afterwards at Columbia, 
S. C. He was wounded in the left thigh 
at the battle of Chickaniauga, September 
20, 1S63. He was mustered out at Colum- 
bus, Ohio, June 20, 1SG5, and few men 
saw more actual service than Pat. Dooley. 
He came to Buffalo county, Nebr., in the 
spring of 1879 and took a homestead in 
Gardner township, where he has since 
resided. He was married in November, 
1865, to Miss Agnes Cassidy, who was 
born in Lee, Mich., November 25, 1847, 
and is the daughter of Thomas and Mary 
(Balf ) Cassidy, both of whom were natives 
of Ireland. Her father came to America 
in 1832 and was one of the early pioneers 
of Marshall, Mich. He died in May, 1888. 
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Dooley has 
resulted in the birth of sixteen children — 
Mar^', Jennie, Eugene, Thomas, Christo- 
pher, Bernard (deceased ), Isabel, Mabel 
(burned to death at the age of seven), 
Joseph, Hugh, Bessie, Evilen, Zoe, Ada- 
iaide and two died in infancy. Mr. Doole\' 
has a fine farm of 320 acres and has lately 
erected a handsome frame dwelling. In 
politics he is an Alliance man. 



CHESTER W. PUTNAM was 
born in Centerville, N. Y., 
November 18, 1833, and is the 
son of Ebenezer and Philena (Maxson) 
Putnam. His father was a native of Ver- 
mont and was a carpenter bv occupation. 
He died in 1834, and his widow died 



December 12, 1859. The paternal grand- 
father of Chester W. was a cousin of 
Israel Putnam of Revolutionary fame. 
C. W. Putnam began working for the 
Lake Shore and ]\Iichigan Southern R. R. 
Company in Soutiiern Michigan when 
twenty years old, and continued in the 
em])Ioyment of this corjioration for several 
years. He iiad in the meantime become 
quite proficient as a painter and worked 
at his trade in Racine, Wis., for about 
twelve years. He enlisted in Februaiy, 
1805, in the Forty-ninth Wisconsin regi- 
ment. Ad this time, however, the war 
was drawing to a close and he saw no real 
service, but was mustered out in the fol- 
lowing November. He had offered his 
services three years previous, but was 
rejected on account of a disabled arm. 
After the war he continued his occupation 
as painter until 1877, when he came 
to Buffalo county, Nebr., and took a 
claim in Cedar township, on which he has 
since resided. When he landed at Kearney 
he had barely $200. He pnrciiased a team 
of mules and necessarj^ farming imple- 
ments and began work in earnest. The 
first season he harvested four hundred and 
four bushels of wheat, which he sold at 
70 cents per bushel, and has sjnce been 
quite successful in raising both wheat and 
corn. When he first settled in the town- 
ship there were only three or four families, 
and wild game was plenty. He has often 
seen large herds of antelope and deer. Mr. 
Putnam was married in December, 1856, 
to Miss Caroline Thompson. They hav^e 
three children — Charles 11. , Chester W., 
and Carrie P. Mrs. Putnam was born in 
Pennsvlvania, February 21, 1834, and is 
the daughter of Lyman and Annie Thomp- 
son, natives of New England. Her father 



432 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



died in Indiana in 1883 and her motliei- 
had preceded liim some time. Mr. Put- 
nam has held various offices of trust in the 
township and is quite well known 
throughout the county. 



JOHN WOLF was born near Iowa 
City, Johnson county, Iowa, No- 
vember 13, 1855. His father, John 
D. Wolf, was born in Germany in 
1815. He came to America at the age of 
twenty-two, served in the United States 
army in the war with Mexico, and then 
made a tour of the Eastern, Western and 
Southern states before deciding to locate 
permanently at any place. He finally 
settled in Johnson county, Iowa, and en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits. During 
his residence in Iowa, he took consider- 
able interest in local affairs and filled va- 
rious local offices with credit. He immi- 
grated to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1880, 
and settled in Thornton towmship. He 
married Catherine Brunner in 1853. She 
was a native of France, having been born 
near Strassburg, but came to America 
when a young woman. Seven children 
were born to them, of whom John, the 
subject of this sketch, was the second. 
John Wolf remained on his father's farm 
in Iowa until twenty-three years of age, 
when he emigrated to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., in company with four other young 
men, former neiglibors. All except one 
settled in this county. Mr. Wolf pur- 
chased railroad land in Thornton town- 
ship and began life's battle in earnest. At 
that time the country thereabouts was 
sparsely settled, there being only two 
houses in sight. He built a sod house, 



which served his purpose until 1886, when 
it was superseded by a modern frame 
building. He now has one hundred and 
twenty acres of well-improved land about 
eight miles north of Kearne}'. 

Mr. Wolf was married, November 29, 
1880, to Miss Maggie Henderson, who was 
born in Illinois October 2, 1865. Her par- 
ents were Abraham and Elenor (Rough) 
Henderson, natives of Illinois. They emi- 
grated to Missouri, and in 1872 came to 
Nebraska, settling in Centre township, 
this county. Mr. Henderson was a far- 
mer by occupation, and both he and his 
wife were devoted members of the Pres- 
byterian church. Mr. Henderson died 
December 2-1, 1878. 

Three children now bless the home of 
Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, namely — Ida M., born 
May 24, 1882; Lillie K., born November 
11, 1885, and Nettie E., born October 22, 
1887. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wolf are mem- 
bers of the German Lutheran church. 
Mr. Wolf has held various important 
township offices, and alwaj's affiliates with 
the democratic party. 



NATHAN P McDonald. Al- 
though Mr. McDonald has been 
a resident of Buffalo county 
only since 1887, he has succeeded in mak- 
ing himself sufficiently prominent to 
deserve mention in the county's biograph- 
ical souvenir. He is a son of Donald and 
Arcelia (Badgley) McDonald. The former, 
a native of Scotland, was born in 1830, 
and came to America when he was about 
twenty-five years of age. In 1860, he was 
married to Mrs. Badgley, a widow lady, 
having two sons, viz. — Levant, who is now 



B UFFA LO CO UA' Tl \ 



43:} 



clerk of the district court in Pattawatomie 
county, Kans., and John, now principal of 
the public schools of Kimball, Nebr. To 
Mr. and Mrs. McDonald were born two 
sons, Nathan P. and Leniont. The 
paternal grandfather was Duncan McDon- 
ald, a native of Scotland, and the maternal 
grandparents were Lj'man and Amy 
(Alby) Calkins. 

The subject of this memoir was born 
near Columbus, "Warren count}'. Pa., in 
1802. Living on a farm, he had the early 
training of industry and economy incident 
to thriftv farming with moderate means. 
His education during bo3'hood was 
acquired in the district school, where he 
was always among the best of his class. 
When sixteen years of age, he accepted a 
position as clerk in a store, which position 
he held for two and a half years, always 
enjoying the confidence and esteem of his 
employer. Mr. McDonald left the store 
to extend his education. Two years hav- 
ing been passed in the cit}' school of Corry, 
Pa., and one year at Sugar Grove 
Seminary, Pa., be decided to go to college. 
This was a difficult task, as he was 
depending entirely upon his own resources 
to provide means. By dint of economy 
and strict frugality, he maintained himself 
two years in a classical course in Otterbein 
university at Westerville, Ohio. "While in 
college, Mr. McDonald was a close student, 
and carried a high grade of scholarshiji. 
He took special interest in literary work, 
and was a prominent member of the 
Philophronean Literary Society of that 
institution. Circumstances over which he 
had no control compelled Mr. McDonald 
to abandon his hope of conipieting the two 
remaining years of his college course. He 
came AVest in December of 1886, and 



engaged in teaching near Louisville, in 
Kansas. From there he came to Elm 
Creek, Nebr., where he engaged as prin- 
cipal of the Elm Creek school. He has 
proven himself a successful teacher, and a 
popular gentleman, in every way worthy 
of the confidence of the people. Being a 
republican, he was the choice of that 
partv for the office of county superintend- 
ent of public instruction, of Buffalo 
county, in the election of 1889. This 
position he now holds. 

In 1888, Mr. McDonald was united in 
marriage to Miss Ella Upton, of Kearne}', 
Eev. Leslie Stej)hens officiating. Mrs. 
McDonald is a native of Illinois, born in 
Olney, Richland county. In 1875, she, 
with her parents, moved to Roanoke, 
"Woodford county, and in 1887 she moved 
to Kearney, Nebr. Mrs. McDonald is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. One child, Archie, born in 1889, 
makes music in their home. 



JAMES M. SMITH, son of Andrew and 
Selenor (Mackley) Smith, was born 
in Jackson county, Ohio, October 9, 
1839. His father was born in Kentuckj'^ 
in 1811, and emigrated to Jackson county, 
Ohio, early in life. In 1842 he moved to 
Indiana, and in 1845 emigrated to Iowa, 
where he engaged in farming. He came 
to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1S82, where 
he has since resided. He has been an 
active member of the United Brethren 
church for fifty years. His father was a 
native of South Carolina and was of 
Irish descent. He died in ISjII. Tlie 
maternal grandfatiier, John Mackle}', was 
born inVirginiaand was of Dutch descent. 



434 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



He also died in 1S50. His wife was a 
Pennsylvanian by birth, and died in 1842. 
James M. Smith was a strong Union man 
during the dark days of the rebellion, and 
enlisted November 2, 1864, in the Thir- 
teenth regiment, Iowa infantry, and went 
immediately^ to tiie front. He partici- 
pated in the battle of Nashville, and also 
in the terrible struggle at Decatur, Ala. 
He served under Gen. Thomas during 
most of his service and was mustered out 
at Davenport, Iowa, June 20, 1865. After 
he returned from the service he continued 
to farm in Iowa for ten years, then emi- 
grated to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1874, 
and took a homestead in the southern part 
of Thornton township, built a sod house 
and began breaking sod preparatory to 
planting his first crop. The country was, 
or seemed like, one vast barren waste, 
inhabited only by wild beasts; antelope 
and deer were plent}', and one only had 
to go a short distance north of where Mr. 
Smith now resides to see herds of elk. 
The first year he planted considerable 
corn and had splendid prospects for a 
crop, but the grasshoppers came along by 
and b}'^ and soon destroyed every hope of 
raising any corn that year. Mr. Smith, 
however, was not discouraged, and the 
year following planted and succeeded in 
raising a good crop. His experience the 
third year, however, was simply a repeti- 
tion of the first, his entire prospect of a 
crop being destroyed by the grasshoppers. 
Even this did not wholly discourage him, 
for he had great faith in the future of the 
country and was determined to stay and 
give it another trial. He did so and has 
never e.x[)erienced a failure of crop since. 
He was formerly the owner of two hun- 
tired and forty acres of choice land, but 



has just presented each of his sons with a 
deed for eight}' acres. Mr. Smith was 
elected supervisor of Tliornton township 
in 1888 and filled the office with entire 
satisfaction to all his constituents. Mr. 
Smith was united in marriage, September 
27, 1862, to Miss Nancy Ilendrickson. 
There were born to this union five chil- 
dren, namely — Minnie May, born July 
27, 1863 (deceased); John J., born May 
20, 1866; Andrew, born December 16, 
1869 (married Hattie Carter); Maud, born 
March 6, 1872 (wife of Presley Clark), 
and Bertha Viola, born Sept. 11, 1876. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are active and 
devoted members of the United Brethren 
church. 



CHAELES H. DOW, SE., farmer 
of Schneider township, Buffalo 
count}', Nebr., was born in Clark 
county, Ind., February 17, 1828. His 
father, Nathan Dow, was a native of Con- 
necticut, who was born in 1807 and 
died in 1842, having passed a quiet and 
industrious life as a weaver and farmer. 
He married Matilda Eobertson, who 
was born in Virginia in 1812. In 
politics Nathan Dow was a whig and in 
religion a Carmelite. The grandfather of 
Chas. H. Dow, Sr., was named Henry ; he 
was born in 1755, was a manufacturer of 
woolen goods, and also served as a captain 
in the war of 1812. His death took place 
in 1843. 

Charles H. Dow, Sr., began attending 
school at the age of four years and at the 
age of eight was removed to Morgan 
county, Ind., where he lived for eighteen 
3' ears, engaged in bhicksmithing and farm- 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



435 



ing ; he then moved to Owen county, Ind., 
where he continued to follow the vocation 
of blacksmith. August, 1S62, he enlisted 
in Company D, Fifty-ninth Indiana volun- 
teers, and served at Corinth, Ft. Gibson, 
Raymond, Jackson, Champlain hills, Ed- 
ward's station and Vicksburg, and at the 
last named place was attacked with a pro- 
tracted sickness. On his recovery he 
rejoined his command at Huntsville, Ala., 
thence he went to Atlanta, and at the fall 
of tiiat city followed Sherman to the sea. 
His last action was at Bentonville, N. C, 
March 19 to 21, 1865, and his discharge 
took place at Washington, D. C, May 31, 
1S65. 

August 14, 1S51, Mr. Dow married 
Lecena Porter, and to this union have been 
born thirteen children, viz. — Christiana 
J., Martha E., Thomas F., Charles H., 
Pressa M., Sarah M. (deceased), William 
S., Saletha A., Mary E., David B., Lorena 
A., Lily L., and Annie M. (deceased). 
Mr. Dow is a consistent member of the 
Methodist church; he is a member of 
Owen Lodge, 263, A. F. and A. M., Owen 
county, Ind., and of the G. A. R. 



JAMES THOMAS was born June 18, 
1815, and is a son of Micliard and 
Barbara (Shedron) Thomas, the for- 
mer of whom, a wagon-maker by 
trade, was born and reared in Adams 
county. Pa., but emigrated to Stark 
county, Ohio, when a young man. where 
he lived until he died. There were nine 
children in the family, of whom James, 
the subject of this sketch, was the sixth. 
He was cast out among strangers, when a 
small boy, to make his way through the 



world. At the age of eighteen he began 
an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and 
afterwards folio wed mill-wi-icrhting. Wages 
in those days, even for skilled mechanics, 
were small in comparison with what they 
are now. After he had learned his trade 
he worked a long time as a journeyman 
receiving but $10.00 per month, and 
never received to exceed $1.2.5 per day. 
In 1840 he moved to Williams count}', 
Ohio, where he found employment as a 
mill-wright. He would work all day, 
then walk two miles to his home and 
work until a late hour at night clearing 
ground to raise his crop. He emigrated 
to Buffalo county, Nebr., in the spring of 
1873 and settled on a homestead in Thorn- 
ton township, where he built a small sod 
house and began to break prairie for his 
crop. He went to Gibbon on an errand 
one day soon after his arrival in the new 
country, and on his return home his team 
drowned while attempting to cross Wood 
river. The bridge gave wa\% the water 
being so high at the time. This was 
indeed a sad misfortune to him,for the loss 
of a team at that time meant a good deal. 
There was no settlement at all in the 
vicinity where he lived and wild game 
was plenty all about him. He has seen as 
many as five hundred elk in a drove along 
the Loup river and has killed many a one. 
He has hauled fuel for twenty miles and 
was a sufferer on account of the grass- 
hopper raids in 1874 and 1876, and thinks 
the chintz bugs were brought to this 
country by the grasshoppers. He has 
always had great faith in the future 
development of this country and its bright 
future when he first settled here. His 
wife was a daughter of Daniel Strong a 
native of Connecticut. He emigrated to 



436 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Ohio and later to De Kalb county, Ind., 
where he was struck by a falling tree sev- 
eral years afterwards and killed. Mrs. 
Thomas now resides with her son, Sheldon 
B., who is an honest hardworking young 
man. 



JS. HARRINGTON, 'merchant and 
real estate dealer of Kearney, Buf- 
falo county, is an old settler and prom- 
inent business man of his locality. 
He settled in Buffalo county in 1872, and 
has resided in that county and the city of 
Kearney since, and during all those j'ears 
has been actively identified with the best 
interests of his adopted home and com- 
munity. Mr. Harrington is a native of 
Vermont, having been born at Hyde Park, 
in the " Green Mountain " State, March 
26, 1842. He comes of New England 
parentage, his father and mother both 
being Vermonters also by birth. His 
fatiier, Elisha Harrington, was born and 
reared in Middlesex, Vt., and passed all 
his years in his native place, being an in- 
dusti'ious, useful and highly respected 
farmer. His mother, Hannah Wisnall, 
also lived and died there. 

The subject of this sketch is the second 
of three children born to his parents. He 
was reared in his native place, and re- 
ceived a good common-scliool education 
in the schools of Hyde Park, finishing with 
a course of three terms at the Morrisville 
academy, at Morrisville, Vt. In May, 
1861, at the age of nineteen, he entered 
the Union army, enlisting in Company E, 
Tliird Vermont infantry. He belonged to 
one of the "Tliree Hundred Fighting 
Regiments" of tlie Union armv and saw 



much service in the field. His regiment 
left the state in the fall of 1861 and moved 
at once to the front. On April 16, 1862, 
occurred the remarkable action at Lee's 
Mills, on the Warwick river, one of the 
defenses of Yorktown. Four companies 
of the Third— D, E, F and K— forded the 
stream in the face of the enemy, with a 
view of making a reconnoissance in force. 
Through mismanagement and lack of sup- 
port they were driven back, with a loss of 
eighty-nine killed and wounded out of the 
one hundred and ninety-two oflBcers and 
men that crossed. The detachment was 
ably commanded by Capt. Samuel E. 
Pingree, who was wounded twice during 
the fight. 

The regiment crossed the Rapidan May 
4, 1864, with about six hundred effectives, 
under command of Colonel Seaver. On 
the following day, in the battle of the 
Wilderness, it lost thirty -eight killed, one 
hundred and sixty-seven wounded, and 
six missing; total, two hundred and 
eleven. At Spottsylvania it lost twenty- 
one killed and fifty-three wounded. At 
Cold Harbor the gallant Seaver, who com- 
manded the regiment at Marye's Heights, 
and in most all its battles, again led them 
in a blood}' assault, and, though there were 
less than three hundred in line there, the 
casualties were fourteen killed, fifty-three 
wounded and five missing. On July 16, 
1864, the remnant of the regiment was 
mustered out, the recruits and re-enlisted 
men having been consolidated into a bat- 
talion of six companies, which remained iu 
the field. The regiment participated in 
eighteen of the leading battles of the war, 
and was present also at ten otiier i)rincipal 
engae'ements. Out of an enlistment of 
seventeen hundred anil fortv-eioht it lost 




J. S. HARRINGTON. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



•130 



six hundred and seventy-nine in killed and 
wounded. 

At the battle of the Wilderness Mr. 
Harrington received a severe wound and 
being disabled from active service in the 
field was place on hospital duty at Mont- 
])elier, A^t., and continued there until peace 
was declared. At the close of the war he, 
purchasing a farm near Montpelier, set- 
tled down to the peaceful pursuit of agri- 
culture. In 1869 he decided to immigrate 
West and at that date moved to Iowa and 
settled in tjie town of Red Oak, where he 
was alternately engaged in farming, 
butchering and merchandising. In 1872 
he moved to Nebraska and settled in 
Buffalo county, taking a homestead of 160 
acres seven miles northeast of Kearney. 
Remaining there one year he moved into 
Kearney and began to invest in real estate. 
Recently, in 1887, he opened a mercantile 
establishment in Kearney, since which time 
his interests have been real estate and 
merchandising combined. He is known to 
be one of the heaviest investors in real 
estate in the city of Kearney, and has 
probably erected more buildings than an}^ 
other one man in the city. lie has been 
activel}' identified witli man\' of the lead- 
ing enterprises that have sought favor in 
his community, and he has given liberally 
of his means towards their support and 
encouragement. lie is a man who believes 
in growth and development, and he has 
attested his faith by his acts. His career 
has been that of a business man strictly, 
and he is an indefatigable worker. He 
has never aspired to any public position ; 
and with the exception of the position of 
city councilman, he has never held any 
public office. 

Mr. Harrington married in 1866, the 



lady whom he selected to share fortunes 
being Miss Sarah A. Eastman, a native of 
New Hampshire, and like himself a 
descendant of old New England stock; 
Four children have been born to this 
union — Francis L., a leading hardware 
merchant of Kearney ; Clarence Eugene, 
a merchant at Stanley, Buffalo county ; 
Wilbur J., clerk in his father's store, and 
Elmer E. 

In politics Mr. Harrington is independ- 
ent, reservino: the right to vote for men 
and measures according to their merits. 



JAMES GASS first saw the light of 
day in New Brunswick, Canada, 
January 25, 1855, and is the son of 
Jose]ih and Isabella (Hannah) Gass, 
both of whom were born in Scotland, were 
married in Scotland, and came to America 
in 1850. They came to Nebraska in 1873 
and were among the first settlers in 
Thornton township, Buffalo count3^ 
James Gass was twenty-three years old 
when he took up a claim in Thornton 
township. The countrv was very new 
and wild game was plenty, especially 
antelope, elk and deer, and he has seen a 
few wild horses and hundreds of Indians 
since his residence here. The settlers in 
those days were few and far between and 
the prairie was bare, except in the draws. 
As civilization advanced rain began to fall 
more evenly and the soil retained mois- 
ture better as it began to be cultivated. 
The climate has changed materially and 
grass grows much more profusely now 
tlian it did several years ago. During the 
grasshopper raid Mr. Gass did not leave, 



440 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



as many others did, but concluded to stay 
as long as he could succeed in getting- 
enough to eat. He made up liis mind 
that he could stay on the money it would 
require to get awa}' on. The first election 
young Gass attended in this county was 
at Buda, in the fall of 1876. There were 
no township organizations then — only pre- 
cincts. There were only a few voters, and 
a few came the day before and camped 
out over night. They had too far to come 
to make the trip in one day. He herded 
cattle a gi'eat deal in an early day in the 
summer, and hunted in the autumn and 
trapped beaver in the winter. His terri- 
tory extended along the South Loup 
and Dismal for over one hundred miles 
northwest. He has been out all alone 
from August until November, and would 
only see two or three men in that time. 
He is the first son of a familv of nine chil- 
dren, the others being Rachel, Jane, Mary, 
Nicholas, Thomas, Joseph, Hannah and 
Nettie. He has one hundred and sixty 
acres of land under a fair state of cultiva- 
tion and lie has always succeeded in rais- 
ing good crops excepting two seasons. 



OSCAE F. HAMILTOIJ was born 
in Portage county, Ohio, June 
8, 1845, and is the son of An- 
drew and Eliza (Mott) Hamilton, both of 
whom were natives of Pennsylvania. His 
father was an iron woi'ker and worked 
in the rolling mills at Youngstown, Ohio. 
When the rebellion threateneil tiie life 
of the country he immediately enlisted 
and served through the war. His mother 
was a daughter of Elijah Mott, who was 



the first settler in Deerfiekl township, 
Portage county, Ohio. He died about 
1842. 

Oscar F. Hamilton was but a bo}' when 
he enlisted, October 15, 1861, in the 
Tenth Ohio cavalry. He participated in 
the battles of Stone river, Chickamauga 
and Resaca, and followed Sherman to the 
sea and back through the Carolinas to the 
surrender at Greensboro, N. C. He was 
mustered out July 4, 1865, but re-enlisted 
in the regular army in the spring of 1866 
and walked from Leavenworth, Kans., via 
Ft. Kearney, to Montana. He helped 
establish Ft. Reno, Ft. Phil Kearne}^ and 
Ft. C. F. Smith. During his service in 
the regular army he experienced several 
thrilling episodes while on the western 
frontier. He relates one incident espe- 
cially worthy of note, which happened 
near Ft. Phil Kearney in Montana. It 
was on the ninth of September, 1866, when 
about four hundred regulars were en- 
camped in Ft. Phil Kearney. Young 
Hamilton, with a party of soldiers, was 
sent to the timber about nine miles dis- 
tant to cut logs to be used in completing 
the fort. The fii'st thing tlie3' did was to 
erect a small log shanty in which they 
could lodge during the night. They knew, 
of course, that there were Indians in the 
country, but they did not suspect that 
they were in any immediate danger 
of being molested by them. However, 
they took the precaution of carefully 
stopping ever}'^ hole about the walls of 
their cabin, in order that no light from 
the fire within might penetrate the dark- 
ness without and disclose their where- 
abouts to outside intruders. One even- 
ing, just after they had retired for the 
night, they were suddenly startled by a 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



■141 



shot from without. Although one of the 
boys had been severely wounded in the 
heel, he did not make the fact known to 
his comrades, but they at once suspected 
tJKit their cabin was surrounded by the 
I'ed skins. A kettle of water was daslied 
on the tire by one of the boys, wliile the 
others grabbed their guns and stationed 
themselves at the four port holes. Noth- 
ing could be seen until the Indians began 
to shoot lighted arrows of pine-pitch in 
order to set fire to the shanty. Whenever 
an Indian would shoot, thereby disclosing 
his location, the boys inside tiie shanty 
would shoot in that direction. The Indians 
were unsuccessful in their attempts to set 
fire to the shanty, but the firing was kept 
up between them for some time. 

When morning came Mr. Hamilton and 
a comrade volunteered to go out for water, 
which they had been in the habit of get- 
ting from a small creek near by. Wiien 
thev emerged from the shanty no Indians 
were in sight, so they proceeded to procure 
their kettle of water, while the few 
soldiers engaged in hauling the logs to 
the fort arrived, and while the awful experi- 
ence of the night before was being dis- 
cussed by the small group standing about 
the cabin, about sxxiy Indians emerged 
from a thicket near by and killed and 
scalped two soldiers who had just com- 
menced to cut down a tree within a few 
yards of the shanty. Before the soldiers 
could recover from their surprise, the wily 
Indians had disapjieared in the woods. It 
was supposed that they concealed them- 
selves in the bushes the previous night and 
were awaiting a favorable opportunity to 
commit their murderous acts. 

Oscar F. Hamilton left tiie regular 
army, March 3, 18G0, and was married 



July 17, 1870, at Three Oaks, Mich., to 
Charlotte Smith. She was born in Por- 
tage county, Ohio, June 2, 1841, and the 
daughter of Noah and Rebecca Smith, 
both of whom were natives of Ohio. 
This union was blessed by the birth of 
three children — Nettie (decea^d), Frank 
(deceased), and Ella. 

Mr. Hamilton came to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., October 3, 1873, and took up a 
homestead adjoining the present town of 
Armada. He was one of the first to settle 
in that locality and has been identified 
with every step of the wonderful progress 
made since. He laid out the present town 
of Armada and is doing as much as any 
other one man in furthering the growth 
and development of the town. He has 
been justice of the peace for several 
3'ears and served as postmaster of Armada 
during Cleveland's administration. 



JAMES K. SMITH was born in Co- 
shocton county, Ohio, August 26, 
1812, and is the son of Eli and Cathe- 
rine (Hastings) Smith, both of whom 
were Pennsylvanians by birth. 

Eli Smith came to Ohio with his parents 
when a lad, and remained with them until 
he was married. In 1850 he moved to 
McDonald county, 111., wiiere he died in 
1878. He was a farmer and a highly re- 
spected and infiuential man in the com- 
munity where he lived. He was a justice 
of the peace for several years, and he and 
his faithful wife were members of the 
Methodist church. 

James K. Smith was only nineteen years 
of age when he joined a company of Illinois 



443 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



volunteers in August, 1861. He was a gal- 
lant young soldier, and faced the enemy at 
the battles at Fort Donelson, Fort Henry 
and Pittsburg Landing. He was wounded 
five times in the last named battle, and 
Avas taken to the hospital at Savannah, 
and from «there to Marietta, Ohio, and 
thence to St. Louis, where he received 
his discharge November 1, 1863. After 
he had sufficiently recovered from the 
effects of his wounds he spent two years 
in school at Prairie City, HI. He then 
engaged in the marble business for four 
years, during which he had remarkable 
success. In 1869 he located at West 
Liberty, Iowa, and engaged in raising 
Osage orange for hedges. He planted and 
cultivated the first nursery in the state. 
A fter successf ulh' prosecuting this business 
for four years he retired, and engaged in 
farming for several years. He conducted 
a hotel at Tipton, Iowa, for three years, 
and in the spring of 1885 he came to 
Buffalo count3\ Nebr., and took a soldier's 
claim in the Wild Horse valley. He moved 
to Armada, Nebr., in the fall of 1S8S. and 
erected a hotel, which he is now conduct- 
ing with splendid success. 

He was married, March 18, 1869, to 
Sarah Dickerson, of West Liberty, Iowa. 
They had four children — Linie L., Annie, 
Willie and Clara. She was born in Ohio 
and died in 1878. 

He was next married. May 7, 1882, to 
Mary A. Linn. She was born in Iowa 
May 7, 1853. Her father was born in 
Tennessee and her mother in South Caro- 
lina. Her grandparents on both sides 
were large slave owners, and had large 
plantations in the South. 

Mr. Smith is a member of the Masons, 
Odd Fellows and of the G. A. K. 



BPtlNTON F. HAEBAUGH was 
born in Hamilton county. Ind., 
March 28, 1854, and is the son 
of Samuel and Amelia (Seaman) Har- 
baugh. His father was born in Kentucky 
in 1808, but was reared in Ohio. In 1S33 
he moved to Indiana and in 1875 came to 
Nebraska. He was a wagon-maker by 
trade and was a soldier in the Black Hawk 
war. He has several times been elected 
justice of the peace and is a respected 
member of the Christian church. 

B. F. Ilarbauffh leai'ned the wagon- 
maker's trade with his father, while a res- 
ident of Indiana. Being an industrious 
young man he concluded to accei)t the 
advice of that revered journalist, Horace 
Greeley, and go West. The spring of 1873 
found him in Kearney, then a mere hamlet 
on the frontier. He followed the Wood 
river as far west as the present vilhge of 
Armada, where he filed a soldier's declar- 
ator}' claim to a quarter section for his 
brother and held it down for six months, 
when he purchased it for himself. He 
built a sod house and survived the grass- 
hopper raid, but witnessed great suffering 
among settlers in those dark daj's. There 
were few ways of earning mone\' then and 
many had to resort to hunting and trap- 
ping to gain a livelihood. 

In 1885 he moved to Armada and 
engaged in the implement business, which 
he continued for about three 3'ears. Mr. 
Ilarbaugh is now justice of the peace for 
Armada township, and has held various 
other local offices. He is a young man 
of excellent habits and of exceptional 
ability, and has a bright future before him. 
He manifests a deep interest in the rapiil 
development of Armada and the surround- 
ing countrv, and is confident that at no 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



443 



distant day the success of tlie town will 
be assured. lie was married November 
1, 1882, to Miss Judy Burt. Tiiey have 
two children — Georgia, born August 17, 
1S83, and Annie, born November 21, 1884. 
Mrs. Harbaugli was born June 1 5, ISGl, 
and is the daughter of Arthur F. and 
Elizabeth (Campbell) Burt. 



JAMES M. FRANTZ was born at 
New Lexington. Perry county, Ohio, 
Februarv 21. 1835, and is the son of 
William and Nancy (Rush) Frantz. 
His father was born in Somerset county. 
Pa., April 8, 1808. At the age of twenty 
he moved to Perry county, Ohio, where he 
met and married Miss Nanc^y Rush three 
j'ears later. William Frantz was a farmer 
by occupation and lived in Perry county 
until 1807, wiien he removed to Warren 
county. 111., where he died in 1867. His 
wife died in 1875. 

The paternal grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch was John Frantz, who was 
a Penns\'lvanian by birth, and Samuel 
Rush, the maternal grandparent, was a 
native of Pennsylvania, and a captain in 
the war of 1812. 

James M. Frantz was the eldest of a 
family of nine childi'en, and at twenty-one 
went to Warren county. 111., where he fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits for a few 
years. He also spent several years in 
various mercantile pursuits. In 1873, he 
emigrated to Kearney, Nebr., and en- 
gaged in the drug business. The present 
lively young city of Kearney was then a 
mere frontier hamlet with only two or 



three hundred inhabitants. During the 
terrible blizzard on April 8. 1873, Mr. 
Frantz was there keeping a drug store and 
living in the upper story. The storm 
raged so fiercely that he did not come 
down stairs to open his store for three 
days. There were several car loads of 
cattle and hogs snow bound on the side 
tracks that actually perished. After the 
storm had passed over, the cars were 
emptied, and the dead stock hauled some 
distance south of town, where a good por- 
tion was consumed by a band of Pawnee 
Indians. During Mr. Frantz's residence 
in Kearney, he purchased and shipped 
fiftv car loads of buffalo bones. A great 
many settlers, for want of other emplo}'- 
ment, would gather buffalo bones from the 
prairie and market them to get money to 
supply themselves with the necessaries of 
life. He witnessed the trouble with the 
drunken cowboys in Kearney, in 1874, and 
saw two of them shot on their horses by 
village officials. 

James M. Frantz was married, Januar}- 
31, 1861, to Miss Mary A. Campbell. The 
five children born of this union are named 
Canzada, Mina, Areta, Harry and Charlie. 

Mrs. Frantz was born in Fayette county, 
Pa., June 28, 1842, and is the daughter 
of James M. and Jane N. (Smiler) Camp- 
bell, both of whom were natives of Penn- 
sylvania. They emigrated to Illinois in 
1853, and engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. Her mother died in 1875 and her 
father in 188i). Mr. Frantz is now in the 
di-ug business in the flourishing little town 
of Armada, Nebr., and is meeting with 
splendid success. He is a prominent 
member of the masonic fraternity, and 
both he and his estimable wife belons: to 
the Christian church. 



444 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



JOHN" MAHON was born in Dela- 
ware county, N. Y., October 5, 1824. 
His father, Paul Mahon, was born 
in Ireland and came to America in 
1798. He was well educated and taught 
school in New York State for several 
years. He married Miss Lyda Moore, 
daughter of Col. John Moore, who served 
with distinction in the Revolutionary war. 
Soon after marriage they emigrated to 
Penns^'lvania, where they resided during 
the remainde»of their lives. 

John Mahon was the fourth of a family 
of nine children. He left home when a 
lad ten years old, and has never seen his 
parents since. He went to New York 
and lived with an aunt until he was old 
enough to learn a trade, and then served 
an apprenticeship as a machinist at Troy, 
N. Y., and soon afterwards accepted a po- 
sition in the United States arsenal at 
Springfield, Mass. He was in Washing- 
ton, D. C, during the Polk administra- 
tion, where he was connected with the 
Adams & Shoemaker Express Company'. 
In 1846, he enlisted, at Brooklyn, N. Y., 
in the navy department and served on 
board the Trenton in the Mexican war. 
In 1848 he returned to New York, and 
soon sailed for California on the steamer 
Fremont. While in California he was en- 
gaged in mining and various enterprises. 
During his stay in the West he made sev- 
eral trips to Panama and various other 
places of note. He also spent several 
years in the Mare Island navy yard, now 
one of the largest in the United States. 
During his several years' residence in Cali- 
fornia, he became intimately acquainted 
witli many of the most prominent public 
men in that state. He was a special 
friend of Senator Broderick, who was 



killed by Judge Terry, and knew the 
latter very well, but disliked him very 
much. In 1869, he visited Pennsylvania, 
where he met and married Miss Harriet 
liilgore. She was a daughter of W. H. 
and Lyda Kilgore, the former a native of 
New Jersey, the latter of Pennsylvania. 
Soon after marriage Mr. Mahon went 
to Idaho, where he worked at his trade 
for about a year. He came to Buffalo 
county, Nebr., in October, 1871, and was 
the first settler on the site where now 
stands the magnificent city of Kearney. 
He built the first house and lielped to lay 
out the town site. He had charge of the 
real estate in the town belonging to tlie 



Pt. R. 



com- 



Union Pacific and B. & M. 
panics', for about two years. 

In the spring of 1875 he assisted in the 
survey of the Fort Kearney I'eservation 
and then took a claim on which he resided 
for about four years. He tiien moved to 
Custer countj^, where he was engaged in 
stock-raising for about ten years. He 
next purchased a farm near Armada in 
June, 1889, and is now living on it. 

Mr. Maiion had a varied and interestino- 

O 

experience duiing his early settlement in 
this county. He was one of its earliest 
settlers and knows something about pio- 
neer life in a new country. He has seen 
the time when buffalo were plenty in this 
county and has eaten some of the meat of 
a buffalo killed on the ground whei'e 
Kearney now stands. He has watched 
with a keen eye the wonderful develop- 
ment of this counti'3', and the rapid pro- 
gress made has far exceeded his most 
sanguine expectations ; but he believed 
from the start that there was a bright 
future in store for this rich and unde- 
veloped vallej' of the Platte. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



445 



Mr. and Mrs. Million liave but one 
cliild — Willie, born in Kearney, July 23, 
187*"). Mr. Mahon is a member of the 
Masonic and K. of P. fraternities and is 
also a member of the Pioneer Association 
of California. He is an ardent believer 
in temperance, and during his varied ex- 
perience in life he has never tasted a drop 
of intoxicating liquor. lie is no politician, 
but has always voted the republican ticket, 
lie stands high socially and morally and 
enjo^'s the confidence and respect of all 
bis associates. 



HENEY C. GREEN, one of the 
highly prosperous and influen- 
tial farmers near Armada,Nebr., 
was born in the county of Kent, in Dela- 
ware, February 22, 18-42, and is the son of 
James P. and Hester (Conley) Green, 
both of whom are natives of Delaware. 
His father was a farmer and a member of 
the Ba])tist chui-ch. He was born in 1804 
and died in 1855. Mrs. Hester Green was 
a member of the Methodist church and 
died in 1849. 

Henry C. Green had onlv such educa- 
tional advantages as were afforded by the 
common schools of the day, and his oppor- 
tunities even then were not the best. 
When he was but fourteen years old he 
lost his father, and after that sad event 
he went to live with a neifrhboring cren- 
tleman. He enlisted at the age of nine- 
teen in the First regiment of Delaware 
infantry, and rendered honorable service in 
the late war. He participated in the engage- 
ments at Antietam, Fredericksburg and 
ChancellorsviUe; was severely wounded 



in the left leg at the last named battle 
and was removed to the hospital at Poto- 
mac creek, where he remained until June 
14, 1868, when he was transferred to 
Washington, where he remained until the 
war closed. He was confined to his bed 
for twenty-seven months and was unable 
to walk for some time after his discharge — 
January 1, 1865 — and so remained in Wash- 
ington until he had sufficiently recovered 
to be able to travel. He was there when 
President Lincoln was assassinated and 
witnessed the grand review after the war 
closed. 

He returned home and attended school 
at Wilmington, Del., for two years, and 
then entered Crittenden's Commercial Col- 
lege in Philadelphia. In the fall of 1868 
he embarked in mercantile business in 
Wyoming, Del., and in February, 1871, 
came to Buffalo county, Nebr. fie took a 
soldier's homestead near Gibbon, where he 
remained a little more than two years, 
after which he spent about two years on 
the Fort Kearney reservation. In 1876 
he conducted a large cattle ranch near 
Burr Oak, on the Loup river, and was at 
this business for about four years, when he 
purchased land in the Wood River valley 
and went to farming. He now owns sev- 
eral tracts of valuable land and is one of 
the most successful farmers in the county. 



DARIUS B. JONES, ex-commis- 
sioner of Buffalo count}', was born 
in Chautauqua county, N. Y., Au- 
gust 9, 1834. 

His father. Miles Jones, was a native of 
Massachusetts and settled in Illinois, in 
1859, where he died in 1881. His 



440 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



mother, who bore the maiden name of 
Pamelia, K. Turner, was born in Canada, 
and died in 1879. 

At the age of eighteen young Jones 
concluded to learn the blacksmith trade 
and accordingly went to Canada, when he 
served an apprenticeship. In 1856 he 
went to Kansas and joined an emigrant 
company, under the direction of the Mas- 
sachusetts Aid Society. It was during the 
great excitement concerning the exten- 
sion of slavery into Kansas, and when 
John Brown and Jim Lane were popular 
leaders of the anti-slavery movement. He 
knew both of these men and for a time 
shared in the kicks and cuffs received by 
these heroes. He spent several years on 
this battle-ground, during which he re- 
ceived his share of the hardships inflicted 
by the Kansas raiders. In 1862 he went 
to Illinois,where he remained for ten years ; 
during which time he was engaged in the 
mercantile business at Elmwood. His 
next move was to Iowa, where he spent five 
years as a merchant at Emerson, Mills 
county. In 1879 he moved to Buffalo 
count}', Nebr., and took a homesteatl in 
Armada township. He has .since pur- 
chased considerable additional land and 
now has four hundred and forty acres. 
He like many others had to hustle when he 
first came here, and has hauled cedar posts 
for one hundred and thirty miles to market 
and there would receive small pay for his 
labor ; but it was the only way there was 
of making money in the winter time. 

He was married November 29, 1857, to 
Margaret B. Cowan, who was born in 
Canada, in 1832, and is the daughter of 
Hugh and Mary Cowan. This union has 
been blessed with fourteen children — Mary 
P., John A., Laurence P., Ella, Hettie, Ar- 



thur, Annie, Effie, Willie, Alice, Fred, 
Addie, Flora and Frank ( deceased ). 

Mr. Jones has served one term as county 
commissioner, having been elected in the 
fall of 1882. He is a republican and quite 
prominent in the councils of the party in 
the count}'. He is a Mason and Odd Fel- 
low, and one of the well-known and ])op- 
ular men of Buffalo county. 



AL. AEMSTRONG is one of the 
first settlers of Armada pre- 
cinct, Buffalo county. He is a 
native of Genesee county, N. Y., and was 
born Nov. 5, 1831. 

His father, Aden Armstrong, was a 
Canadian by birth, but emigrated to New 
York in an early dq,y, where he met and 
afterwards married Lydia Aldrich. In 
1833 the senior Armstrong moved to 
Michigan, and located in McComb county. 
He was one of the first settlers in that 
county and was for many years one of 
its most prominent citizens. He held 
various local offices and was active and 
influential in the political affairs of the 
county. He died in 1854. 

Aden L. Armstrong, the subject of this 
sketch, was one of twelve children, and, 
being reared in a new country, did not 
enjoy the common school privileges 
accorded the youth of to-day. At the 
age of eighteen he began serving an 
apprenticeship at the carpenter trade, and 
worked about ten years in McComb 
county, Mich., at his trade after learning 
it. He then moved to Kalamazoo county, 
and engaged in farming for a few years. 
When the war broke out, Mr. Armstrong 



BUFFALO COUNTY . 



447 



tlirew ill! his influence on the side of the 
Union and in April, 1SG2, was commis- 
sioned b\' tlie governor of Michigan as a 
recruiting officer. lie traveled over the 
state and used every means in his power 
to induce men to enlist and save the 
Union. August 15, 1864, Mr. Armstrong 
enlisted in the New Third regiment Michi- 
gan infantry, was promoted to duty ser- 
geant before leaving the state and saw con- 
siderable active service until the war closed- 
He participated in the engagements at 
Decatur, Ala., and Franklin and Nash- 
ville, Tenn. He was taken sick at Jones- 
borough Tenn., and sent to the hospital 
at Nashville, where he remained two 
months, and was mustered out July 15, 
1865. He liad served as orderly from 
November, 1864, until he was mustered 
out. 

In 1869 he went to Mills county, Iowa, 
and worked at his trade about four years, 
and in the spring of 1873 came to Buffalo 
county, Nebr., locating, as above stated, 
in Armada precinct. He selected his 
homestead on the banks of Wood river 
and was one of the first to settle in that 
fertile valley. The country was of course 
new and wikl and neighbors were few and 
far between. 

Mr. Armstrong was married Feb. 19, 
1853, to Miss Amelia Ilice, a native of 
Connecticut, born Feb. 19, 1833. To this 
union were born seven children, as fol- 
lows — Elias (deceased), Elmer (deceased), 
Eose, Lenettie, Stella T., Comer C. and 
Earnest. Mrs. Armstrong died Feb. 11, 
1883, and Mr. Armstrong manned for his 
second wife, June 6, 1883, Miss Mai-y E. 
White, who was born in Illinois in 1861. 

Mr. Armstrong caused to be established 
the Armada postofiice in 1876 and was 



appointed postmaster. lie was located 
then about three miles east of the present 
village of Armada. In order to get the 
office established, Mr. Armstrong paid for 
carrying the mails from Kearney once a 
week for si.K months out of his own pocket. 
He has held various local offices and has 
always affiliated with the republican 
party. He is a member of the Masonic, 
G. A. R. and Good Templar fraternities, 
and is an ardent temperance man, not 
having tasted a drop of liquor in his life, 
and has always been actively identified 
with temperance movements. He has 
320 acres of land located in the Wood 
River valley, 200 of ivhich are under agood 
state of cultivation. 



A 



NDREW J. FREEZE, one of the 
most prosperous farmers and real 
estate men in Euffalo county, 
Nebr., was born in Union county, Ohio, 
July 25, 1839, and when about eleven 
years of age was taken by his parents to 
Piatt count}', 111., where he grew to man- 
hood, and wiiere, in 1858, he married Miss 
Jane, daughter of Jonathan Carne, of 
Illinois, and of English descent. The 
father of Andrew J. Freeze was a native 
of Virginia, and was by profession a law- 
yer. He married Barbara Cubbage, of 
the same state, and to their union were 
born eight chililren, of whom the subject 
of these lines is the third. When first 
married Mr. Freeze and his wife Barbai'a 
traveled from Virginia to Ohio on foot, 
but eventually reached Nebraska, in which 
state Mr. Freeze died, near Red Cloud, at 
the age of seventy-four years. Jonathan 



448 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Canie, the father of Mrs. Jane Freeze, 
died in Illinois in 1886. To the union of 
Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Freeze have been born 
seven cliildren, viz.: William II., Mary 
E., OUie, Noah, Earl E., Horace and Min- 
nie. 

August 12, 1862, Andrew J. Freeze en- 
listed in Company I, One Hundred and 
Seventh Illinois infantry, under Col. 
Thos. Snell, and was assigned to the Army 
of the Cumberland. Among other battles 
in which he took part were those of Knox- 
ville, Mossy creek, Bean station, Salina 
and Greenville, Tenn.; he also was in an 
encounter with John Morgan at Eliza- 
bethtown, Ky., and after twelve months' 
service in the infantry was transferred to 
a batterv in the First Chicago light artil- 
lery, in which he served until the close of 
the war, when he returned to his old home 
in Illinois. There he remained until 1879; 
then made his home in Eoone county, 
Iowa, until 1885, in March of which year 
he came to Nebraska and settled in 
Buffalo county, his present home. He 
bought the east half of section 3, town- 
ship 9, range 15, two hundred and eighty 
acres of which were broken and improved 
■with a fair dwelling; this dwelling he 
re-modled and now has a fine residence 
and also has the entire half section under 
cultivation and improved with commodi- 
ous granaries and other out-buildings. He 
devoted the first three years of his resi- 
dence here to the farm, raising mixed 
crops and live stock — chiefly hogs. He 
then entrusted the farm to the manage- 
ment of his four sons, and turned his 
attention to real estate, of which he has 
bought and sold largely in Kearney, 
and still holds large interests in that 
city. Mr. Freeze is a self-made man, 



having received a somewhat meager edu- 
cation in his youthful days ; but he is 
naturally shrewd and has availed himself 
of every opportunity for self-improvement 
— watching his business interests with a 
keen eye and alwa3's holding himself 
ready for a bargain. His standing in the 
community is very high and he enjoys to 
the full extent the respect and esteem of 
his neighbors. 



JOHN NASH. To be considered an 
old settler anywhere in central 
Nebraska does not necessarily impl}'^ 
that one is an old man. There are 
numbers of men to be found scattered 
over the territory covered by this volume, 
who are now only in middle life, but who 
nevertheless have seen this country when 
it was in the undisturbed possession of the 
Indians. Buffalo county, for instance, 
which contributes a large share of the 
sketches composing this work, began to 
be settled earl}' in the "Seventies." With 
but ver}' few exceptions does the residence 
of even the oldest settlers of this county 
extend back of 1870 — or even aj'ear later, 
1871 — at which time the settlement of 
the county began in real earnest. One of 
the citizens of this county, not yet an old 
man by any means, but still a man justh' 
entitled to be called an old settler, is John 
Nash, of Gibbon township. Mr. Nash settled 
in Buffalo county in the spring of 1877. He 
took a homestead at that date in the old 
Fort Kearney military reservation, filing 
on the southwest quarter of section 4, 
township 9, range 13 west, lying between 
the south and main channels of the Platte 
river on Elm Island. There he located, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



449 



and lived for two years, at the end of 
which time he sold out, and, being tlien 
unmarried, struck for the Northwest. lie 
went to Oregon, but remained there only 
about a year, returning to Buffalo county 
and purchasing a farm near his former 
one, and again settled. Shortly after- 
wards he married, and, selling out again in 
1882, went to Texas, settling in Callahan 
county, but not liking it there came back 
to Nebraska and located in Buffalo county, 
in the vicinity of his former place of resi- 
dence, since which time he has continued 
to reside there. Mr. Nash is a farmer, 
and has been steadily engaged at the 
buisness since he came to the state, except 
during wliat might be called his tempo- 
rary absence as noted above. He is an 
honest, hardworking, economical man. 
He came to the county with no means, 
and began the struggle for existence as a 
common laborer. His ways have not been 
ways of pleasantness, nor have all his 
paths been paths of peace. He has had 
his share of difficulties to contend with, 
and he has had to meet them alone, never 
having had a dollar in his life that he had 
not made himself. Friends he has not been 
witliout, but from tliese he has received 
only the coin of friendship, "esteem." 
He has relatives, but they have never 
been able to help him, beyond extending 
their sympathy and kindly encouragement. 
He has made his waj^ alone, and the fact 
that he has done it as well as he has, 
although he has neVer attained any great 
degree of success, ought to be a matter of 
pride and pleasure to himself as it is a 
matter of remark by those who know him. 
Mr. Nash was born in Ora township, 
Ontario province, Canada, and is of Eng- 
lish and Scotch stock. His fatiier, John 



Nash, was born in Somersetshire, Eng- 
land, and came across and settled in Can- 
ada when a 3'oung man. He there mar- 
ried, and, some years after, moved to the 
United States, settling in Michigan, where 
he died m July, 1S81, at the age of 
seventy-nine. He was a farmer, a ]ilain, 
unpretentious man. Coming of sturdy 
English ancestry, and trained to the 
steady-going, easy habits of his country- 
men, he led the life of the plodding, well- 
to-do Englishanan, working hard, living 
well, and dying comparatively poor. 

Mr. Nash's mother, who, before mar- 
riage, bore the maiden name of Christina 
McCallum, was a daughter of Peter Mc- 
Callum, and was born in Glasgow, Scot- 
land. She was a child when her parents 
emigrated to Canada and settled in 
Ontario province. There she was reared 
and there married. She died in her native 
place in 1876, in middle life. 

These, John and Christina Nash, were 
the parents of sixteen children, ten of 
whom reached maturity, and eight of 
whom are now living. The ten who 
became grown were — Peter, Elizabeth, 
Mary, Marion, Maggie, John, Tiiomas, 
Christina, Duniel and Mary Ann. Two 
of these, besides the subject of this 
sketch, were among the early settlers of 
Adams county, both since having moved 
on west. These were Peter and Daniel. 

Mr. Nash had just turned into his 
twent^'-first j'ear when he came to 
Nebraska, having been born in 1856. He 
married in 1881, July 25, the lady of his 
choice being Miss Emma Belle jNIcKiuley. 
Mrs. Nash's parents were among the first 
settlers of the county, coming in April, 
1871, with tlie soldiers' colony. Her 
father, Jeremiah McKinley, was born in 



450 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Milc.sburg, (Jeiitre county, Pa., in August, 
1837, was reared there, and lived there 
till coming to Nebraska, excepting the 
time that he was in the army. He 
enlisted in the Union service in August, 
1862, entering as a private in Company 
F, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Penn- 
S3'lvania infantry. He served in Virginia, 
and was in all the principal engagements 
up to Gettysburg, at which place he was 
wounded by a gunshot through the lungs, 
and compelled to retire from the service 
in consequence. He never regained his 
health afterwards, and finally' died in 
November, 1872, from the effects of his 
wound. Mrs. Nash's mother, who still 
remains as one of the original colonists, 
is also a native of Centre county, Pa., 
having been born there in March, 1835. 
She, too, -was reared there, and there 
married in the fall of 1857. She is the 
mother of two children — Emma Belle, 
just mentioned, and Alma Catherine, wife 
of Hector Bookey. Mr. and Mrs. Nash 
have one child, a son, Harry Nelson. 



HALLECK H. STONEBARGER, 
one of the rising young farmers 
of Shelton township, Buffalo 
county, was born in Jasper county. 111., 
April" 23, 1863. His father, N. P. Stone- 
barger, was a native of Pennsylvania, and 
his mother, who bore the maiden name of 
Elizabeth Thomas, was born in Ohio. The 
parents were married in the Bucke3'e state 
and shortly afterwards immigrated to 
Illinois, where his mother died in 1873, 
and his father came to Nebraska in 1874 
and died in 1889. Both were zealous 
members of the Baptist church. 



The bo^diood days of young Stonebar- 
ger were spent in attending the common 
district school and working on his father's 
farm until he was fifteen years old. After 
that period he had little opportunity for 
attending school. 

Mr. Stonebarger came to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., in 1880, and bought a farm in 
Shelton township and has been successfully 
engaged in cultivating it ever since. He 
was married May 29, 1887, the lady of his 
choice being Miss Elizabeth, daughter of 
Joseph Buck, a native of old England 
and one of the pioneers of this county. 
Mr. Buck bid farewell to John Bull in 
1869 and sailed for the United States. He 
came almost direct to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., and was here in plenty of time to say 
farewell to the Indians as they made way 
for advancing civilization. Mr. Buch was 
here in advance of any actual settler, and, 
indeed, the county presented a wild and 
desolate appearance. Plenty of wild game 
abounded everywhere ; buffalo, elk, deer 
and antelope grazed in great herds on the 
broad prairie, almost within gun shot of 
the homesteader. 

Mr. Buck obtained a position with the 
Union Pacific Railroad Company and 
earned means with which he secured pas- 
sage for his familj' the following year. 
He organized the first Sunday-school and 
was elected the first coroner of Buffalo 
county. He is now a well-to-do farmer in 
Shelton township. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stonebarger have had two 
children, viz. — Ethel (deceased) and Rus- 
sell. He has one hundred and twenty 
acres of improved land, which produces 
excellent cro])S, and' nearly all of which is 
under a good state of cultivation. He is 
a member of the Alliance, and. while he 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



451 



has al\va\'s atlhered to the principles of 
the republican party, he is becoming more 
and more inclined to vote independently 
in the future. He is an industrious young 
man and is on the road to success. 



JOSEPH OWEN, the subject of this 
sketch, has been a resident of the 
territory now comprising Buffalo 
county, since the summer of 1863. 
He was born in Manchester, England, 
February 16, 1849, and is the son of David 
and Elizabeth (Lloyd) Owen. His father, 
who was of Welsh descent, was a black- 
smith by trade, and came to the United 
States with his family in 1863. The voyage 
was safely made on the steamer Adriatic, 
which arrived in the New York harbor 
after a wearisome journey of seven long 
weeks. Soon after landing in tlie metropo- 
lis of the new world, the family came 
west as far as Omaha by rail. They then 
joined a Mormon train bound for the 
famous city of Salt Lake. The journey 
from this point was made with ox teams, 
a somewhat slow, but sure wa}' of travel- 
ins. The senior Owen had relations living 
on the "Overland Route," near where the 
thriving little city of Shelton now stands, 
who had preceded him a year or so, and 
he determined to drop out of the train and 
remain at this point. A log house was 
provided for the family, who were soon 
snugly quartered on the cheerful banks of 
Wood river,alraost in the heart of what was 
once considered as the " Great American 
Desert." The country presented a wild 
and forlorn appearance, and was only in- 
habited by Indians, buffalo, elk, deer'and 
antelope. Immense herds of these wild 



animals could be seen in almost any direc- 
tion. The Indians, however, were re- 
gai'ded as peaceable, and as long as they 
were well treated and closely watched, 
there was not much danger of being 
harmed by them. Reports of Indian 
massacres, however, were frequently cir- 
culated, and at one time every settler left 
the country to escape the reported ven- 
geance of the red men. 

The father of the subject of this notice 
worked at his trade as a blacksmith at 
Shelton until 1864, when he died. His 
faithful wife followed him to the mys- 
terious realm in 1S74. 

Joseph Owen spent his boyhood days in 
raising vegetables and disposing of them 
to immigrants as they journeyed westward 
in great trains. Ready sale was found for 
corn at $3 a bushel, flour brought §11 per 
sack and hay $40 per ton. Old Fort 
Kearney, located up the Platte river a 
few miles, also afforded a ready market 
for all kinds of produce raised by the few 
squatters along Wood river. Mr. Owen 
is, therefore, familiar with every phase of 
pioneer life on the Western frontier. He 
has been identified with the settlement, 
growth and development of this locality, 
and has done as much as any man toward 
accomplishing these great results. Mr. 
Owen was married, in 1872, to Miss Sarah 
A. Oliver, a native of England, and who 
accompanied her parents to America in 
1860. The Olivers settled in this same 
locality three years before the arrival of 
the Owen family. The following children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Owen, 
viz. — Edward H. (deceased), Elizabeth J., 
Alice, Josie, Ida, and Annie. 

Mr. Owen was deputy sheriff of Buffalo 
countv under Mr. John Oliver, and has 



452 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



also been justice of the peace two terms. 
lie is a prominent member of the I. O. O. 
F. and K. of P. fraternities, and has always 
affiliated with the republican party in 
political matters. lie owns two hundred 
and fort}' acres of choice land near the 
town of Shelton, and he enjoys the confi- 
dence and esteem of all who know him. 



DE. WILLIAM J. NEELY, one 
of the enterprising farmers of 
Thornton township, Buffalo 
county, was born in Virginia, May 21, 
18-41. Plis father, Bashrod Neely, was 
born in Monongalia county. May 21, 1820. 
He was in the mercantile business in Mc- 
Gahe\'sville, Va., for several years previous 
to 1887, when he emigi-ated to Buffalo 
count}'^, Nebr., where he now resides. Dr. 
Neely 's grandfather was James Neely, a 
native also of Virginia. He died in 1879. 
Dr. Neely enlisted at the age of twenty, 
September 6, 1861, in the Sixth West Vir- 
ginia infantry. His regiment was sta- 
tioned at Grafton, W. Va., for about three 
years. While here young Neely acted 
as post clerk for the regiment. He was 
mustered out in June, 1865, as quarter- 
master sergeant. After that he was en- 
gaged in the mercantile business at Man- 
nington, AV. Va.. for a short time. In 1866 
he began the study of medicine and sub- 
sequently graduated from the American 
Medical College, St. Louis, Mo. He emi- 
grated to Buffalo county, Nebr., in Sep- 
tember, 1833, and settled on a homestead 
in Thornton township. His first purchase, 
upon his ari-ival at Kearney, was a yoke 
of stalwart oxen, which served as his 



team. Dr. Neel\' was among the very 
first settlers in Thornton township, and 
he and his faithful wife stood in a great 
many hardships, incident to those early 
daj's, and fi-equently suffered for the 
necessities of life. Their first night on the 
new homestead was spent in a hole in the 
ground, which was used subsequently as a 
cellar. They had no money and were 
obliged to adapt themselves to their sur- 
rounding circumstances. They had no 
well of water, and no money to aid them 
in constructing one ; consequently, the doc- 
tor carried what water they were obliged 
to have for three long months from the 
house of a neighbor, one mile distant. He 
was used to walking in those days, and it 
was not an unusual thing for him to walk 
to Kearney, a distance of nine miles, and 
home again with his arms full of groceries. 
He built a sod house ten by twelve feet, 
which servecf them for several years. 
During the summer of 1874, the grass- 
hoppers destroyed everything in the shape 
of crop, and Mr. Neely was obliged to 
move to Kearney, where he might be able 
to get work in order to suppl}' his family 
with the necessaries of life. He returned 
to his homestead, however, the following 
spring, and he has continued to reside 
there since. Notwithstanding the innu- 
merable hardships endured by Mr. and Mrs. 
Neely during their eai-ly experiences in 
this country, they have survived them all 
and are now among the most prosperous 
citizens in the county. The doctor practiced 
his profession during fourteen years after 
his arrival in the county. He was exceed- 
ingly generous during the dark days in 
grasshojiper times. He administered to 
the needs of the sick and affiicted then and 
charged only half price f(jr his services- 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



453 



He now has three hundred and twenty 
acres in liis splendid farm, which has yielded 
abundant crops every year since 1876. He 
has set out and cultivated with his own 
hands 40,000 trees, some of which now 
measure eighteen inches in diameter. He 
has alwavs had great faith in the raising 
of fruit, and now points with pride to his 
fine orchard and well cultivated vineyards. 
He deserves especial credit for his marked 
success in this direction. He planted fruit 
trees and nurtured them when other men 
laughed at the idea of raising fruit on 
these "Western plains. He has finally suc- 
ceeded in demonstrating that with proper 
care the choicest kinds of fruits can be 
raised in this country. 

Dr. Neely has served as justice of the 
peace, and held other offices in his town- 
ship. 

He was married August 17, 1867, to 
Eebecca S. Lesion, at Mannington, W. 
Va. Mrs. Neely's parents were both 
Virginians by birth. Both the Doctor 
and Mrs. Neely are devoted members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. They 
have no children. 



GEOEGE E. TEACY was born 
in Licking county, Ohio, Nov. 
21, 18-17. His father, George 
Trac}', was a native of Pennsylvania, but 
emigrated to Ohio at an early period of 
his life, and subsequently to Hlinois, where 
he remained until his death. He engaged 
in various pursuits during the early part 
of his life, but farming was his chief occu- 
pation. He was a minister of the old 
school Baptist ciiurch ; a close student of 



the Bible and one of the best posted men 
of his day on the scriptures. Pie died in 
June, 1858, in Hancock county. 111. His 
wife was Barbara (Lineberger) Trac\', a 
native of Germany. She is still living in 
Illinois and is a devoted cliristian woman. 

George E. Tracy, the subject of this 
sketch, worked on a farm in Illinois until 
twenty -two years of age. He then deter- 
mined to go to Missouri and try farming 
on his own responsibility. He finally 
purchased a small farm of Mary Power, 
who, on January 22, 1870, became his wife. 
Three children were born of this union, 
namely — Luella May, born November 27, 
1872, Emma B., born February -4, 1880, and 
William H., born July 4, 1882. 

Mr. Tracy immigrated to Nebraska in 
February, 1875, and took a homestead in 
Thornton township, Buffalo county. He 
built a sod house in which the family 
lived for twelve years. It still stands and 
is in a tolerably fair state of preservation. 
At the time of their settlement the country 
was new and settlers were few and far be- 
tween. Wild game was plenty, especially 
deer and antelope, which were frequent- 
ly seen in the vicinity. Mr. Tracy was 
amone: those who suffered on account of the 
terrible scourge of the grasshoppers. 
They descended in great clouds in the 
summer of 1876, and completely destroyed 
everything green, even eating a bed of 
fine onions growing in the garden. They 
flew in such droves that they fairly 
darkened the sun and made a roaring noise 
similar to amoving train of freight cars. 

When Mr. Tracy first settled on his 
homestead there were only a few houses 
in sight and it would frecpiently be days 
and even weeks before they would see a 
stranger or even any one they knew. 



454 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



During the first few winters they experi- 
enced several severe storms and blizzards, 
when the snov,- would di-ift so that it 
would be impossible almost to get about. 
They frequently were compelled to burn 
hay and corn-stalks for fuel. 

Mrs. Tracy was born in Scotland county, 
Mo., July 3, 1849, and was the daughter of 
Richard and Mary (Turner) Power. Both 
her parents were natives of Kentucky, and 
after marriage located in Rush count}', 
Ind., where severa,l years of their early 
life were spent. In the spring of 1838 
they started West, stopping in Illinois, 
however, long enough to raise and dispose 
of a crop, then they pushed on to Missouri, 
where they resided the remainder of their 
lives. They had nine children — four sons 
and five daughters. 

Mr. Tracy is a pronounced religious 
man, although not at present a member of 
any church. Mrs. Tracy is an active 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 



JOHN T. MALLALIEU, superintend- 
ent of the Nebraska State Indus- 
trial School, was born in Millington, 
Md., September 23, 1852, and is a son 
of Tiiomas and Mary Mallalieu, natives of 
England. His education was received at 
the common schools, and his early busi- 
ness training was acquired in the office of 
his father, who was an extensive wool 
manufacturer. At twent}' years of age 
he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, 
Pa., from which he gi-aduated in June, 
1876, and in the fall of the same year came 
to Nebraska. At Columbus he was 
elected principal of the Gibbon Academy, 



which position he held three j'ears, and 
was then elected count}' superintendent, 
which office he filled in a most satisfactory 
manner for four years. In 1881 he was 
admitted to the bar, and in 1SS3 was 
elected regent of the University of Ne- 
braska, which responsible office he filled 
for six years. In May, 1885, he was ap- 
pointed superintendent of the State In- 
dustrial School. Tliis institution at that 
time found its needs fully supplied b}' the 
occupancy of one small building, but now 
nine large brick buildings are required to 
carryout the designs for which the insti- 
tution was established and to accommo- 
date the attending inmates, whose num- 
bers have increased from ninety to two 
hundred and sixt}'. 

September 11, 1875, Mr. Mallalieu was 
united in marriage to Miss Alice Gotwald, 
a native of Indiana, and this felicitous 
union has been blessed by the birth of 
three children, viz.— Thomas G., Mary M. 
and Bessie. 



DR. GEORGE M. MILLS is the 
third of thirteen children and 
was born in Liberty, Adams 
county. 111., December 17, 1812. He is a 
son of Franklin Mills, who was born Octo- 
ber 17, 1822, in New Haven, Conn., and 
while a young man emigrated to Illinois, 
where he was b\' turns, farmer, mechanic, 
and merchant, following these pursuits 
for years. Dr. Mills' mother's maiden 
name was Mary Galbreath, and she was 
born in 1822. These are still living at 
Perry, 111. 

At the age of three years the subject of 
this sketch was taken by his parents to 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



455 



Brown county, HI., where and in Pike 
county, that state, he was reared. He 
began the work at preparino: himself for 
the duties of his profession in the fall of 
1S69 under the tutorship of Dr. Harvey 
Dunn, of Perry, 111. He attended lectures 
at the College of Physicians and Surgeons 
of Keokuk, Iowa, graduating in 1878, and 
then at the Hush Medical College of Chi- 
cago, graduating in 1883, taking three 
full courses in the latter institution. He 
began the practice before he graduated, 
locating in 1871 at Birmingham, Schuyler 
county, 111., where he continued to admin- 
ister to the wants of the sick till the fall of 
1876, when he removed to Kipley, Brown 
count}', 111. He lived at the latter place, 
continuing at his profession till May, 1885, 
when he removed to Nebraska, locating at 
Kearney, where he has since remained. 

He is a member of the Nebraska State 
Medical Society, ranking high in his pro- 
fession and enjoying an extensive prac- 
tice. 

Dr. Mills was married July 2, 1874, to 
Miss Eliza H. Burch, daughter of Preston 
H. Burch, of Springfield. 111. It is rare 
that a husband finds in a wife traits and 
tastes congenial to his own, but in this 
instance Mrs. Mills is also a physician and 
is a companion, student and partner of her 
husband, in the art of healing. 



DPv. ELIZA B. MILLS is the 
youngest of six children, and 
was born in Springfield, Illinois. 
She is a daughter of Preston H. Burch, 
who was born in Ilarrisburg, Va., in 1809, 
and when a small boy moved with his 
parents to Kentucky, while that region in 



fact was the dark and blood}' ground. In 
1820 he emigrated to Illinois and located 
at Lincoln, where he continued to reside 
till his death. He was intimately ac- 
quainted with the illustrious man for 
whom his adopted town was named, and 
was an ardent admirer and warm sup- 
porter of " honest old Abe" in the em- 
br^'onic stage of his political career ; and 
when his fame as a statesman burst upon 
the dazed vision of the world, as the great 
war president, Mr. Burch was still a fol- 
lower of the flag of the Union and Lin- 
coln, determined to share their fortunes 
whatever they might be. At Port Hud- 
son, La., while filling the responsible po- 
stition of brigade quartermaster, he suc- 
cumbed to the hardships and ravages of 
war. He died at his post of duty in the 
service of his country while his honored 
chief and friend was guiding the ship of 
state upon a tempestuous sea of a cruel 
and bloody civil war. 

The maiden name of the mother of the 
subject of this sketch was Elizabeth Suter. 
She was born in Charleston, S. C, "the 
beautiful city by the sea," and at an early 
age moved with her parents to Louisville, 
Ky., where she was educated. She died 
in 186J:, at the age of forty-six. 

Mrs. Mills received her education at 
Eureka college in Woodford county, 111., 
and began the study of medicine at the 
age of eighteen, of which she has been a 
student ever smce. 

She was graduated an M. D. at the 
college of physicians and surgeons at Ke- 
okuk, Iowa, in 1881, and also took a 
course of lectures at the Woman's medi- 
cal college of Chicago, 111., during the ses- 
sion of 1882 and 1883. 

Since her graduation she has devoted 



456 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



herself exclusively and assiduously to the 
practice of her profession. 

Mrs. Mills has done much to allay the 
prejudices in localities where she has lived. 
In fact, if her large practice is any test, she 
has succeeded in turning the tide in favor of 
woman as man's equal and co-laborer in 
the professions as well as the manual 
trades. 

She was married, Jul}' 2, 1874, to Dr. 
George M. Mills, and in May, ISSo, she 
came with her husband to Kearney, Nebr. 

She is a splendid type of western 
womanhood, imbibing the spirit of her 
surroundings, and is energetic and pro- 
gressive; not only as a healer of the bod}' 
is she so favorably known, but many 
a ragged and hungry family, unable 
to keep the wolf of want from the 
door, bless her for the good she does. The 
poor and sick of her adopted city are pen- 
sioners upon her bounty and skill. As a 
physician she ranks high; as a generous, 
kind hearted woman she is without a su- 
perior. 



WH. SALISBURY. Among the 
many representative farmers 
and stock-raisers of Buffalo 
count}', Nebr., is that worthy and genial 
gentleman, W. H. Salisbury, an American 
by birth and certainly one by principle. 
His father, John Salisbury, was born in 
Madison county. New York, where he 
married Miss Lucinda Brown. After the 
marriage he moved to Lake county, Illi- 
nois, taking an active part in progressive 
farming. Giving tliis up, he moved to 
Chicago, engaging in mercantile pursuits, 



at which he acquired a splendid compe- 
tence. While on a visit to his daughter at 
Dundee, 111., being then past his seventy- 
seventh year, he was taken ill, and died 
Januar}' 9, 1877. His wife survived him 
eight years, then quietl}' passed away 
December 30, 1885, in her seventy-third 
year. Of this happ}' marriage there were 
born the following children — John C, 
Sarah, Emeline (now deceased), Leroy 
(also deceased), Annie, George (a hero of 
the late rebellion, who died at his post of 
duty), William H. and Bessie. 

William H. Salisbur}', the seventh child, 
was born in Lake county. 111., but was 
raised mainly in Elgin and Chicago, being 
educated to mercantile pursuits, which he 
followed until his health failed him, when 
he resolved to seek quarters where he could 
regain it, and finally settled upon Ne- 
braska. Hither he came, settling in Buf- 
falo county in 1876, on the northwestern 
quarter of section 3, township 8, range 15, 
which he purchased; later on, he bought the 
quarter east of this, thus making him the 
owner of the north half of section 3. This 
land is under cultivation, the nen'est and 
best methods having been used. 

Mr. Salisbury has turned his attention 
to fine horses, making a specialty of 
Clydesdales, and having five head of stal- 
lions. He also has a large, handsome stock, 
some of which are imported direct from 
Scotland, among which are some very fine 
brood mares. Mr. Salisbury hopes to rev- 
olutionize breeding methods, and his suc- 
cess so far entitles him to a great deal of 
credit among horsemen. His barns, pas- 
tures and groves are all in accord with his 
progressive nature, thus making his farm 
of the most attractive in the township. 

Mr. Salisbury is a veteran of the late 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



457 



rebellion, having enlisted in Company A, 
One Hundred and Forty-first Illinois volun- 
teers, at the earl}' age of fifteen. Owing to 
his youth he was appointed post-boy, car- 
rying the mail for his regiment, serving 
mostly in Kentucky, and remaining with 
the troops until the surrender of Lee to 
Grant at Appomattox. He married, March 
0, 1S73, Miss Addie M., daughter of Albert 
and D. M. Bessie, both natives of Onon- 
daga county, N. T., where Mrs. Salisbury 
also was born. Her worthy parents are 
at present residing at Kearney City, this 
state. To this union has been born a son, 
Frederick IJ. 

Owing to the great respect Mr. Salis- 
bury has acquired from his fellow-citizens, 
he has been honored by election to the 
offices of treasurer of Centre township, 
road supervisor and school trustee, serving 
in each capacity with thorough capability. 
Progressiveness is his motto, geniality his 
characteristic quality, and thus he plods 
onward through life, beloved and honored 
by his fellow-citizens. 



JAHUGH WINSLOW, one of the 
first settlers on the old Fort Kear- 
ney reservation and a prosperous 
farmer of Centre township, Buffalo 
county, was born March 4, 18-11, in Wash- 
ington count}', Ind. His father, Josiah 
Winslow, a farmer by occupation, was 
also a native of Indiana, born in the year 
1819. The mother, Sarah (Shields) Win- 
slow, was born 1821. There were twenty- 
one children in the father's family. 

Jahugh Winslow, the subject of this 
biograjjliy, in his earh' days attended the 
neighboring school and assisted his father 



about the home place. He worked with 
his father at the tanning business in 
Washington count}' until thirty years of 
age. He enlisted in the war, in response 
to a proclamation calling for more troops, 
in September, 1864. He was assigned to 
Company E, Fifny -third regiment Indiana 
volunteers, and served in Sherman's army, 
Seventeenth Corps. His company was sent 
from Indianapolis, via Louisville, Nashville 
and Chattanooga, near which last-named 
place they v/ere deserted by their com- 
mander and for four days were without a 
mouthful of food, after which they pro- 
cured some moldy bread which the men 
eagerly devoured. The regiment joined 
Sherman at Atlanta, and was with him on 
his famous campaign through Georgia, 
during which Mr. Winslow was taken 
with the measles and had to march thirty 
miles through the rain. Arriving at the 
rebel works at Savannah, he was put into 
an ambulance and sent to the hospital at 
Port Koyal Island, where he remaired 
from December to February, when he was 
transferred to Fort Schuyler, where a 
month later his folks came after him, pro- 
cured a furlough and took him home. He 
remained at home two months and then 
joined his regiment at Louisville. He was 
discharged July 29, 18G5. 

He continued to reside in Washington 
county until October, 1875, when on 
account of his health he decided to emi- 
grate West. He accordingly came and 
located first in Kearney, where he resided 
until January 3, of the following year, 
when hehomesteaded a quarter section in 
what is called the old Fort Kearney reser- 
vation, on which he still resides. 

In 1876, he broke out and put into 
crops a portion of bis place. The crops 



458 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



for a time flourished and gave promise of 
a rich harvest, but the grasshoppers came 
that 3' ear and destroyed everything, leaving 
the famih' with neither monej'' nor food. 
That winter Mrs. W. plied her needle dili- 
gently, while Mr. W. trapped beaver and 
otter along the Platte river, the skins of 
which he tanned and made into gloves and 
mittens, for which be found a ready 
market. Mr. "W". also shot prairie- 
chickens, which he shipped to Eastern 
markets. With the mone}' they were able 
to earn in this manner, they managed to 
live. In 1877 Mr. W. took a load of flour 
in a train of provisions to the Black Hill 
country in western Dakota. He reports 
good crops ever since 1878, with the ex- 
ception of 1887, when he had his crops 
destroyed by a severe hail storm. 

Mr. "Winslow was married March 14, 
1867, to Sally A. Jones, daughter of Ben- 
jamin and Elizabeth (Newby) Jones; the 
former a furniture-maker by trade, was 
born in 1819; the latter was born in 1817. 
They are both living and have been blessed 
with ten children. The marriage of Mr. 
and Mrs. Winslow has resulted in the 
birth of seven children, as follows — John, 
Lydia, Alelia, Cora, Elbert E. and Ben- 
jamin T., and one that died in infancy not 
named. 

In politics, Mr. Winslow adheres to the 
principles of the republican party. 



CHAELES E.STIMPSON, a promi- 
nent farmer and cattle man of 
Bufi'alo county, is a native of 
Huron county, Ohio, and was born Feb- 
ruary 4, 1833. At the age of seventeen 
he left the home farm and went to Minne- 



sota, where he grew to manhood and 
where he was married in 1861. In 1862 
he enlisted in Company F, Sixth Minne- 
sota volunteer infantr}^ and saw his first 
service in the Indian campaign at Fort 
Hudson. On his return home in 1864 he 
joined the Eleventh Minnesota infantry 
and was sent to Tennessee, where he was 
chiefly employed on garrison duty until 
the close of the war, when he again re- 
turned to Minnesota, and for a short time 
followed carpentering, also engaged in 
merchandising, and for a while worked for 
a railroad company. In June, 1872, he 
came to Nebraska. In August of the 
same year, Kearney city was platted and 
a hotel commenced, and for five years Mr. 
Stimpson followed his trade of a carpenter 
in the new town. When he came to the 
county Gibbon was the county seat and 
the land he now lives on in Center town- 
ship was included in the Fort Kearney 
military reservation. After a residence 
of three years here he was the first to take 
a claim in this reservation, much to the 
surprise of his neighbors, but in a very few 
daj'S afterwards the entire tract of ten 
square miles, on both sides of the river, 
was under "squatter" claims. The fall of 
the same year he built his house and 
moved in, being the first man to take that 
step. The land cost $1.25 per acre and is 
located in section 32, in the northwest 
quarter of the reserve. Mr. Stimpson was 
the prime mover in securing from the gov- 
ernment the right of settlers to this piece 
of public territory, to the exclusion of 
railroad companies' claims, and no com- 
pany has ever owned an acre in the square 
by congressional grant. 

Mr. Stimpson served for several 3'ears 
as marshal of Kearney, during the notori- 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



459 



ous cow-boy troubles. In those turbulent 
times these boys committed numerous 
depredations and perpeti'ated numerous 
murders, and quite a number of the des- 
peradoes also met their death at the 
hands of the citizens in defense of their 
own lives. In those days, Indians were 
numerous and many citizens were killed 
by them, while others were killed by their 
fellow-citizens or sti'aggling strangers, 
and the blame thrown upon the Indians. 
Many efforts were made by the ranch- 
men to oust the settlers from the reserva- 
tion, as it was then an unorganized terri- 
tory, but these efforts were in vain. 
Mitchell and Ketcham were among the 
ranchmen who took part in the nefarious 
scheme and shot down more than one 
man, trumped up charges of cattle steal- 
ing against others, but were themselves 
eventually Ijmched. The country was for 
a time in a lawless condition, and it re- 
quired pluck and nerve on the part of the 
honest settler to keep his residence in it. 

Lovett Stimpson, the father of our sub- 
ject, was a native of New York and was a 
veteran of the war of 1812. He married 
Miss Ilai'riet Crane, also a native of New 
York and a daughter of Captain Crane, of 
the war of 1812. The Captain received 
for his services a land warrant, which he 
located near Little Rock, Ark. To Lovett 
Stimpson and wife were born twelve chil- 
dren, of whom the subject of this sketch 
is the youngest. 

The marriage of Charles R. Stimpson 
took place, as stated, in 1861, to Miss 
Arvilla Harrington, daughter of J. S. Har- 
rington, of Ohio. Mr. Harrington has 
always been a very popular man and has 
held man}"^ offices of honor and trust, and 
is still living, at the age of seventy -five 



years, in Minnesota. The union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Stimpson has been blessed by the 
birth of five children, viz. — Adel, Byron, 
Leonard, Homer and Helen, all residents 
of Nebraska, excepting Adel, who is living 
in Los Angeles, Cal. 

Mr. Stimpson is one of the most enter- 
prising citizens of Center township. 
Among other projects of an industrial 
character he assisted in organizing a stock 
company for the erection of a large four- 
story structure for the production of oat- 
meal, and is himself one of its largest 
stockholders. He and son own an exten- 
sive cattle ranch, located near Medicine 
lake, Nebr., and he is, besides, interested in 
several other branches of business. Mr. 
Stimpson is an Odd Fellow and is also a 
member of the P'armers' Alliance. In 
politics he is independent and casts his 
vote as best suits his judgment. Socially, 
he and family stand in the front rank. 



HON. R. R. GREER. Among the 
early settlers of the city of 
Kearney, and a man who has 
been prominently identified with the best 
business interests of the Midway city, as 
well as those of his adopted county and 
state, is Hon. R. R. Greer, more generally 
and familiarly known as " Bob " Greer, a 
biographical notice of whom here follows. 
Mr. Greer is of Irish-American origin and 
in his make-up he presents a happy blend- 
ing of the chief traits of the two people 
from whom he is descended. His father, 
James L. Greer, was a native of Ireland 
and was brought to this country by his 
parents when a child. He was reared 
mainly in Pittsburgh, Pa.,where his parents 



4G0 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



settled, immigrating West at the age of 
nineteen and locating in Schuyler county, 
111. There he met and married Miss 
Nancy Wilson, a Kentucky-born lad}', 
whose parents, Elijah and Martha Wilson, 
had immigrated some years before from 
Kentucky into the Illinois territory when 
that countrj'^ was thrown open to settle- 
ment and had cast their fortunes on the 
then frontier, in what is now Schuyler 
county. Settling down to the peaceful 
pursuits of agriculture in the count\' of 
their adoption, James L. and Nancy Greer 
are living, engrossed in their personal and 
domestic affairs. They are both zealous 
members of the Methodist church and take 
an active interest in all church work, 
being generous contributors also to all 
charitable purposes. They reared a family 
of six children, four boys and two girls, as 
follows — Emma, Eobert R., George, 
Charles, Ilattie and Moulton. The sec- 
ond of these and the eldest son, Robert 
R., the subject of this notice, was born and 
reared in Schuyler county. 111., having been 
brought up on his father's farm and fol- 
lowing agricultural pursuits during his 
earlier years. Quitting the farm on reach- 
ing his majority, he began life for himself 
as a clerk in a mercantile establishment at 
Rushville, 111., following clerical pursuits 
there and in that vicinity for some years. 
Coming West then, he lived awhile at 
Peru, Nebr., and afterwards in Ilolt 
county. Mo., and finally in the spring of 
1873 he came to Buffalo county, this 
state, and located in Kearney, which was 
just starting, having hardly then reached 
the dignity of a cross roads village. Mr. 
Greer engaged at once in the mercantile 
busmess, becoming one of Kearney's first 
merchants, as he afterwards became one 



of the most successful ones. He was en- 
gaged in business for more than sixteen 
years, and it is no exaggeration to say that 
he sold, during that time, many a hundred 
thousand dollars' worth of goods, having a 
trade extending not only throughout all 
Buffalo county, but into the southwestern 
counties across the Platte river and into 
the northwestern counties among the 
ranchmen along several forks of the Loup 
and Dismal and beyond that. Of course 
he made money — with the early oppor- 
tunities he enjoyed and his attentive busi- 
ness habits and methods, he could not do 
otherwise. Like a prudent man, he invested 
his means as they accumulated beyond his 
business acquirements, in real estate in 
Kearney and Buffalo county, and with the 
gradual improvement of the county and 
the consequent rise in values these invest, 
ments brought him good returns. Closing 
out his mercantile affairs in July, 1889, he 
has since given his time and attention to 
his investments and to duties of a public 
nature, in connection with offices with 
which he has been honored. Mr. Greer 
has been identified with the growth and 
development of Kearney and Buffalo 
county since the day he cast his fortunes 
with them, and he has taken an active and, 
in some instances, a conspicuous, part in 
different enterprises which have been set 
on foot for the betterment of the material 
and social condition of his community. 
He has kept up his interest in agriculture 
and has been the able champion of the 
farmers' rights and ])rivileges in this state. 
He is now president of the Nebraska 
State Fair Association and has done much 
valuable work for the agricultural, horti. 
cultural, live stock and dairying interests 
of the state. Mr. Greer visits other states, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



4fil 



attends fairs anci stock shows and gathers 
information, which lie lays before tlie pub- 
lic, from time to time, in the sliape of 
annual rejiorts, and thus carries theor3' 
and practice along hand in hand and gets 
at the same time the benefit of tlie ex- 
perience of others engaged by similar 
lines of endeavor. Mr. Greer is often 
called in consultation with Gov. Tha^'er. 

Personally, Mr. Greer is popular, being 
well and favorably known by all the old 
settlers with whom he had dealings in the 
early days. He is wide awake and pro- 
gressive in his views, and welcomes all 
new-comes and encourages the bringing 
of capital and new industries. He is, in 
short, a thorough-going man of affairs. 
Polite, genial and affable — one whom it is 
a pleasure to meet either in business or 
social relation, and of whose personality 
even the casual acquaintance retains a dis- 
tinct and happy remembrance. 

Mr. Greer was united in marriage to 
Miss Susie Peter in 1873, a very lovely 
lady of Eushville, 111. Mrs. Greer is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 



EGAR H. ANDREWS is one of 
the most popular and best known 
\'oung farmers in Buffalo county, 
and was born in "Williamstown, Yt., Jan, 
3, 1855. His father, David Andrews, was 
born in Cabot, Vt., August 1, 1821; was 
reared on a farm and upon arriving at the 
age of maturity chose farmingas his occu- 
pation. He married Elizabeth House, 
daugliter of Halsey House, a native of 
Vermont, who died about 1868. 

The senior Andrews came West about 



the close of the war, and resided at Black 
Hawk, Colo., for a short time; but, not being 
pleased with the appearance of the country 
in that region, he retraced his foot-steps, 
stopping at Grinnell, Iowa, where he pur- 
chased land and immediately engaged in 
farming. His experience in the field of 
agriculture at this point extended over a 
period of eight years. He was not satis- 
fied, however, and, disposing of his chat- 
tels and realty, he moved to Buffalo 
county, Nebr., arriving here in the spring 
of 1873. After prospecting about for a 
short time he purchased a (Quarter section 
of land on the banks of the Wood river in 
Centre township, where /the soil, for rich- 
ness and fertility, can not be excelled in 
the county. He then and there decided 
to make this his permanent home, and 
seventeen years of marvelous development 
have proven the wisdom of his decision. 
He and his estimable wife are still living 
in the enjoyment of a ripe old age of 
almost three score j'ears and ten. 

E. H. Andrews, the subject proper of 
this brief memoir, was only eighteen 
years old when he came with his father to 
Buffalo county, but he had faith in the 
great future development of the Platte 
valley and took advantage of the exceed- 
ingly low price of land by purchasing 
two hundred and eighty acres in the 
Wood River valley in Centre township. 
The country then was one vast desert of 
unbroken prairie, and farming, as one can 
well imagine, was not a very paying busi- 
ness for the first three or four years. The 
grasshopper plague in 1874—5-6, was one 
of the most vexatious and discouraging 
things with which the early settlers iiad 
to contend. Fields of waving corn which 
gave every promise of an abundant crop 



in the morning, would be strijjped of every 
vestige of life bv niglitfall. Tiie destriic- 
tion was not so great the next year, but 
the third was simply a repetition of the 
first. Many, disheartened and on the 
very verge of starvation, returned to 
their former places of habitation, while 
others, some of whom did not have tiie 
means to get away with, remained. The 
next year a bountiful crop was harvested 
and the few remaining settlers renewed 
their courage and went forward, 
improving and developing the country, 
until now they know no such thing as a 
failure of crops. Young Andrews was 
one of the few who never lost faitli in tlie 
future of the new country ; but, instead, 
redoubled his energies in the midst of 
famine, and was prepared to welcome the 
new era of prosperitj'^ with a smile of 
serene confidence. 

E. H. Andrews was married September 
14, 1880, to Miss Carrie Longstreet, who 
was born in Syracuse, N. Y., December 
11, 1858. She is the daughter of Cornelius 
and Esther Longstreet, both natives of 
New York, the former having been born 
October 11, 1833, and the latter Decem- 
ber 27, 1830. Her father was a farmer 
and mechanic, and for three years was 
paymaster on board a ship. They were 
both strictly religious people and active 
members of the Methodist church. The 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews has 
resulted in the birth of two children — 
Abbie, born July 15, 1883 (deceased), and 
Bessie, born September 5, 1885. 

Mr. Andrews has always exhibited a 
fondness for fine stock, and his efforts for 
several years have been directed toward 
the production of the very best horses, 
cattle and hogs. Besides being quite an 



extensive dealer in cattle and hogs, he 
makes a specialty of pure-bred horses. 
His stables contain several as fine speci- 
mens of imported Clydesdale and Norman 
stallions as the foreign markets afford. 
He also has a few imported brood-mares 
of the same pure blood, and takes great 
pains in raising their progeny. He be- 
lieves the best is always the cheapest, and 
that it costs no more to raise a pure-bred 
horse than it does an inferior one. Mr. 
Andrews is a young man of good educa- 
tion, full of the vigor of life, and thor- 
oughly posted on the leading issues of the 
day. He has several times been honored 
with the secretaryship of the Buffalo 
county agricultural society, and, in fact, 
is one of the rising young men of the 
county. 



GEORGE W. CORNELL was born 
in Warren count}', near Dayton, 
Ohio, Oct. 18, 1835, and is the 
son of Sylvenus and Sara (Flora) Cornell. 
His father was born in New York in 1790, 
and served in the war of 1812. About 
1810 he moved to Ohio, where he died in 
1879. John Cornell, grandfather of our 
subject, was a Canadian by birth, but 
whose father came from England and is 
believed to have constructed and operated 
the first flouring mill in the Dominion of 
Canada. 

George W. Cornell began life as a 
farmer in Warren county, Ohio, at the 
age of twenty-four. He had, however, 
served an apprenticeship at saddle-making, 
but never followed the trade to any great 
extent. In 1852 he entered Delaware 
University, at Delaware, Ohio, where he 
remained for three vears. 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



463 



In 1859 he joined a company at Kansas 
City, comprising about seventy -five men 
and fifty j^oke of oxen, and went on an 
expedition to Pilve's Peak. 

He returned in a year or so, however, and 
engaged in farming, until 1808, when he 
moved to Dayton and engaged in the coal 
and wood business. 

In the fall of 1870 the Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Emigration Colony, of Dayton, 
Ohio, was organized, with Mr. Cornell as 
president. In 1871 several members, in- 
cluding the president, were sent to Buffalo 
county, Nebr., to inspect the country 
and report to the organization the 
result of their observations. The re- 
port sent back was highly satisfactory 
and in the following spring several more 
members came out and took claims. Mr. 
Cornell purchased 539 acres of railroad 
land just outside the present limits of the 
city of Kearney. 

Mr. Cornell was appointed distributing 
clerk for Buffalo county during the grass- 
hopper times, when provision and clothing 
were sent from all over the East to the 
unfortunate settlers in this desert region. 
Many families were so destitute of the 
actual necessities of life that they were 
obliged to live on frozen potatoes, corn 
meal and boiled wheat. It was indeed a 
time of great suffering throughout the en- 
tire county, and many men came to Mr. 
Cornell in those days and told him they 
. did not have a mouthful to eat in their 
houses. In 1877 an era of pros})erity set 
in and since then there has been very little 
suffering among the people for want of 
food and clothing. 

Mr. Cornell was married January 25, 1 860, 
to Rebecca Davis, who was born near Xenia, 
Ohio, January 7, 1837, and is the daugh- 



ter of Jonathan and 

Six children were born of this union, 
namely — Florence, born November 17, 
1860 (wife of William Paterson); Willis 
E., born July 31, 1862 (deceased); Carrie 
I., born September 8, 1863 (deceased); 
Mary A., born October 10, 1865 (wife of 
Wm. Bishop); Sarah A., born September 
23, 1873. George S., born October 22, 
1879. Mr. Cornell was deputy sheriff 
under Capt. Anderson in 1875. 



RW. FARE (deceased) was born in 
Ohio, July 23, 1832. His parents 
moved to Boone county. 111., when 
he was seven years old, and there he was 
reared on a farm and had few opportu- 
nities for obtaining an education as the 
country was new and sparsely settled. 
He proved to be an industrious youth, 
however, and took advantage of everj^ 
opportunity presented him for self-cul- 
ture. In this way he managed to secure 
a fair business education, which proved a 
a great boon to him in after life. 

In 1855 he was married to Miss Mar}' 
C. Mullen. She was a native of New 
York and born August 10, 1838. She was 
a daughter of Philip and Rachael (Canty) 
Mullen, the former a native of New York 
and the latter of Wales. Her parents 
located in Illinois in 1852, and in 1871 
they came to Nebraska, where her father 
died in 1884. 

Soon after marriage Mr. Farr concluded 
to immigrate to Iowa, then being rapidly 
settled by Eastern people. He finally 
located near Fayette, Fa^'ette county, 
that state, where he purchased a farm and 
entered upon the quiet pursuits of agricul- 



464 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



ture, but liis success ii\ tliis line was fre- 
quently interrupted by ill-health. He suf- 
fered from frequent and serious attacks of 
a complicated natui'e and at one time he 
was confined to his room most of the time 
for four years. He finally disposed of his 
farm and moved to town, engaging in the 
liver}' business, but was sick so much of 
the time that he was unable to attend to 
his affaii's in a satisfactory^ manner, so he 
finally disposed of his business and con- 
cluded to try his fortune further West. 
He set out for Nebraska, where he arrived 
in March, 1871, locating in Hall county, 
near Grand Island. He took a homestead, 
which he sold six years later and located 
in Buffalo county, where he took a tree claim 
in Cherry Creek township in August, 1877, 
but sold this in a few years and purchased 
a quarter section of railroad land in the 
same vicinity. He began breaking and 
otherwise improving until he made it one 
of the most attractive farms in the com- 
munity. During these years he sufl'ered 
from the usual anno3'ances incident to the 
early settlement of this part of the coun- 
try. The crops were either entii'ely des- 
troyed by the grasshoppers or were injured 
by hail or drouth. Mr. Farr, though suf- 
eringfrom ill health, was a man of remark- 
able courage and determination and was 
always of a jovial disposition and never 
appeared discouraged, although his pa- 
tience was many a time put to a severe 
test. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Farr were born two 
sons— Earnest H., born February 6, 1857, 
now a prosperous young farmer, and Levi 
J., born August 22, 1875. The last named 
has had poor health for some time, and 
the fond parents, thinking a change of cli- 
mate would prove beneficial to the invalid 



youtl), spent a year and a half in Tennes- 
see, returning in the spring of 1887. Mr. 
Farr seemed to have gained renewed vital- 
ity as well as his son, and upon his return 
began his farm work. He was taken sud- 
denly ill, however, and died on the fif- 
teenth day of July, 1887. Mr. Farr was a 
man who never lacked for friends and 
who enjoyed the confidence and esteem of 
all who knew him. To his faithful wife, 
who bestowed her tender care and sym- 
path\' through all his years of sickness, he 
was ever grateful. 



WILLIAM McLELLAN is a 
prosperous farmer living eight 
miles north of Kearney in 
Divide township. He was born Novem- 
ber 18, 1837, at "Washington C. H., Fay- 
ette county, Ohio, and is the sixth in a 
familj' of twelve children born to AYilliam 
S. and Margaret (Wright) McLellan, who 
were natives of New England ; the former, 
a farmer by occupation, was born at Port- 
land, Me., in 1795 ; the latter was born in 
1810. The other members of the paternal 
family are as follows — Maria L., Mary 
J., Eliza, Alfred, Theodoi-e, Joseph, Eliza- 
beth E., Maggie, Horton H., Oscar 
W. and Frank. His paternal grand- 
father, Joseph McLellan, was of 
Scotch-Irish descent, and was born 
April 18, 1762. He was captain of a 
boat on the Atlantic ocean, and the chart 
which he used has been handed down 
and is now in the possession of our sub- 
ject. William in his earl}' days attended 
school in the country until a rudimentary 
education was obtained, after which he 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



465 



attended the high school in Washington 
C. H. lie engaged in farming until the 
war broke out, and on April 2o, 1801, he 
responded to his country's call, enlisting in 
the Twenty -second regiment, Ohio volun- 
teers. He accompanied his regiment to 
Parkersburgh and Clarksburgh, Va., and 
was mustered out at the expiration of his 
time,August 19, 1861, at Athens, Ohio. He 
returned home and remained two months 
and then re-enlisted October 19, as a 
musician, with the same regiment, playing 
lirst baritone. The first engagement of 
note under this enlistment was the battle 
of Shiloh, where, on account of many of 
the soldiers being sick, the band boys left 
their horns in their tents and took guns, 
participating throughout the fight. In 
pursuance of an order sent out from 
head-quarters to discharge all band men 
who desired to go, he was mustered out 
April 24, 1862. He returned home for a 
short time, but the old war fever was too 
strong within him for resistance, and he 
accordingly volunteered August 9, 1862, 
and continued in the service until the close 
of the war. He did guard duty at Wash- 
ington city, was with Kilpatrick on his 
raid to Richmond, and in ail participated 
in seventeen battles, including the battles 
of Gettysburg, Brandy station (at which 
battle he had his horse shot from under 
him) and manj' others of note. He was 
discharged June 13, 1865. 

Mr. McLellan was married August 26, 
1862, just before returning to the war the 
thiril time, to Mary E. Saunders, which 
union has resulted in the birth of elevenchil- 
dren, as follows — William, born Decem- 
ber 28, 1863 ; Nella, born August 5, 186.-5 ; 
Charles, January 28, 1867 ; Etta, January 
31, 1869 ; Harry, March 13, 1871 ; Edwin, 



Februai'y 13, 1873; Alvora, January 19, 
1875; Maggie, March 4, 1878; Ilorton, 
December 8, 1883 ; Oscar, Se))tember 13, 
1885 ; and Grace, born September IS, 1887. 
Mr. and Mrs. McLellan continued to re- 
side in Fayette county, Oliio, until March, 
ISSO, when they came West and located 
on their present farm in Divide township, 
which they have greatly improved, hav- 
ing built a neat frame dwelling and put 
one hundred and thirty aci-es of their 
quarter section under cultivation. They 
are both active members of the Methodist 
church, he having been one of the trustees 
of the first organization in their commu- 
nity. Mr. McLellan, politically, is a stanch 
republican, and is now serving as the clerk 
of his town. 



WILLIAM G. PATTERSON is 
one of the earliest settlers of 
Divide township, Buffalocounty, 
having located here in the early seventies, 
when but twenty-one 3'ears of age. He 
was born in Wayne county, Pa., July 27, 
1853. His father, Robert Patterson, was 
a native of Ireland, born in the year 1827. 
His mother, Jane (Henry) Patterson, was 
also a native of Ireland, and was born in 
1830. When William was one and a half 
years old his parents moved to New York, 
where they resided for nine years, after 
which they returned to Leadsdale, Wayne 
county. Pa. Remaining there two years, 
they next moved to Lincoln county, Wis., 
where they resided for two years, daring 
which time William attended the neigh- 
boring school. In 1869 he, in company 
with his parents, returned to Wa3'ne 
county. Pa., where he served a three- 



466 



BUfFALO COUNTY. 



3'ears" apprenticeship at the tinner's 
trade. In the spring of 1872 he went to 
Chicago, where, on account of the big fire 
the fall before, there was great demand 
for workmen at his trade, and there he 
was emplo\-ed on the dome of the great 
exposition building and many other struct- 
ures of note. He remained in Chicago, 
working at his trade, for two years, and 
in April, 187J:, came West and located in 
Buffalo county, Xebr. He farmed and 
worked at his trade in Kearnej' the first 
year, and the following year devoteii his 
time exclusively to farming, putting out a 
large crop of corn, oats and wheat, from 
which he harvested a fair crop. In 1876 
he put out forty acres of wheat, ten acres 
of corn and seven acres of oats, which 
were entirely destroyed by the grasshop- 
pers; and he, like many others, was 
obliged to haul corn from Smith Centre, 
Kans., a distance of one hundred and 
twent\'-five miles. When Mr. Patterson 
first came to this county deer and antelope 
were plentiful and some elk were still to 
be found. He hunted considerably in 
those days, and reports having killed both 
deer and elk. His well-improved farm, 
Ijnng north of Kearney, in Divide town, 
ship, speaks of itself of his prosperity since 
coming to this county. 

Mr. Patterson was married February 
27, 1877. to Florence E. Cornell, who w^as 
born November 17, 1860, and is the 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Cor- 
nell, whose biographical memoir appears 
elsewhere in this volume. The union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Patterson has resulted in 
the birth of two children — George H. 
born November 14, 1878, and Stella A., 
born January 23, 1880. In politics Mr. 
Patterson is independent. 



/t AEOX HEDGES is of the line of 
/ \ a thrifty Maryland famil}', who 
J_ \_ were pioneers of that state. His 
father was Moses Hedges, born in 
Maryland, in 1799, and in early child- 
hood was taken by his parents to Virginia 
and remained there till 1861; thence he 
removed to Woodford county, III., and 
there remained till death, which occurred 
in 1872. He was a republican in politics. 
For a number of years Mr. Heiiges was 
connected with the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which he was an active member 
and liberal supporter. He married Miss 
Nanc}"^ Jones, a native of Virginia, and to 
them were born eight children, namely — 
David (died in 1868); Mary Ann, lives in 
Dawson county, Nebr.; Aaron ; Sarah, 
wife of Mr. Ward, a retired farmer, and 
M. T., in Kansas. Three died in infancy. 
The subject, Aaron Hedges, is a native of 
Virginia and was born in 1831. In 1864 
he moved to Woodford county, 111., and 
thence to Nebraska, in 1881, settling on 
section 20, township 9, range 18 west. 
Elm Creek township, BuS'alo county. 

In 1851 Mr. Hedges began life for himself 
with only a strong boiiy and willing hands. 
His first earnings were invested in cattle, 
which proved to be a good investment. 
He continued to be prosperous till 1873, 
being worth at that time $22,000, when 
a firm, in which he had implicit confidence, 
failed; leaving him a security' to pay 
$16,000. He remarked " I have made it 
once and I can make it again." In 1873 
he began a second time, and at present 
has 720 acres of land, fifty-three horses 
and 220 head of cattle, in company with 
his son. 

Mr. Hedges was married to Miss Linsey, 
a native of Virginia, born in 1831, and an 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



407 



active member in the Metliodist Episcopal 
church for a number of years. Their 
union was blessed with an only son, 
Joshua K. (born 1851, died October, 1889). 
After the death of his wife, Mr. Hedges, in 
1873, married Miss Sarah Boyd, a native 
of Illinois, and a graduate of Eureka Col- 
lege, that state. Mr. and Mrs. Hedges are 
both members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. Their union has been blessed 
with four children, namely — Charles 
(born 1S74, died 188{i); Brook Taimage 
(born 1875); Ula (born 1877); Ella (born 
1880). 



JAMES SMITH. A history of Buffalo 
county, containing biographical men- 
tion of her prosperous farmers would 
be incomplete without the name of 
James Smith. He is the son of Robert 
and Nancy (Crawford) Smith, both natives 
of Ireland, who came to America, in 1827, 
to make their future home. Eobert Smith 
first located at Paterson,N. J., remaininer 
ten years; thence he moved to York State, 
where he remained three years, and from 
there to Monroe county, Mich., in 1840, 
where he remained until his death, which 
occurred in 1865. Just previous to death 
he called his children to his bedside and 
his parting counsel was for all to live a 
Christian life. When he had finished 
speaking he gently and peacefull^^ fell 
asleep. Mr. Smith was a consistent and 
much beloved member of the Congrega- 
tional church and was strongly opposed 
to secret orders. In the community in 
which he lived he was alwavs hii;]ilv es- 
teemed for his upright and honorable 



dealing, and his word was considered as 
good as his note. His occupation was 
farming, but in Paterson, N. J., he was 
engaged in weaving. He bore the repu- 
tation of being a good financier and was 
very prosperous in all his work. In poli- 
tics he was a republican. Mrs. Nancy 
(Crawford) Smith was born in 1797, 
and was also an active member of the 
Congregational church for j'ears. She was 
a kind and affectionate mother, with a 
heart full of sympathy for persons in pov- 
erty or distress. She survived her hus- 
band twent^'-one years, and departed this 
life in 1886, well prepared to enter the 
"Heavenly Rest." She bore eight chil- 
dren, six of whom still live to mourn Tier 
loss — Jane (deceased), James, John, who 
lives in Los Angeles, Cal.; Robert, who 
lives on a homestead in Michigan; Thomas, 
Sarah (Mrs. Graham), Nancy (deceased), 
Martha (Mrs. Kimball), living on Indiana 
avenue, Chicago. 

James Smith, the subject, was born 
April 15, 1823, in New Jersey. He re- 
mained with his parents on the farm until 
twenty-one years of age. He then went 
to Toledo, Ohio, and in 1883 migrated to 
Nebraska, settling on section 19, town- 
ship 9, range 18 west. He now owns five 
hundred and sixt}' acres of good land, due 
to industr}', but his prosperity has not 
caused him to forget the " Giver of all 
good," and he stands an active member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, ever 
ready to respond to the calls of charity. 
He has been blessed with two children to 
bring cheer to his declining 3'ears — Julia 
Augusta, a graduate of the Toledo high 
scliool and a teacher for several terms, but 
now at home with her father, and James 
Joshua, also at home. 



4fi8 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



JOHN TYLER. Prominent among 
tlie early pioneers of Buffalo county 
is the subject of this sketch. His 
father was Joseph Tyler, a native of 
France, born in 1801, and who came to 
America in 1829, settling in Buffalo, N. 
Y. There for awhile he followed his 
trade — weaving. From Buffalo he moved 
to Burlington, Racine county, Wis., where 
he continued at his trade and also engaged 
in farming to some extent. From Wis- 
consin he moved to Elm Creek, Nebr., 
where he died in 1SS4. He was a kind 
and generous man, and from childhood 
was a devoted member of the Catholic 
church. His marriage took place in 
France to a Miss Barbara Ring, born in 
ISO-l, and likewise a devoted member of 
tlie Catholic church from childliood. She 
was a woman dearly beloved by all who 
knew her, and departed this life, May 9, 
1S80, four years previous to her husband. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Tyler were born 
the following children — Barbara, de- 
ceased ; Joseph, who died in Andersonville 
prison, after a confinement of thirteen 
months ; Jacob, living in Sterling, Nebr.; 
Catherine, now Mrs. Arendt ; John, the 
subject of this sketch, and Josephine, who 
died in 1885. John Tyler was born in 
1841, in Buffalo, N. Y. " While in Wiscon- 
sin he began life for himself by engaging 
in the lumbering business. In 1873 he 
came to Elm Creek, Nebr., and engaged in 
mercantile business, in which he continued 
for ten or eleven years, and since then he 
has farmed. At one time he took a 
homestead along the Platte river but 
traded it for a sjjotted coach dog. He 
then settled on section 28, township 9, 
range 18, and also owns one- fourth of sec- 
tion 20, townshii) 9, range IS. Mr. Tyler 



is a member of the Catholic church, as is 
also his wife — Mrs. Bridget (Rodgers) 
Tj'ler. She was born in New Brunswick in 
1813, and when ten \'ears old moved with 
her parents to Carlton, Kewaunee county, 
Wis., and there was married in 1865. To 
this union have been born seven children 
— Josephine (Mrs. Loible), living in Elm 
Creek; John, who died when eight years 
old ; Joseph, Charlie, Freddie, Georgieand 
Eddie at home. 



EDWARD FITZGERALD, one of 
Buffalo county's most prosperous 
farmers, is a son of Patrick and 
Kate Fitzgerald, natives of county Water- 
ford, Ireland. The father died in 1860, 
and was a man kindly thought of for his 
many good qualities. Both father and 
mother were devoted members of the 
Catholic church, and were the parents of 
eight children, viz. — Kate (deceased), 
Ellen and Lawrence (at home), Edward 
deceased), James (in Australia), 
Matthew, Edward and Mary (Mrs. 
Coffee). 

Edward Fitzgerald, the subject of this 
sketch, is also a native of county Water- 
ford, Ireland. He came to America in 
1875, first settling in Nebraska ; he 
then moved to Colorado, where he 
remained for six years. In the year 
1881, he returned to Nebraska, locating in 
Elm Creek township, Buffalo county, and 
settling on section 26, township 9, range 
18 west, where he now resides. By 
economy and industry Mr. Fitzgerald has 
accumulated enough property to be called 
"well off"' and he sustains an enviable 
reputation for honesty. He apparently 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



469 



makes it a rule of life to " Owe no man 
anything." In 1881 he was married to 
Miss Kate Coflfee, a native of county 
Waterford, Ireland, born in ISo-l. Mr. 
and Mrs. Fitzgerald are both members of 
the Catholic church. Politically, Mr. 
Fitzgerald is a democrat, and is now serv- 
ins: as school treasurer. 



JOHN LUCE, a prosperous farmer in 
Gardner township, Buffalo count}'^, 
was born in Wyoming count}', Pa., 
November 20, 1831, and is the son qi 
Abram and Amanda (Osier) Luce. The 
senior Luce was born in New Jersey, in 
1804, and after marriage settled in Penn- 
sjdvania. He was a wagon-maker by 
trade, but devoted most of his time to 
farming. He died in 1869. 

John Luce, the subject of this sketch, 
was the youngest of a family of six chil- 
dren. His mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Amanda Osier, died when he was 
but six days old, and he was reared by his 
grandparents. His youthful ambition was 
to be a carpenter and he began serving an 
apprenticeship at sixteen. After an expe- 
rience of four years he was obliged to 
quit work on account of trouble with his 
eves, and for two years he was entirel}' 
blind. 

He regained his eyesight, however, in 
time to offer his services to the govern- 
ment before the war closed. He joined the 
Second Pennsylania heavy artillery, and 
saw some hard fighting in the battles of 
the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Petersburg 
and Richmond. He helped tear up the Wel- 
don i-ailroad and was stationed at Peters- 
burg for nine months after Lee's surrender. 
He was discharged January 29, 1866. 



In March, 1878, he emigrated from 
Pennsylvania to Buffalo county, Nebr., 
taking up a soldier's homestead in Gard- 
ner township. His was the fifth family 
to settle in the township, and it was some 
time before there was any settlement to 
speak of in his immediate locality. He came 
to this country with very limited means 
and was compelled to practice economy in 
every way possible. He built a sod house 
and began breaking the prairie prepara- 
tory to planting a small crop the follow- 
ing season. He paid $2.50 per acre to 
have fifteen acres of sod broke, and 
worked, himself, at sixty cents a day to 
pay for it. There were no regularly laid 
out roads in those days, and every trav- 
eler selected his own route. He made 
frequent trips to the Loup for fuel, and 
during: the long and severe winter of 
1880-81 he was obliged to burn hay and 
cornstalks for fuel. 

John Luce was united in marriage, 
October 17, 1858, to Miss Annie MaGee. 
She was born in Susquehannah count}'. 
Pa., October 5, 1888, and is the daughter 
of Ebenezer and Lucy (Root) MaGee, the 
former a native of New York and the lat- 
ter of Connecticut. Her father died in 
February, 1876, and her mother in 1885. 
Mr. and Mrs. Luce have had six children 
— Riley W., Benny (deceased), Mary 
(deceased), Charley, George and Ella E. 

In April, 1885, Mr. Luce was instru- 
mental in establishing the Luce postofiice, 
and has since been the postmaster. He is 
a member of the I. O. O. F. and Farmers' 
Alliance, and is independent in politics. 
He is one of the leading farmers in the 
township, and enjoys tlie confidence and 
esteem of all who know him. 



470 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



K 



LBEET G. WELCH, one of the 
enterprising and well-to-do citi- 
zens of Gardner township, Buffalo 
county, was born in Vermont, March 10, 
1854. His parents, George W. and Electa 
M. (Cone}') Welch, were both natives of 
the Green Mountain State and moved to 
Illinois in the spring of 1856, when Albert 
was only two j^ears old. The family set- 
tled in Henry county, where they re- 
mained for ten years. In 1866 they 
moved to Cass county, Iowa, where the 
father died in 1871. He was a farmer all 
his life, a zealous member of the Meth- 
odist church and a man respected and ad- 
mired for his many good qualities. 

Albert G. was the eldest of a family of 
six children. His educational advantages 
were limited to the common district school, 
which he attended during the winter 
months while engaged in assisting his 
father on the home place. Being brought 
up on a farm his natural inclinations 
seemed to run along on that line, and when 
he arrived at his majority he conckuled to 
adopt farming as his vocation through life. 

Mr. Welcli, being of an ambitious 
nature, believed the West offered greater 
opportunities to a young man just starting 
in life than the older settled states. In 
1878 he came to Buffido county, Nebr., with 
the fixed determination of securing a home 
no matter what obstacles he might meet 
with. It was the last day in December, 
1878, when he filed his papers on the 
northwest quarter of section 8, in Gard- 
ner township. 

He built a dug-out in a convenient jilace, 
and settled down for the wiater. He 
brougiit two teams, some cattle and about 
$200 in money with him from Iowa. A 
few settlers were erecting houses in the 



neighborhood, but the settlers were few 
and far between. His claim was located 
on the very backbone of the divide be- 
tween the Loup and Platte rivers, and he 
could stand on one spot and look over into 
four counties. When spring ojiened he 
went seven miles to find ground enough 
broke that he could rent to plant some 
potatoes and corn. The second year he 
purchased a riding plow and his good wife 
broke sod while he did the planting. She 
also helped him put up sixty tons of hay 
that fall. There was plenty of deer, ante- 
lope and other wild game roaming about 
the bluffs, and the settlers who cared to 
shoot them could keep themselves well 
supplied with fresh meats. The Welch 
ranch was headquarters for some time for 
cattlemen driving their herds from the 
south Loup country to Grand Island to 
market. It was the only place on the 
route where they could corral and get 
water, and they always made it a point to 
stop over night when passing through 
that country. 

The first two or three years in the new 
country tried the courage of the settler. 
Mr. Welch was no exception to the rule, 
lie had come with limited means and had 
hard work to cope with the many disap- 
pointments and make both ends meet. In 
the fall of 1879 he procured emplojnnent 
in the mill race at Shelton and the money 
thus earned proved of great assistance. He 
often went sixty miles after timber with 
which to build sheds to shelter his stock. 

Mr. Welch was married Jul}' 2, 1874, 
the lad}' whom he selected as his compan- 
ion through life being Miss Amy Ayels- 
woi'th. She was born in McIIenry county, 
111., July 20, 1856. She was a daughter 
of William II. and Amanda (Gardner) 




A H. CONNOR. 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



4?3 



Ayelswortb, both of whom were natives 
of New York. The}' immigrated to Illi- 
nois in 184S, where her father died in 
1870. He was a tailor b}' trade but fol- 
lowed farming the latter part of ins life. 

Mr. and Mrs. "Welch have had two chil- 
dren, viz. — Flora A., born September 7, 
1877, died December 16, 1887, and Theron 
Earl, born February 13, 1886. 

Mr. Welch has one hundred and si.Kty 
acres of choice land, which he has supplied 
with all modern improvements. He has 
taken great pains in raising fruit and has 
one of the finest young apple orchards in 
the county. It comprises over four hun- 
dred thrifty trees which are beginning to 
bear handsomely. He has a large variety 
of the smaller fruits growing and is recog- 
nized as one of the most successful fruit- 
growers in the county. He also takes con- 
siderable pride in stock-raising and is just 
entering upon a successful career in that 
line. 



GEN. ALEXANDER H. CON- 
NOR. General Connor's father, 
William Connor, was of Irish ex- 
traction, was born in Pennsylvania and 
raised in Michigan and Indiana. In 
western Pennsylvania, while a lad, he was 
captured by the Indians and taken to 
Fort Detroit, Mich., where he was re- 
leased and conducted by white settlers to 
the Northwest Territory, now southeast 
Indiana, where he finally located near the 
present town of Brookville, and where he 
was for many years a surveyor and In- 
dian trader. Inured to the dangers and 
hazards of pioneer hfe, he was a typical 



frontiersman. He founded ConnorsviUe, 
Ind., where he resided man}' years, after- 
wards moving to Hamilton county, that 
state, and then to Noblesville, where he 
died in 18.55. He was a member of the 
Indiana legislature and held a number of 
minor positions in different localities 
where he lived. Like the earl}' settlers of 
that period, he served in the Indian wars, 
and participated in the battle of Tippeca- 
noe, the importance of which made the 
elder Harrison president of the United 
States. He rested at the ripe age of 
seventy-five. 

The maiden name of General Connor's 
mother was Elizabeth Chapman, and she 
was a native of New York. She is still 
living, having attained the great age of 
eighty-six. 

Alexander H. Connor was born in Ham- 
ilton county, Ind., in 1832. He was 
reared on his father's farm and received 
such an education as the common schools 
of that period afforded. He studied law 
under the tuition of Judge Earl S. Stone, 
afterward attending the New York law 
school, and was admitted to the bar at 
Noblesville in 1854, where he practiced 
till 1856, when he was elected a member 
of the state legislature. After serving his 
term in the legislature he located at 
Indianapolis, where he resided for a num- 
ber of years, practicing his profession, 
taking an active part in the politics of 
the state, and being prominently con- 
nected with local interests in and around 
the capital city. In 1860 he was chosen 
chairman of the Indiana state republican 
central committee, and by his political 
sngacity and leadership the state threw 
its support to Lincoln. He was thus 
honored in 1862, 186G and 1868. He was 



4?4 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



appointed postmaster at Indianapolis in 
1861 by President Lincoln in recognition 
of his valuable political services, and 
held this position till the tragic death of 
Lincoln made Andrew Johnson president ; 
then he tendered his resignation in antic- 
ipation of being removed. From 1862 to 
1871 he was interested in the Indianapolis 
Journal, then the leading party organ 
of the state, and now one of the repre- 
sentative papers of the West. His news- 
paper experience, while a success politic- 
ally, was a failure financially, and to 
free it from the embarrassment of debt. 
General ^Connor gave up the hard earn- 
ings of a successful career and began life 
again almost penniless. As many others 
had done, he turned his face westward, 
and in September, 1S72, he formed a part- 
nership with F. G. Ilamer in the practice 
of law, which continued till Judge Ilamer 
went on the bench. 

General Connor possesses an aptitude 
for politics. He was a member of the 
constitutional convention in 1874, presi- 
dential elector in 1876, and has been 
elected to the senate three times, and is 
serving his third term at the present 
time. His sterling integrity gives him a 
hold upon the people that renders his 
political aspirations devoid of opposi- 
tion. 

His chosen profession has been the 
ambition of his life, and success has 
attended his efforts in this direction. 
He is a logical thinker, eloquent speaker, 
ripe lawyer, able legislator, good citizen, 
beloved neighbor, earnest, liberal, pro- 
oressive and charitable without stint. He 
seems to have inherited the world-famed 
patriotic eloquence of the sons of old 
Erin. "Whether on the hustings, the ros- 



trum, or in the forum, the pathos of his 
earnest appeals, the rhetoric of a silver 
tongue, and the logic of a well-drilled 
legal mind, carry his audiences away. As 
an orator, he has few equals in the state, 
and the secret of this dramatic power 
lies in his profound earnestness. He will 
live in the history of Nebraska, for he 
has helped to make it. 



CAELTONB. CASS, editor, publish- 
er and proprietor of the Ravenna 
News, is a native of Albany, N. Y., 
and was born June 9, 1867. He is a son 
of Horatio G. and Mary (Babcock) Cass, 
natives also of ISTew York and descend- 
ants of old York State ancestors. His 
parents came "West in 1875 and settled in 
in Aurora, Hamilton count}', this state, 
where they now live, his father being 
superintendent of the water works. 

The subject of this sketch started out 
for himself at the age of thirteen, entering 
the office of the Hamilton county News, 
where he began to master the rudiments 
of the " art preservative." In 1886, then 
eighteen years old, he went to Eavenna, 
Buifalo county, and started the Ravenna 
Star, this being his first newspaper venture. 
After running this successful!}' for some 
time he sold it out and went then to 
Stratton, in Hitchcock county, this state, 
where he established the Stratton Democrat. 
He conducted this successfully for more 
than a 3'ear, when he sold it out and re- 
turned to Ravenna and bought the N'eios, 
of wiiich he is now editor, publisher and 
proprietor. Mr. Cass is a bo)'n and bred 
newspaper man. He has a strong liking 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



475 



for the business, is a good rustler and a 
reaily and forcible writer, and possesses 
decided convictions and is fearless and out- 
spoken in opinion. He has a taste for 
politics and has been somewhat active in 
political matters. He is a thorough hater 
of pretense and profession, and scourges 
vice and iniquity with a vigorous hand 
wherever he finds it. In politics he 
inclines towards the democratic faith, but 
conducts his paper as an independent 
organ. He is young, ambitious, and 
posesses the will to do and the soul to 
dare. He is a hard worker, and is atten- 
tive to business. Although active in 
politics he has never sought office for 
himself, being content to pursue his own 
business purposes. He is public-spirited, 
however, and has attended several con- 
ventions and associations of a political and 
social nature. He is pleasant and com- 
panionable in common intercourse and as 
kind and accommodatino- a gentleman as 
one could hope to meet. 



LJ. EABCOCK is a representative 
business man of the town of Gib- 
> bon, Buffalo county. He is not 
an old timer, strictly speaking, and the 
record of his experiences does not, there- 
fore, begin with the date of the settlement 
of the colony. He located in Gibbon, 
October 20, 1875, four years and a half 
after the colony was started. He struck 
the receding end of the grasshopper 
season and got a few breaths of hot air 
from the dry years. He saw something 
of the historic hard times. Still he is 
a man of more recent growth than the 



original old settlers. But he is, like 
them, almost a product of the soil. He 
came West, as most men do, with little 
or nothing. He started in, as the com- 
mon saying goes,on the bottom round of the 
ladder. He is not yet either rich or 
famous, but he has secured a footing and, 
as appearances indicate, is in a fair way to 
get on in the world. Tlie steps by which 
he has risen have necessarily been slow 
and tedious. His case at the outset of his 
career did not differ very widely from that 
of the average young man who comes 
West in pursuit of fortune. His methods 
and their results, however, have been 
decidedly different. 

But few young men come West with a 
settled determination to locate in one 
place and by hard and persistent effort 
build up a business and a character which 
will serve them in years to come. The 
race for wealth, the contest for glory, 
becomes too absorbing to admit of the 
tedious processes of growth. It is worthy 
of note (and the fact is here emphasized 
because of the rarity of its occurrence), 
that the subject of this sketch, when he 
decided to stay in the West, made up his 
mind to locate in one place and remain 
there. His purpose was to grow with 
the place. He began at once to gather 
a practical knowledge of his intended bus- 
iness, of his surroundings and of the 
people among whom he expected to live. 

Mr. Babcock served an apprenticeship 
to the tinner's trade in his youth and 
worked at it as a journe3'man after grow- 
ing up. lie was master of the craft when 
he came to Nebraska. It was the chosen 
business of his life. On settling he at 
once secured a location and opened a 
shop. In connection therewith he opened 



476 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



a small stock of hardware and tinware. 
His start in accordance with his means 
was modest. His chief income came from 
his labor at the bench. But as the town 
and county settled np, the demand for 
iroods and wares in his line increased and 
his business prospered from year to year 
until now he owns the best equipped 
establisiiment of the kind in the town of 
Gibbon, and one which woixld be a credit 
to a town having twice the population 
that Gibbon has. Mr. Babcock has 
worked steadily at his trade during all 
these years and yet continues to do so. 
He has a business in the general line of 
hardware, which would reasonably occupy 
his entire time and attention, provided he 
chose to devote his time and attention to 
it. But he does not. This he carries on by 
means of a clerk while he, himself, works 
at the bench. Perhaps the explanation of 
this is to be found in the fact that compe- 
tent clerks are plentiful while competent 
journeyman tinners are not. Certainly 
the fact illustrates one of the chief sources 
of his success. Besides his mercantile 
business, Mr. Babcock has an interest in 
the First National bank of Gibbon, being 
a stock-holder therein and a member of 
the boards of directors. He was one of 
the organizing members of this institution. 
Recurring to Mr. Babcock's earlier 
personal and ancestoral history, it will be 
in keeping with the character and pur- 
pose of this article to record that he was 
born in "Walworth county, Wis., October 
2, ISoi. He was reared there and lived 
there till coming to Nebraska in 1875. 
He received an ordinary common-school 
education and was early apprenticed to 
the tinner's trade, a trade he mastered and 
the business he has since followed. He 



is a son of James and Lovie (Koberts) 
Babcock, his parents both being natives 
of the town of Plattsburg on Lake Cham- 
plain, Vt. They were married there and 
moved West soon after and settled in Wal- 
worth county, Wis. There the mother 
died in 1856, in middle life, leaving a fam- 
ily of five children, of whom the subject, 
of this sketch is next to the youngest, the 
others being three sons and a daugh- 
ter — Charles, Justina, Wesley and Marion. 
Mr. Babcock's father, after a second 
marriage, lived some years in Wisconsin, 
dying in his adopted county, Wal- 
worth, in 1862, somewhat advanced in 
years. He was throughout life a farmer 
being a plain substantial representative 
of his calling. 

In his own domestic relations Mr. 
Babcock has been as fortunate as 
the average man. He was married, 
in July, 1876, to Miss Elizabeth Thomas, 
of Walworth county, Wis. His wife was 
reared in the same community with him- 
self, but is a native of New York State. 
Her parents moved West years ago and 
settled in Walworth county. Wis., where 
her father died and where her mother yet 
lives and her grandmother too. 

Being a descendant of New England 
stock, Mr. Babcock retains man}^ of the 
characteristics of his people. His patience, 
his industry, his perseverance, his econom- 
ical habits and his business sagacity, come 
largely from this source. In addition he 
received a correct early training. He was 
brought up in accordance with the New 
England idea of rearing children to callings 
of usefulness. He was imbued with no 
unreal views of life! The fact was placed 
before his mind, in an exceedingly compre- 
hensible form, that the matter of living is 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



477 



a serious problem to be solved in a practi- 
cal way. His methods, tiierefore, are the 
methods of the man of business. He is 
plain in manner, pointed in speech, practi- 
cal in means, and punctilious in all things. 
He is devoted exclusively to business. 

He is engrossed with his own personal 
concerns. He makes no pretension in the 
matter of religion or politics. Asa citizen 
lie takes an interest in matters of general 
concern, at least as far as all good citizens 
are expected to. He gives to worthy 
purposes in proportion to his means. He 
is a zealous member of the Ancient Order 
of United Workmen, and his benevolent 
impulses take the practical shape incul- 
cated by that fraternity. 



JOHN M. BAYLEY. Any list of the 
old settlers of Buffalo count}', however 
long, would be incomplete without 
mention of the name of John M. 
Bayley, of the town of Gibbon. Any 
record of the early experience of the first 
settlers of the county would be lacking in 
interest as well as historical accuracy that 
did not include the personal reminiscence 
of this gentleman. Mr. Bayley is an old 
settler in the strongest and most signifi- 
cant sense of the phrase. He was in Ne- 
braska years before Buffalo county was 
ever thought of — when all the country 
now comprised within this county was part 
of the great domain of the northwest, and 
marked on the map as practically unin- 
habitable. Mr. Bayley came to Nebraska 
in April, 1857, three years after the terri- 
tory was organized, and when it had a 
population of only a few thousand settled 



in widely scattered communities, and not 
a village of over one hundred souls. He 
therefore saw the country almost in its 
primitive state, and gazed with his own 
eyes on the enchanting picture presented 
by the poet when he directed the eyes of 
the beholder in these fines : 

"Behold the prairie, broad and grand and free ; 
'Tis God's own garden, unprofaned by man." 

Mr. Bayle\' was one of a colony of 
Pennsylvanians, twenty' -seven in number, 
who made their way with ox teams and 
pack horses to the state, or ratiier terri- 
tory, years before the railroads had belted 
the country with their glistening bands of 
steel or even the cumbersome stagecoaches 
had penetrated far into the interior, off 
the main line of overland travel to the 
gold fields of the Pacific coast. A minute 
description of the mode of travel and the 
manner of living at that early date, would 
hardly be appropriate in a sketch like this, 
those things belonging more properly to 
the history of the state — but it ma}' be 
here recorded with truth and historical 
accuracy, that Mr. Bayley was a pioneer 
in those days and lived the life of a pioneer 
with all that the term implies. The colony 
of which he was a member settled near 
Table Rock in Pawnee county, which was 
then considerably beyond the outposts of 
civilization. Most of the members took 
up land in that vicinity and many of them 
made permanent improvements. Some, 
however, returned to the old state as is usual 
in such cases ; others moved on west and 
still others scattered off, settling in differ- 
ent localities. Mr. Bayley remained in 
Nebraska till tiie fall of 1857, when, being 
a young man and unmarried, he desired 
to see more of the world and accordingly, 



478 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



in the fall of 1857, be started soutli, pulling 
up in Arkansas a few weeks later. A large 
part of that state was then new and just 
starting up, and offered some inducements 
to young men in search of locations. But 
Mr. Bayley did not take kindl}' to the 
malaria, mosquitoes, soda biscuits and six 
shooters of the swamp-land state, and he 
remained there only a year, returning in 
December, 1858, to his native place in 
Pennsylvania. He settled down there 
and was variously engaged until 1862, 
when, the Civil war having come on, and 
calls were being made for soldiers to de- 
fend the Union, he entered the military 
service of the United States as a member 
of an independent company, organized for 
the purpose of repelling invasions of 
rebel forces into Penns^'lvania and 
especially the city of Philadelphia. He 
remained in the service of the government 
in this capacity for nearly a year, when 
the term of liis enlistment having expired, 
he remained in Philadeljjhia city, where 
he took a position on the city police force, 
which position he held for three j'ears. 
He lived there, engaged in this and other 
capacities, till 1869, when his mind again 
turned towards the great West, and in 
the fall of that year he moved to Michi- 
gan, having married in the meantime, 
settled and went into the lumber business 
on the Muskegon river. He lived in 
Michigan till 1871, coming thence to 
Nebraska and settling in Buffalo county. 
Beginning the record of his experience, 
therefore, as a resident of this county*, 
even with the year 1871, he can justly be 
numbered as one of the old settlers, for the 
settlement of the county began in that 
year. Mr. Bayley came in the spring — April 
7 — the same time the colon}' did, and, like 



most of the colonists, he was not bur- 
dened with an abundance of this world's 
goods, but came West purposel}' to better 
his condition. An actual inventory of his 
finances showed, at the date he landed in 
Buffalo county, that he had an even twenty 
dollars, his wife and babies, and a limited 
amount of household goods and wearing 
apparel. Like all the others, his first step 
was to secure land. He filed a home- 
stead claim on the northeast quarter of 
section 22, township 9, range 13, lying 
about two miles east and a little south of 
Avhere the town of Gibbon was located. 
On this he settled and began his imjn'ove- 
ments. After the first tedious stages of 
breaking and building were over, the 
invasion of the grasshoppers occurred, 
followed by the seasons of dry years 
with all their train of hardships and 
privations, through which Mr. Bayley 
passed, and of which he saw as much as 
anyone. He was not alone in his experi- 
ence in those years. He shared the lot 
that fell to all. The fact is simply 
adverted to, here in this sketch, as one of 
the incidents of his first years in the 
county, and as showing that he furnished 
his part of the patient fortitude and 
heroic endeavor that carried the little 
settlement through their trials to more 
prosperous times. Mr. Bayley has been 
engaged in farming continually since com- 
ing to the county. He lived on his farm 
up to about a ye&v ago, when he moved 
into the town of Gibbon, where he now 
resides. He has added, by purchases at 
different times, to his original homestead 
until he now owns five lumdred and 
twenty acres of as good land as there is 
in Buffalo count}', lying in Shelton town- 
ship, all of which is under cultivation, 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



479 



anil which yields an abundance of Ne- 
braska's sovereign products — corn and 
native hay. Mr. Bayley lias been 
engaged in the stock and dairying busi- 
ness since he came to the state. lie is 
one of the few men of tlie county who 
seem to have an intelligent conception of 
the possibilities of Nebraska soil, and 
who go about their work in a way to 
make it i)ay. One of his first moves the 
year after he located was to buy thirteen 
head of cou-s, in connection with Henry 
Green, a neighbor, and immediately 
embark in the dairying business. He now 
owns ovei- one hundred head, which he 
has raised from scrub stock to high 
grades and thoroughbreds, and he has 
made and sold thousands and thousands 
of pounds of butter, having some cus- 
tomers to whom he has furnished this 
wholesome domestic article for more than 
fifteen years. He is a member of the 
State Dairymen's Association, and has 
been an active worker in its interest. He 
rarely misses a county fair with his 
exhibits and it is a fact worth mentioning 
that he has never failed but once to take 
the first premium on butter at any fair 
he has entered his products. He is also 
largely interested in the breeding and 
rearing of horses, and he now has some 
improved strains and thoroughbreds, 
which he shows with commendable pride 
and which are a credit to his zeal and 
judgment in this direction. He began in 
the horse business at an early day, also hav- 
ing had the honor of raising the first span of 
colts in the county. 

Asa citizen laboring in the interest and 
welfare of his adopted county, Mr. Bayle}' 
has been equally as active and his efforts 
have met with equally as fruitful results. 



He helped to build the first school house 
in the county and heljied organize the 
first school district. Tliis was school dis- 
trict No.l, the school for which was taught 
about midway between the towns of Gib- 
bon and Shelton. Later on, when the pop- 
ulation of the district would authorize it, 
he, with others, secured a division of the old 
district, with others which were formed of 
it, and erected a new one, designated as 
No. 22, of which he became an official, 
holding the office of director for three 
vears and that of treasurer for seven. He 
is not a politician even in the mildest 
sense of the phrase and therefore we have 
no political triumphs or disasters to record 
of him. He has been content to lead the 
life of an humble citizen, contributing by 
the work of his hands to the solid pros- 
perity of his country rather than seeking 
the questionable honors that come of po- 
litical machination and personal intrigue. 
Mr. Bayley comes of a family of pio- 
neers and he gets by heredity some of the 
qualities that best fit him not only for a 
pioneer but for a useful citizen as well. 
He was born in Wayne county, Pa., Jan- 
uary 28, 1836, and his earlier years were 
passed amid scenes and incidents of a 
primitive kind even for that country, and 
among people most of whom had been the 
first settlers of that |)art of the Keystone 
State. His father, William Bayley, was a 
native of Newburyport, Mass., having been 
born there in 1702. He moved to Wayne 
county. Pa., in 1814, andsettled in Clinton 
township. He was one of the first settlers 
of the to\vnship, going into tiiat locality 
at a time when he had to cut his wa}'^ 
through the timber and make a road over 
which to move his household goods and 
farmins: utensils. He settled nine miles 



480 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



from the town of Honesdale, now the 
county seat of Wayne county, and there 
lived and died. He was identified with 
the early organization of the county and 
his own particular township, as well as 
active enterprises of a general nature. He 
held a number of smaller offices in the 
count}^ such as county commissoner, as- 
sessor, bridge and road supervisor and the 
like. He was also a member of the state 
militia, when that was one of the insti- 
tutions of the day, and he volunteered in 
the service of his country, raising a 
company of which he was elected captain 
to fight the British in the war of 1812-1-i. 
The war, however, was over before he got 
into the field with his command. For the 
most part he led a quiet, unassuming life, 
devoting himself to agriculture in which 
he succeeded reasonably well. He died 
at his old home place in Chester township 
in 1853, then in the fifty-ninth 3'ear of his 
age. He was a life-long member of the 
Baptist church, a deacon of that church 
for years, and one of the founders of the 
First Baptist Association, and the builder 
of the First Baptist church in Chester 
township, Wayne county, where he set- 
tled. He was twice married, his first wife 
bearing the maiden name of Ruth Morse, 
a native of Haverhill, Mass., and a cousin 
of the inventor of the electric telegraph, 
Samuel F. B. Morse. This lady died a 
few years after their marriage, leaving 
two sons, both of whom are now also 
dead. He married again, his second wife 
being a sister of his former one, and a na- 
tive of the same place. This lady's Chris- 
tian name is Mary A., and she is still 
living. The second marriage was solem- 
nized July 4, 1830, at Haverhill, Mass., 
and the newly wedded pair immediately 



started to their home, then in the some- 
what distant West. The fruit of this 
union was eight children, all of whom 
reached maturity and most of whom are 
now living. These are — Ruth, the wife 
of William Porter ; Mehitable, John M., 
the subject of this sketch ; Edgar S., who 
died at Hilton Head, S. C, during the late 
war, being a member of the One Hundred 
and Fourth Pennsylvania regiment. Union 
Army; Harriet, wife of Offin B. Marshall ; 
Jennett, wife of Sydney Newman; Syl- 
vester E. and Charles. 

John M. Bayley, himself, married in 
Honesdale, Wayne county, Pa., October 
30, 1860, his wife being Adeline A., daugh- 
ter of Lester Phelps and Margaret 
(Cooper) Adams. Mrs. Bayley's parents 
moved from Washington county, N. Y., 
to Wayne county. Pa., in 1830. Her 
father was a native of Troy, N. Y., and 
was by turns a farmer, tanner, shoe- 
maker and turner, a man of considerable 
mechanical genius and an industrious, 
hard-working citizen. He was killed in a 
turner's factory in Sterling, his home, 
Pa., in 1864, being then in the sixtieth 
year of his age. Mrs. Bajdey's mother 
was born in Red Hook, N. Y., and is yet 
living, having attained the great age of 
eighty-three and being at present a mem- 
ber of her daughter's household. Mrs. 
Bayley is herself one of a family of eight 
children, the full list in the order of their 
ages being as follows — Maria, wife of 
John Edwards; Henry N., Enoch N., 
John A., Thadeus Z., Adeline A. (Mrs. 
Bayley), Lester V., Aurelius Sylvester and 
Margaret T., wife of Amasa Megargill. 
Of Mrs. Bayley's -brothers all but one 
served inthe Union Army — John A., in tlie 
One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania, 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



481 



Henry N., Thadeus Z. and Aurelius Syl- 
vester in the One Hundred and Thirty- 
seventh Pennsylvania, and Lester V. in 
the Third Pennsylvania. 

Mr. and Mrs. Baylev are the parents of 
five chililren, whose christian names are — 
Ilattie, now deceased, Lester W., John A., 
Mabel A. and Nettie E. 

It would be robbing this sketch of much 
of its value and denying a good woman 
her just deserts to fail to record that 
much that Mr. Bayley is and much that he 
has is due to the efficient help of his wife, 
who has willingly seconded and materially 
aided him in all his labors, bearing all and 
more than her full share of their common 
burden. She is not only a lad\^ of great 
industry and intelligence, but she possesses 
culture and refinement, having been in her 
young womanhood a teacher for some 
years and still retaining in her later life 
her taste for the studies of her youth. 
Like all of her sex she is kind-hearted, 
ever ready to help the sick and the af- 
flicted, ministering in times of need with 
her own hands to the wants of others. 
Her pleasant home is open to friend and 
stranger alike and she dispenses therefrom 
a warm and generous hospitality. 



SPv. TRAUT, of the town of Gibbon, 
Buffalo county, is a Pennsylvanian 
bj' birth and comes of Pennsyl- 
vanian parentage. His father, Samuel 
Traut, and his mother, Sarah Royer, both 
having been born and reared in Berks 
county, that state. His parents belonged 
to pioneer families, which moved into 
northwestern Pennsylvania, where they 
met and were married, and where they 



passed the most of their lives, the mother 
dying in ISfifi and the father in ISSl, both 
in Erie county, and both well advanced 
in years. They were the parents of eight 
children, besides the subject of this sketch, 
these being four boys and four girls, by 
name and in the order of their ages as 
follows^Lydia, Reuben, William, Henr}', 
Jesse, Eliza, Ann and Margaret ; our 
subject, Samuel R., being the youngest 
and making the ninth. He was born in 
Erie county and lived tiiere until moving 
West in 1S71, being brought up on his 
father's farm, receiving a good common- 
school education and being reared to the 
habits of industry and usefulness common 
to farm life. He married in August, 1862, 
the lad}' whom he selected for a companion 
being Miss Sarah R. Shugert, daughter of 
Caleb and Ruth Shugert, of his native 
county, and began the race of life in the 
place and at the calling to which he was 
reared. He resided there till 1871, when 
having determined to move West, where 
land was more plentiful and opportunities 
for getting on in the world were better, 
he came in October of that year to Ne- 
braska and located a claim in Buffalo 
county, four and a half miles northeast of 
the newly-settled town of Gibbon. Going 
back to Pennsylvania, he returned with 
his family in the spring of 1872 and set- 
tled on his place, where he continued to 
reside for a number of years, engaged in 
farming. He saw much of the hard times, 
having passed through the grasshopper 
seasons, the dry years, the hail and all the 
trying times incident thereto, as did all 
the old settlers who remained steadfastly 
by their choice and, as they say, " toughed 
it out." After the first few years Mr. 
Traut made some progress and in more 



482 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



recent times he 'has reaped in a lai'ge 
measure tlie result of liis lirst year's labor, 
privations and hardships. He quit the 
farm in 1879 and moved into Gibbon for 
the purpose of educating his children and 
has since resided there, but retains his old 
homestead and his farming interest. Mr. 
Traut had the misfortune to lose his wife 
in ISSO, she dying that year. A j'^ear 
later he married Mrs. William Brady, of 
Gibbon, an old settler and a lady of many 
excellent qualities of head and heart. 
Mr. Traut is an intelligent, progressive, 
public-spirited citizen and one who is 
highl}^ esteemed, as is also his excellent 
wife, who is now pointed out by her 
neighbors and friends as the most heroic 
woman of the original Gibbon colony. 
Mrs. Traut certainly did have a hard time 
of it in the earlier days and she deserves 
all the praise bestowed on her for the 
courage and fortitude she has displayed. 
She and her first husband came to Buffalo 
county with the Soldiers' Free Homestead 
Colony, coming from New York State. 
William Brady was a native of Ireland. 
He came to America when a lad, grew up 
in New York, enlisted in the Union army 
from that state, served during the war, 
married in Washington county, New 
York, in 1865, and lived there till 1871, 
when he came West, settling at Gibbon. 
He was killed by an accident in the sum- 
mer of 1873 while making brick for the 
court house then being erected, his being 
the first death in the township. By his 
death Mrs. Brady with four little children 
was left to make her way as she could. She 
had only her homestead and, as it may be 
guessed, her lot was by no means an eas}^ 
one. But by industry and good manage- 
ment she held on to her homestead, kept 



her' children together and reared them, 
giving to each the benefit of a good edu- 
cation. Mrs. Brady is herself a native 
also of the " Emerald Isle," coming to 
America when a girl and stopjnng in New 
York, where she met and was married to 
William Brady. By this union she has 
four children as noted above, all of whom 
are now grown, these being three daugh- 
ters and a son — Ida M., Mary E., James 
A. and Gracie. 

Mr. Traut also has six children by his 
former marriage — Sarah E., Ida M., Lilla 
Belle, Sydney D., Seth L. and Katie I. 

Mr. and Mrs. Traut live on the old 
homestead where Mrs. Traut first settled, 
it being the first homestead taken in Gib- 
bon township. 



JW. BEREY, farmer of Gibbon town- 
ship, Buffalo county, Nebr., was born 
in Noble county, Ohio, and there 
reared. He enlisted in the Federal 
army. One Hundred and Twenty -second 
Ohio volunteer infantry, November 6, 
1862, which command was attached to the 
Army of the Potomac and served with 
that army during the entire war. He was 
in all the principal engagements fought 
by the Army of the Potomac. Being a 
mere lad he was detailed as a musician, 
but carried a gun most of the time. His 
command participated in some of the 
heaviest battles fought by the Army of 
the Potomac, and sustained heavy losses in 
several engagements, notably at Mine 
Run and the Wilderness, Virginia. The 
total loss of his regiment in killed and 
those who died of wounds, disease, acci- 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



483 



dent and in rebel prisons during the war, 
as shown by the official records at Wash- 
ington, were: officers, nine, and enlisted 
men, two hundred and twenty-three. Mr. 
Rerr\' has especial reasons to remember 
the battle of Cedar Creek as he there 
barely got oflf with his life. He had just 
been relieved of guard duty wlien Early 
made the charge on the Federal lines be- 
fore sun-up and, there being a heavy fog, 
there was considerable confusion during 
which most of the Federal pickets took 
siielter in an old house. Mr. Berry was 
not fortunate enough to get in, it being 
crowded to over-flowino' before he g'ot to 
it. Being hard pressed by the enemy and 
seeing that something must be done, and 
done at once, he determined to vnake good 
his escape if possible, and keeping the 
house between himself and the advancing 
pickets the best he pould, he battered 
down a large paling fence witli his gun, 
made his way through, escaped and assisted 
in bearing off the (ieltl his general, who 
was wountled in the engagement. In this 
venture Mr. Berry lost all his accoutre- 
ments, had his cap shot off, seven bullet 
holes shot in his clothes and he was cut 
through the skin on both hips, but other- 
wise uninjured. He served as a private 
and was in from the date of his enlistment 
till the surrender, being pi'esent at A]ipo- 
mattox and saw Lee, as he says, " give up 
under the famous apple-tree." He was 
discharged July 5, 1865. Returning to 
Ohio, he moved shortly afterwards to 
Fulton county. 111., where he lived, en- 
gaged in farming till March, 1872, when 
he came to Nebraska as a member of the 
Old Soldier's Homestead Colony and set- 
tled in Gibbon township, Buffalo county. 
He homesteaded tlie southwest quarter of 



section 6, township 9, range 14, which he 
subsequently sold and moved on to the 
northeast quarter of section 7, adjoining 
where he now lives. He has a good farm, 
small, but well improved and pleasantly 
located, and everything on liis })lace is in 
a thrifty, prosperous condition. He has 
been devoted strictly to agriculture and 
is now one of the oldest settlers in Gibbon 
township. He has served as assessor of 
his township three terms and has been 
active in school matters. He has a family — 
wife and two children. He married, No- 
vember, 1862, Anna E. Mercer, of Noble 
county, Ohio; his children, Frank M. and 
Lula, now being grown. Mr. Berry cast his 
lot with the republican party on the w^ar 
issues and has never seen cause to waver 
in his allegiance to that party since. 

In personal appearance he is pleasant 
and affable. He has an honest, open 
countenance and greets friend and 
stranger alike with a hearty grasp of the 
hand. He is generous in disposition and 
as kind and hospitable about his home as 
any living man. 



GEORGE II. BAKER was born in 
Clinton county, N. Y., March 20, 
1848. His father, Zebulon Baker, 
was a native of New York State, and for 
manj' years was known in the mercantile 
world as an extensive dealer in iron and 
lumber at Plattsburg. He won distinction 
as a messenger bo\' in the War of 1812, 
although he was quite young. He died 
in 1860. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Elizabeth Albee, is a native of 
Vermont, and after her husband's death 



484 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



emigrated to Fort Dodge, Iowa, but re- 
turned as far east as Cleveland, Oliio, in 
1862. Two years later she removed with 
her family of children to Linn count}^ 
Iowa. About four years later she came to 
Lincoln, JN^ebraska. 

George IT. Baker, the subject of this 
brief biographical sketch, came to Buffalo 
county in the spring of 1872, and located 
on Beaver creek, in Loup township, where 
he pre-empted a fine quarter section of 
land. There was no settlement in that 
section at that time and plenty of wild 
game abounded ever\' where. Mr. Baker 
built a comfortable sod house and at once 
set about to bring order out of chaos. 
Being a man of remarkable courage he 
was prepared to undergo all the trials and 
vicissitudes incident to the first settlement 
of a county, lie was visited by the 
festive grasshoppers, when the}' sampled 
the green products of the Nebraska farm- 
ers in 187-lr and '76, and saw as fine a crop 
of corn, as any one would wish to see, dis- 
appear almost like a snow flake in the 
bosom of the ocean. Indeed Mr. Baker is 
as familiar with the ups and downs of 
pioneer life as any other man of his day. 
In the course of a year or so he located in 
the south j)art of the country, where he 
remained three years on a farm which he 
cultivated to good advantage. In 1877 
he moved to Gibbon and engaged in the 
real estate business. During his several 
years' residence there he has prospered by 
his own enterprise and business sagacity. 
In 1888 he engaged in the dry goods busi- 
ness and is at this present time one of the 
leading merchants of that thriving town. 

George II. Baker was married Septem- 
ber 24, 1873, the lady of his choice being 
Miss Susie Lewis, a native of Indiana, and 



adaugiiter of Horatio Lewis, also a native 
of the lloosier State. He was a farmer 
by occupation jind came to Nebraska with 
his famil}' in 1872, where he resided until 
his death in 1887. 

Mr. and Mrs. Baker have an interesting 
family of four children, namely — Ray, 
Arthur, Bert and Georgie. 

Mr. Baker is an honored member of 
the Masonic order and also of the A. O. 
U. W. He is a republican, and, while he 
has never aspired to any public office, he 
has always taken an interest in politics. 
He has one hundred and sixty acres im- 
proved land near Gibbon, besides other 
landed interests in the western part of the 
state. 



A 



LBERT FELLOWS is a prosperous 
farmer in Grant township, and 
one of the first settlers of Buf- 
falo county. He was born April 6, 1840, 
at Cambria, Niagara county, N. Jf. His 
father, William L. Fellows, a wheelwright, 
was a native of Conneticut. His mother, 
Polh' (Higby) Fellows, was a native of 
New York State, and was born in the year 
1826. There were five children, four boys 
and one girl, in the paternal family, of 
which Albert is the third. Albert resided 
at home the greater part of his time until 
twenty -one and was engaged in farming 
and attending the neighboring school. In 
1801 he emigrated West and located at 
Pontiac, Livingston county. 111., where 
soon after he responded to his country's 
call and enlisted August 28, 1861, in Com- 
pany C, Thirty-ninth Illinois regiment. 
The first battle in which he participated 
was in the Shenandoah valley, with Gen. 



B UFFA L CO UNTY. 



•I80 



Shields in command on the Union side and 
Gen. Jackson on the rebel side. The rebel 
forces were not only treated to a severe 
whipping but were routed and driven in 
hot haste down the valley. The next 
battle in which he took an active part 
was fought at Port Koyal, after which 
his regiment was ordered to Harrison's 
landing and finally to South Carolina. 
He was through the siege of Ft. Wagner 
and participated next in the battle at 
Chapin's farm and a little later in the bat- 
tle of Bermuda Hundred, at which he was 
captured May 16, 1864, and taken to 
Petersburgh, where he was confined for 
two weeks and then transferred to Ander- 
sonviile prison, where he remained from 
June 1st to September 19th, and was then 
taken to Charleston, kej)t two weeks and 
finally taken one hundred miles north to' 
what was known as the Florence stockade, 
where he remained until December 10th, 
and was paroled. Out of eleven men 
captured from his company at the same 
time and confined in Andersonville, only 
five lived to get out. There were thirty- 
five thousand prisoners confined in Ander- 
sonville at the time he was there, and the 
story of his experience and ^^'hat he there 
witnessed is heart-rending in the ex- 
treme. After being paroled, he went to An- 
napolis, Md., received a thirty-day furlough, 
came home and returned again, shortly 
after which, February' 19, 1865, he was mus- 
tered out. Althougii in his three and one- 
half years of experience in the war, he was 
never wounded, he had his gun shot from 
his hands at one time and two bullet holes 
put through his clothes at another. After 
being discharged he returned to Pontiac, 
111., and followed farming for four years, 
after which he moved to Tazewell county. 



111., where he farmed for two years, 
and in April, 1872, emigrated "West and lo- 
cated in Bufl'alo county, Nebr. He took up 
a homestead six miles west of Kearney in 
Odessa township. There were but few 
settlers in this section of the state at that 
time, and wild game, deer, antelope, elk, 
etc., were quite plentiful, and buffalo were 
not infrequently killed. There were many 
Indians along the Platte river and for the 
first two 3^ears proved very troublesome. 
One afternoon, when Mr. Fellows was 
away from home, and a neighbor woman 
was staying with Mrs. Fellows, a band 
of eighteen Indians stopped at the house 
and made threatening demands, where- 
upon the two women fired several loads 
from the barrels of a couple shot guns at 
them, and the Indians fled at full speed, 
hallooing, "brave squaws." In the 
grasshopper times, 1874-76, Mr. Fellows 
lost all his crops and was compelled to 
haul corn from Eed Cloud, Kans., a dis- 
tance of ninety miles. He finally sold his 
claim for $350 and later bought the claim 
on which he now resides in the AYood 
Piver valle}^ He was burned out at one 
time and had nothing left but his team, 
wagon and some household goods. He 
was married, September 14, 1865, to Mar- 
garet Haines, who was born June 17, 
1845, and is a native of Illinois. Their 
union has resulted in the birth of eleven 
children, as follows— Harriet E., August 
10, 1867; William L., June 11, 1869; 
Emma J., May 9, 1871 ; John F., Septem- 
ber 8, 1872; Alberta, July 7, 1874; Fran- 
cis M., July 22, 1876 ; Albert, June 24, 
1878; Guy, August 24, 1880; Lee, Jan- 
uary 28, 1883 ; (^race, April 17, 1885 ; 
Jessie, March 5, 1888. In political mat- 
ters Mr. Fellows is a democrat. 



486 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



EW. BURKS, a jirominent citizen 
of Buffalo county, was born in 
Hendricks county, Ind., August 
14, 1841. His father, John D. Burks, 
was a Kentuckian by birth, but emi- 
grated to Indiana, wliere he resided for 
several years; In 1856 he removed to 
Davis county, Iowa, where, for a time 
he became interested in agricultural pur- 
suits. In 1865 he engaged in the mercan- 
tile business at Drakesville, whicli lie 
continued for twenty years, eighteen of 
which he was postmaster of that town. 
"When he finally resigned he was requested 
to name his successor, and did so. He 
served as commissioner of Hendricks 
county, Ind., for two terms, and held 
various other local offices during his life- 
time. He was a prominent and influen- 
tial man and enjo\'ed the entire confidence 
of all his fellow-citizens. 

E. W. Burks, the subject of this sketch, 
was reared on his father's farm and 
enjoyed no special educational advantages 
other than those afforded by the common 
schools of the day. In September, 1861, 
while yet a bov, he enlisted in the Third 
Iowa regiment of cavahy and rendered 
nearly four years of honorable service to 
his country. His first experience in battle 
was at Pea Ridge, Ark. He also partici- 
pated in the teriible siege of A^icksburg, 
and marched under Generals Steele and 
Banks in the Red river expedition. He 
was a prisoner for eighteen months, dur- 
ing which time he was taken from place 
to place, and even taken down to Home- 
stead, Tex., where the yellow fever was 
raging at the time. He had no clothing 
to speak of, no medicine, no shelter. His 
food for a while consisted solely of corn, 
ground, cob and all, and three-quarters 



of a pound of Texas beef. He was always 
promptl\' on hand, ready to perform anj' 
duty, no matter how arduous. During 
his service for two years and a half he 
never missed a single day from active 
duty. During the third year an order was 
made to record the daily deportment of 
each soldier. When the first report of his 
company was made he was one of the two 
that received a furlough for meritorious 
conduct. He did not accept it, however, 
but gave it to a comrade who had a sick 
wife at home. He went through the con- 
flict without a scratch, but had thirteen 
bullet holes in his clothes. His discharge 
dates from Februar}^ 1, 1865. 

During his long term of imprisonment 
his e^^e-sight became seriously affected, 
and, acting upon the advice of physicians, 
after he returned home, he engaged in 
farming. He came to Buffalo county. 
Nebr., in April, 1884, and immediately 
occupied a quarter section of land he had 
])reviously purchased, in what has since 
been called Harrison township. Mr. 
Burks petitioned the board of supervisors 
in June, 1888, for the separate organiza- 
tion of the township of Harrison. The 
]ietition was passed u[)on favorably and 
Mr. Burks was appointed supervisor. He 
has also served two terms as justice of the 
peace for Armada township. 

He was married, December 27, 1866, to 
Miss Mary N. Quigle_y, daughter of George 
and Sarah (Pifer) Quigley. She was born 
in Ohio, August 8, 1845. They have ten 
children, named — Fannie E., Sarah A., 
Ella, Melvin, Walter, Frank, Agnes, 
Clyde (deceased), Thomas (deceased) and 
Ralph. Mr. Burks is granting his children 
all the educational advantages within his 
power and some of his daughters are now 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



487 



successful teachers. He is a reading and 
thinking man ; he thinks and acts for 
himself, leaving others to do the same. 
He is a stanch republican and is recog- 
nized as one of the leaders of his party in 
the couutv. 



STEPHEN S. HILL. This gentle- 
man is one of the few remaining 
settlers who came to Buffalo 
county in 1872, and braved the storms, 
droughts and grasshopper raids of those 
earl}^ days. He is a native of New Eng- 
land and was born at Sharon, Vt , February 
21,1822. His parents were Benjamin and 
Sarah (Scales) Hill. The former was a 
native of Massachusetts, born in the year 
1789; the latter was a native of New 
Hampshire and born in 1779. He has 
little recollection of his ancestiy back of 
this, farther than that one Ickaber Hill, 
his paternal grandfather, was a native of 
Massachusetts and a farmer by occupa- 
tion. 

Stephen S. Hill resided in Vermont 
State until 1872, during which time he 
engaged in farming, buying and selling 
cattle, and the practice of veterinary 
surgery. In 1872, although fifty j-ears of 
age, he decided to emigrate West, and 
acting upon this decision he came to Buf- 
falo county in the fall of 1872 and pre- 
empted a quarter section in Eiverdale 
township, nine miles northwest of Kear- 
ney'. The country was new and set- 
tlers were few and far between. A few 
native Indians still remained and an occa- 
sional buffalo was to l)e seen grazing on 
tiic plains. Deer and antelope roamed 
at will and furnished the principal meat 



for the few settlers at that time. Mr. 
Hill frequenth^ saw as high as fifty ante- 
lope grazing in a single bunch. April 15, 
1873, occurred the worst wind, sleet and 
snow storm that this section of Nebraska 
had experienced within the memor^^ of 
the oldest settlers. The storm began on 
Sunday and for three days the wind and 
sleet came with such terrific force as to 
render it unsafe for anyone to leave his 
door. So fierce was the storm that Mrs. 
Hill was obliged to tie the clothes-line about 
her husband in order that he might find 
his way back to the house when he went 
to the wood-pile, which was distant only 
thirty feet, for an armful of wood. A 
great many head of stock perished during 
this storm. One of Mr. Hill's neighbors 
was only able to save three out of thirty- 
six head of cattle. 

In 1873 the crops, on account of exces- 
sive drought, were almost a total failure. 
From ten acres of sod-corn Mr. Hill 
harvested but thirty bushels of grain. 
In 1874 the grasshoppers came and de- 
stroyed nearly everything. It was about 
four o'clock in the afternoon of Aug- 
ust 8th, when Mr. Hill heard a noise 
like the distant rumbling of a train 
of cars and noticed a dark object ris- 
injr like a thunder-cloud in the distant 
northwest. His curiosity, which was 
aroused, was soon satisfied. It was 
the grasshoppers. They fell like lava 
thrown from the crater of old Vesuvius, 
and in less than two hours, destroyed 
everything green on his place. This so 
discourae:ed Mr. Ilill that he sold his 
quarter section of land that fall for $150. 
This money, a team, one cow and a hog, 
were all of his worldy possessions left at 
that time. * Those were discouraging 



488 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



times and many settlers left the country. 
There was no corn in the county and 
Mr. Hill, Samuel Thornton and some 
others, hauled corn from Kansas, a distance 
of thirty miles. In 1875 he homesteaded 
a quarter section and began farming 
again. For several years thereafter he 
had about the same ex])erience with 
drought and grasshoppers as before, but 
after 1877, had good average crops. In 
1882 his wheat yielded twenty-five bush- 
els to the acre, oats thirty-five bushels to 
the acre, and he raised five hundred and 
fifty bushels of rye from twenty-five acres. 

In March, 1883. he retired from farm- 
ing and moved to Kearnev, where he now 
resides. He keeps a barn and practices 
veterinary surgery, having followed this 
jirofession for over forty years. He has 
treated over five hundred sick horses and 
has never lost a case of colic. 

Mr. Hill has been married twice. He 
was first married, September 5, 1840, to 
Adaline Hicks, by whom he had three 
children. He married Martha Dockrel, 
his present wife, October 23, 1870. 

In religious belief, Mr. Hill is a Univer- 
salist. Politically, he is a democrat, having 
voted for everj' democratic nominee for 
president from Buchanan down, with the 
exception of Horace Greeley. 



STANLEY THOMPSON, attorney- 
at-iaw, member of the Buffalo 
county bar, was born at Hemp- 
stead, Tex., March 31, 1856. He comes of 
Southern ancestors, and is connected by 
kinship with two of the best families in 
tiie South — the Thompsons and McAfees 
of Kentucky. His father. Dr. James N. 



Thompson, born in Kentucky', reared in 
Missouri, educated in New York and Paris, 
France, married Elizabeth McAfee, a 
Kentucky-born and Missouri-reared lady, 
and settled to the practice of his pro- 
fession in Hempstead, Tex.; where un- 
happily he died just as he was reaching 
the full tide of a successful professional 
career, leaving a wife and two children — 
daughter and son— surviving him. The 
wife followed him, only two years later, 
to another world ; and the son, Stanley, the 
subject of this notice — then a lad about 
nine years of age — was taken into the 
family of his sister, Mrs. James Ellison, at 
Kirksville, Mo., to be reared. His sister 
not long afterwards died, leaving him to 
the guardianship of her husband. He 
was reared in the family of his brother- 
in-law, and in that of his uncle, John 
Thompson, was educated at the Northeast 
Missouri Normal school at Kirksville, 
read law and was admitted to the bar 
in September, 1878. Coming West, he 
located at Sydney, Cheyenne county, 
Nebr., where he resided till June, 1SS7, 
when he moved to Kearney", entering on 
the practice of his profession there, where 
he has since continued. Mr. Thompson's 
career as a lawyer is yet before him ; his 
fortunes are to be made. If it be proper 
in a sketch like this to predict what tiiose 
fortunes will be, we predict they will be 
good. He is a man of clear head, sound 
sense and proper industry; and has brought 
to the discharge of his duties as a lawyer, 
a thoroughness of jireparation not often 
met with in young men, even among those 
supposed to be " learned in the law." His 
early opportunities for acquiring a knowl 
edge of his profession, both theoretical 
and practical, were good : having been 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



48(» 



reared under the roof and had his studies 
directed under the personal supervision of 
one of the best la w\'ers in western Missouri, 
his brother-in-law, Judge James Ellison, 
now appellate judgeof the Western district 
of Alissouri. He availed himself of these 
o))portunities and acquired not only much 
valuable knowledge, but what is of more 
importance — the habits of a lawyer : that 
rare combination of student and man of 
affairs. Mr. Thompson is ambitious — not 
for public position, but to succeed, to be 
a lawyer, in the truest and best sense of the 
word, and we predict he will be. 



JEREMIAH KARN is one of the well 
known men of Buffalo county, and 
was born near Massillon, Ohio, No- 
vember 22, 1833. 

His father, Samuel Karn, is a native of 
Lancaster county. Pa., and has been a 
German Baptist preacher for many years. 
He moved to Ohio soon after marriage, 
but in 1S56 settled in Wabash county, 
Ind. His wife, who bore the maiden name 
of Liza Moler, died in 1863. She was a 
devoted companion to her husband and an 
earnest christian woman. 

Young Karn was reared on his father's 
farm until he reached his majority. He 
was married May 22, 1S56, to Elizabeth 
Fulgroad, daughter of John and Elizabeth 
(I'age) Fulgroad, both of whom are 
natives of Pennsylvania. 

After marriage, Mr. Karn devoted ten 
j'ears exclusively to agricultural pursuits. 
He then entered the employ of the Phoe- 
nix Liglitning Rod Company of La Porte, 
Ind., and acted as their trusted agent for 
28 



nine years, and then embarked in the busi- 
ness himself. He emigrated to Kearney, 
Nebr., in 1879 and three years afterwards 
took a homestead in Thornton township, 
where he remained five years and then 
returned to Kearney. About one year 
ago he moved on another farm near 
Armada, where he now resides. He is the 
father of seven children, namel}' — Armega, 
John W., Samuel H., Charles J., James 
and Jessie (twins) and Tommie. 

Mr. Karn now owns three tracts of 
land, four hundred acres in all, and is 
energeticalh' engaged in improving the 
same. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., 
believes in the principles of the republi- 
can party and has many friends through- 
out the country. 



JW. LELAND is one of Kearney's 
oldest and most highly respected 
citizens. He is a native of the town 
of Grafton, Worcester count}^ Mass., 
and come of " old Bay State" stock. His 
father was Luke Leland, a native also of 
the town of Grafton, an industrious, useful 
and highly honored citizen of that place, 
|representing for several years his native 
county of Worcester in the state legisla- 
ture. Mr. Leland's paternal grandfather, 
Elijah, and great-grandfather, Phineas, 
were also born, reared and passed their 
lives in Grafton, Worcester count}', the 
former representing his county in the state 
legislature. The mother of J. W. Leland 
was Sarah Mellen, born in Middlesex 
county, Mass., July 24, 1792, and was a 
daughter of Jolin and Mary (lUillard) Mel- 
len, both natives of Middlesex county. 



490 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Mr. Leland traces his ancestry on this 
side of his house back to the first families 
of Middlesex count}^ being respectable, 
well-to-do people ; his maternal grand- 
father Mellen having represented his 
county many years in the state legislature. 
His ancestors were all people of strong 
religious convictions and all stanch mem- 
bers of some religious denomination, 
mostly Baptists. 

Three children were born to Luke and 
Sarah (Mellen) Leland — Joseph Warren, 
Sarah M. and Luke. The youngest two 
are now dead. The eldest, the subject of 
this notice, was born June l-t, 1816. He 
was reared in his native place, received a 
good common-school training, and began 
life as a school teacher. He afterwards 
engaged in manufacturing and then mer- 
cantile trade, and has, in the course of 
a long and active life, followed many pur- 
suits. He lived in Chicago some years, 
and while a resident of that place, in 1871, 
lost the bulk of his life's earnings bv fire. 
With characteristic energy and determina- 
tion, he came West after meeting with 
this misfortune, for the purpose of starting 
life anew, and settled, in 1872, m Kearney, 
Nebr. He has been a resident of Kear- 
ney since and has profited well by his resi- 
dence there. He has been identified with 
the best interests of his adopted home 
since casting his lot there, and has always 
possessed an abiding confidence in the 
future greatness of the town. He took 
the census of Kearney in 1873, when the 
population numbered onl}' 245. He took 
the census the following year also, when the 
population had increased to 775. He has 
seen the place grow and develop from a 
straggling railway station to a city of the 
first importance, and in the making it 



what it is he has borne the full part of an 
energetic, public-spirited citizen. 

Mr. Leland has been thrice married and 
has reared a large and interesting family 
of children. He was married first in 
1839, his wife being Miss C. A. Slocum, 
daughter of John W. Slocum, of Grafton, 
Worcester county, Mass. This lady died 
in 1858, leaving four children — Charles 
Henry, Fannie, William E. and Lucinda. 
He next married in May, 1872, Miss L. 
A. Bostwick. This lady died August 20, 
187i, leaving no children. He then mar- 
ried Miss Samantha D. Houghton, his 
present wife. 

At the age of thirteen Mr. Leland signed 
the temperance pledge, and he has led a 
strictly temperate life since, never having 
violated this pledge. He joined the Ma- 
sonic order in 1841 and the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows m 1846, anil he has 
been a zealous worker in each since. He 
is a man of good intelligence, ]iossessing a 
large fund of general information, and an 
interested spectator in all events of public 
note. He possesses a clear judgment and 
discriminating views. He has never 
sought public position, although well 
qualified to fill any position to which he 
might aspire. 



FKEDERICK LEBHART, a repre- 
sentative young business man of 
Kearney, Buffalo county, is a 
native of Wurtemburg, Germany, and 
was born December 31, 1855. He is a 
son of Christian and Barbara (Straehle) 
Lebhart, natives of the same place, wiio 
lived and died in the old country. His 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



491 



father was born July 1, 1813, and died 
Api'il 2, 1880. He was a wine-maker, an 
upriglit, industrious, useful citizen, and a 
zealous member of the Lutheran church, 
having been for twenty-four \'ears a ruling 
elder in the local church where he wor- 
sliiped. Mr. Lebhart's paternal grand- 
father, Frederick Christian Lebhart, a 
native also of Wurtemburg, was a wine- 
maker ; served in the Russian war of 
1812-15, and was taken prisoner in that 
war, but afterwards released and returned 
to his native country, where he passed his 
remaining \'ears in the peaceful pursuit of 
his calling. Mr. Lebhart's grandfather 
Straehle also served in the Russian war of 
1812-15, and was wounded near Moscow, 
in April, 1813, losing his left lower limb; 
but he survived many years to tell to his 
descendants the thrilling story of the burn- 
ing of Moscow and the famous retreat. 

The subject of this sketch was reared in 
his native country, coming to the United 
States in 1880. He made his first stop 
at Mason City, W. Va., and found his 
first employment, as a salt-maker, at that 
place. A year later he went to Toledo, 
Ohio, where he secured a position in the 
piano and organ factory of Whitney & 
Courrier, remaining with them a year. 
He then went to Peru, Ind., and lived 
there a short time, and in 1882 came to 
Nebraska and settled at Kearney. He 
has been variously engaged since settling 
in Kearney, mostly in the hotel and liquor 
business. He began as clerk, but by 
saving his means he was enabled, on May 
1, 1888, to engage in business on his own 
account, opening a saloon at that date, at 
which he has since continued. He is suc- 
ceeding beyond the average, and has a 
large circle of friends. He keeps an I 



orderly house, and gives his time and 
attention strictly to his business. He is 
pleasant, accommodating, and observes 
and insists on a strict observance of all of 
the social amenities that should obtain 
among gentlemen. 

Mr. Lebhart married, May 31, 1886, 
Miss Catherine Roeck, of Kearney, and 
this union has been blessed with three 
children, born as follows — Minnie, born 
May 14, 1887; Annie, January 4, 1888, 
and Louisa, August -4, 1 889. 

Having been reared in the Lutheran 
church, Mr. Lel)hart naturally leans 
towards that faith, and he has been very 
liberal in his donations to that church. 
He is kind and charitable and gives freely 
to all benevolent purposes. 



COSMO S. HILL, the subject of this 
biographical memoir, is a ])rosper- 
ous farmer in Riverdale township, 
and one of the very earliest settlers of 
Buffalo county. He is a native of the 
State of Vermont, and was born Septem- 
ber 5, 1848. His father, Stephen S. Hill, 
also a native of Vermont, was born at 
Sharon, February 21, 1822, and is still 
living at the ripe old age of three-score 
and eight years, a resident of Kearney, 
having emigrated West and located in 
this county in the fall of 1872. He was 
married to Adaline Hicks, the mother of 
our subject, Se]itember 5, 1840. The 
mother was a native of Vermont, born 
August 19, 1805. To them were born 
three chikh-en — Cosmo S. (oui' subject), 
Francela and Rosa. 
The paternal grandfather, Benjamin 



492 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



Ilill, was a native of Massachusetts, born 
in the year 1789. He was by occupation 
a farmer. The paternal grandmother, 
Sarah (Scales) Hill, was a native of New 
Hampshire, born in 1779. The paternal 
great grandfather, Ickaber Hill, was a na- 
tive of Massachusetts, but be\'ond this 
fact little or nothing is known. 

Cosmo S., our subject, resided in Ver- 
mont until twentj^-one yeais of age, en- 
gaged part of the time on a farm and part 
of the time as sales clerk in a wholesale 
shoe store at Saysville, Vt.; attaining 
his majority he emigrated West in 1869, 
locating at Princeton, 111., where for 
two years he was engaged in a liver}' 
barn. He moved, in 1871, to Palatine, 
111., where for one year he worked in a 
harness shop, and then returned to Ver- 
mont ; remaining there one year, be finally 
decided to seek his fortune in the far 
"West. Acting upon this decision he 
came to P)uffalo county in May, 1873. He 
pre-empted tlie quarter section in the 
Wood River valley, in which he now re- 
sides. The country was sparsely settled 
at that time and looked wild and barren. 
An occasional Indian strolled by his door, 
stopping long enough to beg a mouthful 
of food, but never molesting or offering to 
harm his famih'. There were a few buf- 
falo, plenty of antelope and deer, and an 
occasional elk to be seen. For the first 
five years he had a hard struggle for ex 
istence. The drought and grasshoppers 
destroyed his crops to such an extent that 
ho hardly got back the seed that he sowed. 
In the summer of 1876 he met with the 
same result. 

During the first five years, wlien crops 
were a failure, Mr. Hill cut wood on 
government land and hauled it to Kear- 



ney, disposing of it at a nominal sum, and 
thus keeping the wolf from his door. He 
was united in marriage, October 3. 1872, 
to Mary (Higby) Hill, a native of Ver- 
mont, born August 26, 1846. To them 
have been born three children — Earnest, 
Rolla and Earl. 

Mr. Hill is a firm believer in the princi- 
ples of the democratic party. 



SYLVESTER WEIBEL is a native 
of the city of Hohenems, Austria, 
and is a son of Charles and Marie 
Weibel, natives also of Austria, who lived 
and died in that country. 

He was born December 31, 1832, and, 
being left an orphan at the age of seven, 
grew up in the place of his birth, 
among family friends and acquaintances. 
Although reard in a country noted for its 
educational advantages, his early training- 
was none too thorough, even under tl;e 
compulsory' system. He had to worlc for 
his living, earning it as best he could, and 
there was but little time at his disposal 
for going to school. As he grew up 
he heard frequently of America, and he 
determined on reaching his majority to 
come to this country. He immigrated in 
1854, landing at New York June 21, that 
year. The first few years he spent in this 
country he drifted about a good deal, iry- 
ing his fortunes in various localities, east, 
west and south, and at various pursuits. 
He lived awhile in Iowa, Wisconsin, 
Missouri, Louisiana, Tennessee, Indiana 
and Illinois, and followed successively log- 
ging, steam-boating, hostlering, butcher- 
ing and merchandising. During this time 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



493 



also be served for a while in the Confed- 
erate army, enlisting in tiie service in 1861, 
at Memphis, Tenn. lie was in tlie battles 
at Belmont, Shiloh and Perryville, Ky., 
being captured in the latter engagement 
and after a short term of imprisonment 
released, and sent across the lines into 
Indiana, not entering the service again. 

Mr. Weibel came to Nebraska in the 
spring of 1872, stopping first at Lincoln 
and afterwards going to Butler county 
and then to Kearney county, settling at 
Lowell, then the county seat. A year 
later he started a brick-yard at Kearney, 
and then a saloon at Lowell. He con- 
tinued at Lowell till 1S75, when he took 
up his permanent residence at Kearney 
and has lived there since. For a number 
of years he was engaged in the liquor 
business in Kearney, giving it up, in fact, 
only recently. He has made a great deal 
of money, and hy making a wise invest- 
ment of this means he has become quite 
wealthy. He is recognized as one of the 
heaviest capitalists of the city of Kearney, 
and has been and is now connected with 
a number of the leading business enter- 
prises of the place. He is one of the 
largest stock holders in the Kearney 
National Bank and is a memlier of its 
board of directors. He is a public-spirited, 
liberal-hearted man, and assists all enter- 
prises of a public nature, and is willing at 
all times to give encouragement to anj'' 
deserving person. Having come up from 
the common walks of life himself, and 
spent the most of his years at hard toil as 
a common laborer, he is thoroughly in 
sympath}' with the common people and 
trives generouslv of his means to anv in- 
dustry that will give them employment and 
support, and he contributes liberally also 



to charity. He is a plain, unassuming, 
modest man who, having made all he has, 
fortunately has the wisdom to know how 
to use it. Having retired from active 
pursuits he is now devoting his time to 
his investments and doing what good he 
can as an humble citizen, with the means 
which have come into his possession. 



CHARLES A. WILLIS was born 
in Auburn, N. Y., in 1855. His 
father is C. W. S. Willis, also a 
native of Auburn, N. Y., born in 1822. 
He remained there till ISll-, then moved 
to Oak Grove, Wis., there settling upon 
government land, which he held till 1858. 
He then returned to New York State, to 
East Bloomfield ; thence moved to Auburn, 
and there remained for three years. In 
1878 he came to Nebraska, settling in 
Kearney. 

Mr. Willis is a skilled mechanic, and 
before retiring from active business he 
was a building contractor. The fact that 
he is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian 
church of Kearney, attests the esteem in 
which he is held by the community. He 
was married to Miss Amanila Smith, a 
native of New York, born in 1824. She 
was also an active member in the Presby- 
terian church, previous to her declining 
health. Their union was blest with two 
children, viz.— C. A. (our subject) and 
Ella (Mrs. Quinley), who lives in Kearney. 
Chas. A. Willis, the subject of this 
biographical notice, was engaged for sev- 
eral years with his father in the mercan- 
tile business, in Auburn, N. Y.; but, being 
seized by a violent desire to go West, he 



404 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



urged his father to sell out and come to 
Nebraska, which course has 3'iekled them 
a very handsome profit. Charles A. now 
owns a very nicely located and well im- 
proved farm, of three hundred and sixty 
acres, well stocked and supplied with all 
necessary accoutrements, and the father 
owns a quarter section of good land and 
property in Kearney. In 1882, Charles 
A. Willis was married to Miss Phebe L. 
Thomas, a native of New York, born in 
1855 — Eev. R. Spencer performing the 
ceremony. She was educated at Stamford 
Seminary, and for several years taught in 
the public schools of her county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Willis are members of the 
Presbyterian church. 

Mr. Willis is a republican in politics, 
and has been assessor of Logan township 
for two years. 



WILLIAM H. AUSTIN, a 
native of Pennsylvania, born 
in 1859, is the son of Lloyd 
Austin, born in Pennsylvania m 1824. 

Lloyd, the father, migrated to Ne- 
braska^in 1881, settling in Wallace, Lincoln 
county. He was a mason by trade, and 
is quite energetic and prosperous. He is 
allied to the democratic party in politics, 
and has been connected with the Method- 
ist Episcopal church for a number of 
years, and although not demonstrative in 
his profession of religion, he is considered 
a good quiet christian man. He was 
married, in 1811, to Miss Matilda Keller, a 
native of Pennsylvania, and born in 
182G. To them have been born the fol- 
lowing — Ilattie (deceased) ; Mary, born 



18-t7, died 1881 ; John, born 1849, died 
1879 ; Julia (deceased); Anna (Mrs. Keene), 
lives in Penns^'lvania; Edwin, lives in 
Lincoln countv, Nebr.; Ida, lives in Penn- 
sylvania; William H., Rosa (Mrs. Toby), 
lives in Steuben county, N. Y. 

William 11. Austin, the subject of this 
sketch, is a hard working, prosperous 
farmer of Logan township, Buffalo county. 
He emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ne- 
braska in 1879, first locating in Elm Creek; 
after a few years he took up a homestead 
of one-fourth of section 28, township 10, 
range 18 west. Mr. Austin began life for 
himself when twenty years of age, with 
no capital ; he now has 240 acres of well 
improved land, well stocked. In 1884 he 
was married to Samantha Bale}', a native 
of Ohio — Mr. Frank Hull, county judge, 
officiating. She is a daughter of William 
and Mary (Stevens) Baley, natives of 
Ohio. Their marriage has been blessed 
with three children, viz. — Carl, born April 
21, 1885 ; Perry, born February 23, 1887, 
and Emory, born May 23, 1889. Politi- 
cally, Mr. Austin is a republican, and at 
various times he has held different town- 
ship offices. 



HII. BOWIE, one of the largest 
land-owners and stock-raisers of 
Buffalo county, is the son of 
George and Kate (Ross) Bowie, natives of 
Scotland. George Bowie was born in 
1809, and emigrated to America in 1834, 
settling in New York City. He was mar- 
ried to Miss Kate Ross, in Scotland, in 
1830. To them have been boi-n nine 
children, viz. — Alexander, lives in Ontario; 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



495 



George; M. G.; William (deceased); Jolin 
(deceased); Charles, lives in Buffalo 
county ; Delia (deceased) ; James (de- 
ceased), and H. H., the subject of this 
biographical notice, who is a native of 
New York City, born in 1851. At the 
age of nineteen, being a boy with a man's 
head, he was able to take the position as 
foreman for Campbell, the contractor of 
the Hudson tunnel ; he remained with 
him for two or three years and then took 
a contract for the construction of 2,000 
feet of it himself. Mr. Bowie came to 
Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1880, settling in 
Logan township, where he now resides, 
owning four and a half sections of land, 
and in the winter of 1889-90 fed about 
one thousand head of cattle. Mr. Bowie 
is to Logan township what a town of four 
or five hundred is to surrounding country. 
He buys annually about one hundred thou- 
sand bushels of grain, always paying above 
market price. Although Mr. Bowie is 
managing a business of such proportions, 
he at all times treats a person with the 
utmost cordialit}'^ and considers it a privi- 
lege to extend a favor. In 1878 he was 
married to Miss Deveraux, who is a native 
of Boston, born in 1860. She was the 
daughter of Walter and Margarette 
(Smith) Deveraux, the former a native of 
England, who came to America when 
j'oung; the latter was a native of Boston. 
Mr. and Mrs. Deveraux both departed this 
life in 1878. They were strict adherents 
to the Episcopal church. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Bowie two children have been born, 
viz.— Henry V., born September 12, 1881, 
died August, 1882, and Edith Gracie, born 
October 29, 1889. Mr. Bowie is a republi- 
can in politics and has been county super- 
visor for five successive vears. 



RICHARD F. WATEES is a son of 
Alien and Francos (Foster) Waters, 
k^ the former of whom was a native 
of Pennsylvania. He was a devoted mem- 
ber and liberal supporter of the Presbv- 
terian church, and he enjoyed the reputa- 
tion of being a good, honest, christian man, 
and was not conscious of having an enem}'. 
In politics he was a whig. Mrs. Waters 
was a native of Ireland, and came to 
America in 1828, settling first in Ohio. 
Mrs. Waters was also a member of the 
Presbyterian church, and was looked upon 
as a kind, consistent, christian lady. In 
1889 Mrs. Waters departed this life, en- 
titled to the pliudit, "Well done, thou 
good and faithful servant." 

Mr. and Mrs. Waters' union was blessed 
with seven children — Catherine, Mary 
Ann, Elizabeth, Joseph A., Richard F., 
Margarette and Andrew. 

Richard P'., the subject of this sketch, 
was one of the pioneers of Buffalo county, 
and, while he has not distinguished him- 
self in any public capacit}', he has dis- 
tinguished himself as an honest, straight- 
forward, reliable man, always encouraging 
anything that is in the interest of the 
county. He was born in Ohio, in 1849. 
His school advantages were meager, being 
chiefly tutored by that stern teacher — Ex- 
perience — whicli, no doubt, was a principal 
factor in making Mr. Waters the cautious, 
frugal, thrifty man that he is. 

In 186-4 he enlisted as a one-hundred- 
day man in the One Hundred and Forty- 
third Ohio infantry, under General Butler, 
and was in the engagement at Peters- 
burgh. He was nuistered out at Camp 
Chase, Ohio, the same j'ear. In 1866 he 
moved to Scotland count\', ilo., and thci'e 
engaged in farming. From there he came 



496 



BUFFALO COUNTY, 



to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1873, settling 
on section 30, Odessa township. 

In the winter of the same year, while 
camping on his claim, he experienced a 
terrible storm, in which hundreds of cattle 
and two persons near Gibbon were frozen ; 
but Mr. Waters, only sheltered by his 
wagon, escaped unharmed. Mr. Waters' 
next encounter was with the grasshopper 
plague. In this be shared the common 
fate, losing his crops for three years, but 
since that time has had good crops. In 
1870 Mr Waters was married in Scotland 
county, Mo., to Miss Jane Hage, a native 
of West Virginia. To them have been 
born eight children — Ida, Thomas A., 
Mabel, Roy, Cecelia, Mary, Hugh and 
Gracie. 



AD^ 



DAM WILLIAMS is a son of Fred, 
erick and Catherine (Mown) 
Williams, the former a native of 
the good, old, historic, Ke^'stone State, 
Pennsylvania, the latter a native of Stark 
county, Ohio. Frederick, the father, mi- 
grated to Crawford county, Ohio ; from 
there he went to California in 1851,engaged 
in mining, and continued in that business 
till death, which occurred in 1861. Politic- 
all3% he was a whig. Mr. and Mrs. 
Frederick Williams were married in 
Stark county, Ohio, in 1824. To them 
were born seven children, viz. — Johnny, 
died in infancy ; Rebecca, living in Grant 
count}', Nebr.; Willie, died in infancy ; 
Sarah, living in Hancock county, Ohio ; 
Thomas, served three years in the war 
and lost his health, unfitting him for act- 
ive business; and is now living in Wash- 
ington, Adam and another. 



Adam, the subject of this notice, is a 
highly respected and prosperous farmer in 
Riverdale township, Buffalo county. lie 
was born in Crawford county, Ohio, in 
1837. He there remained till he came to 
Nebraska, in 1873, settling on section G, 
township 9, range 16. In 1874, 1875 and 
1876 he experienced the common fate of 
the Nebraskans, losing his entire crops, 
excepting wheat ; but, not despairing and 
hoping for better times for Nebraska, he 
remained, and now has a competency for 
himself in declining age. Mr. Williams 
was married, in 1860, to Miss Anna 
Ditty, born in Crawford county, Ohio, in 
1842. She is the daughter of Amos and 
Sarah (Lenker) Ditty, natives of Ohio. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Williams have been born 
seven childi'en, viz. — Willie, who was 
scalded to death in 1862; Charlie, who 
was born June 14,1865, and died May 30, 
1870; George Franklin; Freddie; Eva; 
Eddie and James Garfield. Mr. and Mrs. 
Williams are both members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, and their home life 
and reputation accord with their profes- 
sion. 



DAVID C. HOSTETTER was born 
in Lebanon county. Fa., in 1843. 
His father, Abraham Hostetter, 
was a native of Pennsylvania. In 
1852 they moved to West Lebanon, 
Wayne county, Ohio, and there pur- 
chased a farm on which they resided 
but eight months, then returning to Leba- 
non county. Pa. Mr. Hostetter was alter- 
nately engaged in farming and mercantile 
business. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hostetter 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



497 



were active and consistent members of 
the Lutheran church for a number of 
\-ears. Politically, Mr. Ilostetter was a 
supporter of the republican ticket, and 
was a member of the Odd Fellows order 
for years. To Mr. and Mrs. Ilostetter 
were born eight children — Mar}^, Edwin, 
David C, Kate, Henry (dead), Lena, 
Christina, and Jacob (dead). All, except- 
ing Mary (who lives m Wayne county, 
Ohio), and David C. still remain in Leba- 
non county. Pa. 

David C, the subject of this biograph- 
ical notice, began life for himself in 1863, 
by first evincing possession of that God- 
given element of true manhood — i)atriot- 
ism — enlisting in the service of his coun- 
try and enduring the hardships of war for 
three years. He offered this service as 
a willing tribute, without now asking com- 
pensation for his patriotism.' After being 
mustered out of the service, he located in 
Missouri, and there followed his trade, 
" stove molder," for seven years ; then 
moved to Nebraska, settling in Kearney 
in 1873. He did not predict, then, the 
Kearney of to-day, there being about two 
hundred inhabitants. He first found 
employment with A. S. Webb in the 
hardware and implement business, and 
remained with him two years ; then 
woi'ked on the transfer eighteen months, 
at the expiration of which time he again 
engaged with Mr. Webb, remaining nine 
years. He then settled on the farm on 
which he now resides, which is nicely 
located and well improved. He is a 
republican in politics. Mr. Hostetter led 
Miss Lautz, a native of Lebanon count}'. 
Pa., to the altar in 186-4. Mrs. Hostetter 
has proven herself a valuable helpmeet, 
rejoicing with him in prosperity and shar- 



ing with him the responsibility in adver- 
sity. She has for years been a member of 
the M. E. church. To IVfr. aiul Mrs. Hos-. 
tetter have been born four children — Eliza 
S. (Mrs. Feather), Henrietta A. (Mrs. 
Lautz), Edwin H.,at home, and Bernice B., 
at home. 



JOHN SWENSON. Very few of those 
who came to Buffalo county in the 
early " seventies " and homesteaded 
claims have had such marvelous suc- 
cess as this gentleman. He was born in 
Sweden, December 15, 1840, and is one of 
nine children born to Swenand Christena 
Swenson, both of whom are natives of 
Sweden, the former having been born in 
ISll and the latter in the year 18<>7. 
John, our subject proper, resided at home, 
in Sweden, until eighteen years of age, 
during which time he attended school and 
clerked in a hardware store, and then went 
to Norway and engaged in merchandising, 
which he followed for three years. He 
came to this country in 1861, landing in 
Chicago July 4th. He engaged emplo}'- 
ment on a boat on Lake Michigan, and 
worked as a sailor for a short time, and 
then, true to the countr}' to which he bad 
sworn allegiance, he responded to its call, 
and enlisted in Company D, Fifty-second 
Illinois regiment. He participated in the 
battles of Atlanta, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, 
Corinth, siege of Corinth, and was with 
General Sherman on his campaign from 
Resaca to Atlanta. He was wounded 
twice — once in the back at Shiloh, and in 
the arm at Corinth, on account of which 
his arm was ami)utated. He was dis- 



498 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



charged, July 12, 1865, and receives a 
pension from the government of $45 per 
month. 

After the war, he went to Batavia, 111., 
and for one year was engaged in clerking 
in a clothing store, after which he entered 
the Soldiers' college at Fulton, 111., remain- 
ing there five years, and graduating in 
1871, receiving the degree of V. S. The 
following year he taught school in Clinton 
county, Iowa, and in April of 1873 came 
West to Nebraska, and located in Buffalo 
county. He entered a quarter section 
twelve miles north of Kearney, in Divide 
township, and engaged in raising sheep. 
In 1874, he was elected superintendent of 
county schools, which office he held for 
two consecutive terms. He made some 
efforts at farming, which, on account of 
drought and grasshoppers, was practically 
fruitless up to 1877, after which he raised 
good crops. In 1879, he moved to Sar- 
toria, in the northern part of the county, 
and bought up considerable railroad land 
beside pre-empting a quarter section. He 
now owns fifteen hundred acres of fine 
land, the greater part of the little town 
of Sartoria, and operates two stores of 
general merchandise, besides dealing 
largely in cattle and sheep. Few, if any, 
of those who came to this county in its 
early days, with practically nothing to 
begin with, have amassed such a fortune, 
and surely none are held in greater esteem 
by their neighbors and acquaintances than 
humble John Swenson. 

Mr. Swenson was married, January 11, 
1875, to Eva J. Thornton, who was born 
June 5, 1855, and is the daughter of Sam- 
uel and Sarah Thornton, whose sketch ap- 
pears elsewhere in this volume. Their union 
has resulted in the birthrof no children. 



They are both members of the Lutheran 
church. Mr. Swenson affiliates with the 
republican party. 



PHILETUS PIEECE is a native of 
Illinois, born at Springfield, 
November 5, 1827, and is one of 
five children born to Lanson and Mary 
Pierce, both of whom are natives of New 
York State. His father and mother emi- 
grated West in an early daj', locating in 
Illinois, or what was then known as the 
Western frontier. His father followed 
farming, and was a sawyer hv trade. 
Philetus lived in Illinois until nineteen 
years of age, during which time he 
attended school and labored on the farm. 
In 1846 he went to Iowa county. Wis., 
where he resided for ten years and was 
engaged in mining lead. He next moved 
to Dubuque, Iowa, where he engaged in 
mining for four and one-half years. He 
then moved to Clayton county, Iowa, and 
farmed one year, after which he moved 
to Buchanan county, same state, and fol- 
lowed farming for two years. He after- 
wards located in Harrison county, Iowa, 
and for a period of fifteen years was 
engaged in the lumber and tie business, 
and also farmed a portion of the time. 
From there, in July, 1878, lie started West, 
with a view of looking up a suitable loca- 
tion and taking up a government claim. 
For two months he traversed Nebraska, 
Colorado and Wyoming, and finally 
decided to locate in Buffalo county, Nebr. 
He accordingly filed a claim on his pres- 
ent land in Sartoria township. In those 
days that section of the county was 
scarcely settled at all, and Mr. Pierce's 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



490 



nearest neighbor was four miles distant. 
In those times money was a scarce article 
and, in order to get some with which to 
purchase flour and clothing, Mr. Tierce 
trap])ed beaver and hauled cotton-wood 
bai'k to Kearney, a distance of thirty-five 
miles, and sold it at one dollar per load. 
There were plenty of deer, elk and ante- 
lope only a few miles away, and he reports 
having killed a fine large buck near his 
place with a load of fine bird-shot. Mr. 
Pierce took, in addition to his homestead, 
a timber claim, and now has three hun- 
dred and twenty acres, most of which is 
well improved. He lives in a commodious 
frame house, and his surroundings in 
general speak well for his prosperit}' 
since coming to this county. He was 
married in January, 1850, to Louisa 
Noyes, who was born May 13, 1832, and 
is one in a family of ten children born to 
Harman and Mary (Harrison) Noyes. 
The former was a native of New Hamp- 
shire, and was born in the year 1800 ; the 
latter, a native of New York State, born 
in^l798. 

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Pierce has 
been blessed with the birth of fifteen 
children, as follows — Ira N., September 
7, 1851 ; Harman L., December 8, 1852; 
Mary E., March 5, 1854; Abiatha E., 
May 13, 1855; Maria L., November 13, 
1856; Percie A., February 5, 1859; 
Emma A., November 5, 1861 ; Eva B., 
August 12, 1863; Chester S., March 6, 
1865; Lillie M., March 17, 1866; Albert 
P., March 27, 1869 ; Laura M., January 
23, 1872; Eeuben W., April 11, 1874; 
Minnie V., August 23, 1876; Ella M., 
August 3, 1879. 

In political matters Mr. Pierce is a 
stanch republican. 



HETs^IlY PETEPtS is one of the 
eai'liest settlers in the Loup val- 
ley and one of the best known 
farmers in Buffalo county. He is a native 
of Germany, and was born October 21, 
1833. His father, Henry Peters, Sr., a 
farmer by occupation, was a native of 
Germany, born in the year 1797. His 
mother, Catherina (Meumen) Peters, was 
also a native of Germany and was born 
in 1796. There were five cliildren — three 
girls and two boys — in the father's famil)^ 
of which Henry is the youngest. Henry 
lived in the old country until twenty- 
seven vears old and was engaged in farm- 
ing. In 1861 he came to this country 
and located at Connville, 111., where he 
resided seven years and was employed 
part of the time as a common laborer and 
part of the time at farming. In 1868, lie 
emigrated West and located in Cass 
county, Nebr., at first renting a farm and 
afterwards leasing school lands. He came 
to Buffalo county in the spring of 1875, 
and bought the claim on whicli he now 
resides, which he afterwards pre-empted. 
In those days the country in that section 
was wild and barren and very sparsely 
settled. Deer and antelope roamed 
through the valley in abundance, and elk, 
while not plentiful at that time, were fre- 
quently seen near his place. His nearest 
neighbor, in 1875, was three miles distant. 
lie put out a small crop the first year and 
harvested from live acres of corn an 
average of eighty bushels to the acre. 
The following year his crops were entirely 
destroyed by the grasshoppers, and he 
was left in almost destitute circumstances 
The grasshoppers ate holes through the 
blankets which were spread over vegeta- 
bles and ate the cabbage roots in the 



500 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



ground. That summer and fall be earned 
money, with which to keep the famih' 
during the winter, by hauling a load in a 
provision train to the Black Hills coun- 
try. In 1879, he had twenty-five acres of 
wheat, thirty acres of corn and twenty- 
one thousand young, growing trees de- 
stroyed by a severe hail storm. The hail 
stones were so large as to knock the horns 
ofl' the sheep, break window-glass, etc. 
With few exceptions, he has had good 
crops. Mr. Peters was married March 
27, 1859, to Tolcke C. Dires, who was 
born in Germany, January 15, 1836, and 
is the youngest in a family of three chil- 
dren born to John and Sofiah Dires, both 
of whom are natives of Germany. Eight 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Peters, as follows — Riche, John, Fred, 
Benjamin, Eiche 2d., Henry, Louis and 
William. 

Mr. and Mrs. Peters are both active 
members of the Lutheran church. Mr. 
Peters is a republican. 



JOHANN YELINCK was born in 
June, 1845, in Budweiser, Bohemia, 
and came to Schneider township, 
Buffalo county, Nebr., directly from 
his native land, July 28, 1887, and here he 
has ever since been engaged prosperously 
in farming. Mr. Yelinck was married 
June 23, 1870, to Johanna Julsen, who has 
borne eight children, viz. — John, Karl, 
Mary, Heinrich, Franck, Laurence, Con- 
rad and Anastasia. The family are de- 
vout members of the Catholic church and 
are pursuing peaceful, industrious and 
prosperous lives. Joseph Yelinck, father 



of Johann, was born in Heimath, Bud- 
weiser, Bohemia, March 19, 1823; was a 
farmer, died in March, 1875, in the Roman 
Catholic faith. The mother of Johann 
Yelinck bore the maiden name of Theresa 
Keiser. 



JAMES M. DEVALL is a native of 
Preston county, West Virginia, and 
was born February 20, 1821. Mr. 
Devall spent the earh'partof his life 
in Virginia and enlisted in the Union 
army from that state, on the fifth of 
October, 1861. He joined the Si.xth West 
Virginia I'egiment of infantry and saw his 
first service at the battle of Cedar creek. 
He chased Morgan along the Ohio river, 
when that noted rebel raider was playing 
havoc in Ohio. He was captured near 
Oakland, Md., while on the Jones raid in 
that state. He fell into the hands of the 
men who were his neighbors in West Vir- 
ginia, and was paroled in the field a^id 
sent home for ten days. He returned to 
Wheeling, when his regiment was soon 
ordered down on the Potomac river. He 
participated in the engagement at Antie- 
tam and was for some time afterwards put 
on guard duty on the B. & 0. R. R. He 
spent one month in hospital and was dis- 
charged at Oakland on the nineteenth day 
of December, 1864. 

Mr. Devall came to Buffalo county, 
Nebr., on the twenty-eighth da>' of March, 
1874, and filed on a homestead on section 
4, in Sharon township. He was among 
the very first settlers in that section of the 
county and has endured some of the vicis- 
situdes of a pioneer life. The grasshop- 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



501 



pers took all he raised for three years in 
succession, but he never gave up. He still 
hail faith in the ultimate development of 
the countrj', and, though disheartened by 
loss of crop, he never gave up. 

Mr. Devall was married in 1882 to Mary 
M. Kirkpatrick, a soldier's widow from 
his native county. To this union has been 
born one child, Abigah L. lie has filled 
the office of justice of the peace, but has 
never been an aspirant for political favors. 
In politics he is independent and will not 
allow himself to be dictated to by any 
party or faction. He has 240 acres of 
good land, 160 of which are under good 
cultivation. 

Mr. Devall suffered untold exposures 
during his service in the army, from the 
effects of which he is now almost totally 
blind. lie is an intelligent man and talks 
iluently upon any of the leading questions 
of the day. 



WILLIAM R. WHEELER, one 
of the early settlers of Buffalo 
county, was born in London, 
England, March 16, 1846, and is the son 
of William D. H. and Jane (Hazel) 
Wheeler. He was brought to the United 
States by his parents, who located at St. 
Louis, Mo., in 1847, where they lived for 
several years. They subsequently located 
at Alton, 111., where the father followed 
his trade as a machinist. He was an 
industrious, hard-working man; he died in 
1880. 

The educational advantages of William 
R. Wheeler were somewhat limited. He 
attended the common schools until about 



fifteen years of age, when he entered 
Scleartloff college, at Alton, 111., one of 
the oldest institutions of learning in the 
state. He gave close application to his 
studies here for nearly two years. 

In June, 1864, Mr. Wheeler enlisted in 
the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Illi- 
nois regiment, and determined to help put 
down the cruel rebellion. His regiment 
was sent up and down the Mississippi 
river twice and participated in a part of 
tiie famous Red river expedition. Mr. 
Wheeler was an active participant in the 
battle at Vicksburg and afterwards was 
sent to Alton, 111., to guard prisoners. He 
was corporal of the six men detailed to 
take the rebel general, Marmaduke, from 
the boat to the prison. Gen. Marmaduke 
afterwards became governor of Missouri. 
Mr. Wheeler was mustered out at Camp 
Butler, on the twenty-third day of July, 
1865. 

He returned to his home in Illinois and 
decided to adopt farming as his vocation 
through life. This he has followed more or 
less of the time since, but prior to this reso- 
lution he followed railroading about two 
years. He accepted a position as break- 
man on the Rock Island & St. Louis rail- 
road and was soon afterwards promoted 
to conductor. His promotion was in 
recognition of his efforts in preventing a 
terrible wreck by flagging a train in time 
to prevent it from plunging into an ob- 
struction on the track. 

Mr. Weeeler is one of the first settlers 
of Buffalo county, having come here from 
Illinois on the twenty-sixtli day of March, 
1873. He came with the express purpose 
of making his home here and to that end 
took a homestead on section 30 in Valle}"^ 
township. Of course the countr}' was 



503 



BUFFALO COUNTY. 



new and settlers few and far between. 
The broad prairie was well stocked with 
wild game, such as antelope, deer, and 
occasionally a bulfalo was visible. Mr. 
Wheeler and Mr. S. C. Aj^ers killed the 
last wild buffalo ever seen in the county. 
Indians were by no means scarce in the 
days of 1S73. It was not an uncommon 
thing to see live hundred Indians at a time 
strolling over this part of the country. 
Mr. Wheeler was not absent from home 
when the grasshoppers paid their long-to- 
be-remembered visit to this section of the 
county. They feasted sumptuously on his 
promising fields of corn for three years in 
succession. They boarded with the farm- 
ers of Buffalo county as long as the green 
corn lasted and then they moved on. 

The marriage of Mr. Wheeler to Miss 
Etta M. George was celebrated on the 
sixteenth day of January, 1874. Mrs. 
Wheeler was born in Massachusetts, April 
14, 1855, and is the daughter of Truman 
Q. and Abbie M. (Gilfast) George. The 
former is a native of New Hampshire and 
the latter of Massachusetts. The children 
in the Wheeler family number five and 
are as follows — Hasell, born October 6, 
1870; Thyra, born June 7, 1879; Ethel, 
born November 13, 1882; Viola, born 
March 24, 1885 and Chester, born March 
7, 1890. 

Mr. Wheeler has taken considerable 
interest of late years in the cultivation of 
various kinds of vegetables and in this 
particular is one of tiie most successful 
men in the county. During the year 1889, 
he raised and marketed one thousand four 
hundred bushels of tomatoes, one hundred 
and eigiity-four bushels of small pickles 
sixty bushels of onions for which he re! 
ceived $4 per bushel, and seventeen 



thousand five hundred heads of cabbage. 
No man thus far in the county has any- 
where near equaled this enormous crop of 
vegetables. 

Mr. Wheeler has never specially under- 
taken to learn any trade, but he possesses 
rare mechanical talent and is handy at 
most anything he goes at. Several fine 
specimens of furniture in his house attest 
his rare genius in this particular. 



SOLOMON F. IIENNINGER, a 
prominent and influential farmer 
of Sharon township,Buffalo county, 
is a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, and 
was born January 3, 1833. He comes of 
Pennsylvanian parentage, his father, Solo- 
mon Ilenninger, and his mother, Catherine 
Lawrence, both being natives of the " Key- 
stone State." They were married in their 
native state and moved West in 1830, set- 
tling in Trumbull county, Ohio, where 
they afterwards lived and died, both pass- 
ing away in the year 1864, the father at 
the age of sixty-four and the mother at 
the age of sixty-three. They spent their 
entire lives on the farm, engaged in the 
peaceful pursuit of agriculture. They 
were among the early settlers of the 
locality where they lived and saw much 
of the hardships as well as many of the 
pleasures of pioneer life. They belonged 
to the industrious, thrifty, sturdy class of 
people by whom the middle states were 
mainly settled, and they exemplified in 
their lives man}^ of the best qualities of 
the race, that race' peculiar to tiie Ameri- 
can frontier. Carrying the Bible in one 
hand and the ax in the otiier, the\' sub- 



B UFFA L CO UN TV. 



503 



dued the savagery of nature and made the 
waste places blossom Avith the best fruits 
of an advanced civilization. Solomon and 
Catherine Henninger were devout mem- 
bers of the Lutheran church and died 
strong in the faith by which they had 
lived. The}' left a family of seven chil- 
dren, of whom the subject of this notice is 
the third, the others being Christopher, 
Priscilla, William, Nathan, who was killed 
at the battle of Atlanta, in the Union 
army, July 22, 1864, Polly and Jacob. 

Solomon F. Henninger was reared on 
his father's farm in Trumbull county, 
Ohio, and received an ordinary common- 
school education, such as could be ob- 
tained in his day from the district schools 
where he grew up. Having something of 
a mechanical turn of mind antl his father 
being able to spare his services from the 
farm, young Henninger, while yet a lad, 
took it into his head to learn ihe miller's 
trade, a thing which he successful!}' ac- 
complished and after wai'ds devoted him- 
self to the calling for some years. In 
1855 he married Miss Barbara A. Coflf- 
man, a daughter of Isaac Coffman, then of 
Trumbull county, Ohio, but formerly of 
Pennsylvania. In the summer of 1861) 
when the clouds of the Civil war had fully 
burst upon his unhappy country and calls 
were being made for volunteers to defend 
the Union, Mr. Henninger, with a cheerful- 
ness and alacrity born of the patriotism 
in him, responded promptly to the call and 
enlisted in Company H, Twentieth Ohio 
infantry. The organization of his regiment 
having been completed in Sept., 1861, it 
moved at once to the front and began act- 
ive service. Mr. Henninger was with it 
from that time on till the surrender. He 
participated in the Vicksburg campaign. 



his regiment being one of four that sus- 
tained the heaviest losses at Eaymond, 
Miss., losing at that place in killed and 
wounded sixty-eight men. It was also in 
_ the Atlanta campaign and sustained heavy 
losses in the assault on Kenesaw and in 
the attack on Atlanta ; its casualties in 
these two engagements in killed and 
wounded being two hundred and twenty- 
seven. Mr. Henninger was in the service 
till the surrender, being mustered out at 
Camp Dennison, Ohio, in September, 1865. 
Keturning to Trumbull county, he pur- 
chased a farm of forty acres and settled 
down to the peaceful pursuits of life, 
which he followed as zealously and with 
as much success as attended his military 
career. With an increasing family grow- 
ing up around him, he decided, in 1872, to 
move West, where land was more plenti- 
ful and opportunities for giving his chil- 
dren a fair start were better, and in the 
spring of that year he came to Nebraska 
and settled in Buffalo county, in what is 
now Sharon township, taking a home- 
stead of one hundred and sixty acres, 
where he has since lived. From a modest, 
not to say humble, beginning he has grown 
to be one of the most prosperous farmers 
in the locality where he lives, owning a 
tract of five hundred and sixty acres of 
land, most of which he has purchased with 
means accumulated since settling in the 
county. He has his land in a good state of 
cultivation, making it all yield iiim a rev- 
enue in some shape. He has stuck 
steadily to farming, allowing no interests 
of a conflicting nature to interfere with the 
prosecution of his chosen calling. It could 
not hai)pen, however, that a man of his 
extensive interests and well known busi- 
ness qualifications should not be called on 



504 



BUFFALO COUNTY 



to fill some positions of trust in connection 
with the administration of local affairs. He 
has served his township two years as asses- 
sor and is now serving as township supervi- 
sor. In politics he is a democrat, and, his 
township being largely republican, it is 
needless to add that the positions he has 
filled he has been called to because of his 
recognized fitness for them and not through 
political favors. He made the canvass a 
few years for the legislature, running on 
the democratic ticket, and was beaten by 
only about eighty votes in the county, as 
largely republican as Buffalo county is. 

Being an old soldier, Mr. Henninger 
affiliates with the G. A. R. boys, being a 
member of Joe Hooker, Post at Shelton. 
As a citizen he is popular with everybody. 
He weighs over two hundred pounds and 
is as kind-hearted, jolly, good-natured a 
man as lives within the borders of Buffalo 
county. He has an interesting family of 
children growing up around him, some of 
whom are married. In these and his 
pleasant home he naturally finds much of 
the pleasure of this life. His children, in 
the order of their ages, are Annie Mariah, 
now wife of Walter J. Steven, a sketch of 
Avhom appears in this work ; Stephen, A. 
D., Monroe, Isaac, Minerva and Cora. 



TD. THATCHER, one of the 
earliest settlers of Sharon town- 
ship, Buffalo county, and a man 
who has been actively identified with the 
best interests of his locality, is T. D. 
Thatcher, the subject of this brief bio- 
graphical notice. Mr. Thatcher came to 
Buffalo county in 1871, taking a home- 
stead of eightv acres at that date in 



Sharon township, where he settled and 
where he has since lived. He had then 
just turned into his twenty-first year, was 
newh' married and came West in pursu- 
ance of the farmer-editor's advice "to 
grow up with the country. " Pie came 
direct from his native place in Medina 
county, Ohio, where he was born March 
2, 1850, and where he grew up to matur- 
ity and resided till moving West. Having 
had the misfortune to lose his father when 
he was hal-dly two years of age, and being- 
one of a large family of children, Mr. 
Thatcher was, in a measure, in youth, his 
own preceptor, guardian and counselor, and 
has made his way almost entirely alone in 
the world. What education he received he 
obtained mainly in contact with the prac- 
tical affairs of life, supplementing this 
with a meager common-school training, 
such as could be had by irregular attend- 
ance at the district schools during the 
winter months. He was brought up partly 
on the'farm, parth^ at the dairy business, 
being chiefly engaged in cheese making, 
following this as a pursuit after growing 
up until moving West in 1871. The close 
application and exacting duties of his posi- 
tion in the latter business broke down his 
health, and it was partly also to regain 
this that he left Ohio and moved to Ne- 
braska. He has been steadily engaged in 
farming since settling in Buffalo county 
and has succeeded far beyond the average 
in his chosen calling. To his original 
homestead of eight^^ acres he has added 
by purchase from time to time, until now 
he owns 240 acres, all of which he has 
under cultivation and yielding him a rev- 
enue in some shajje. He is one of the 
wide-awake, progressive and successful 
farmers of the Wood River valley in 



Buffalo county, noted as it is for its enter- 
prising, substantial, well-to-do citizens. 
lie is also a stock-holder and member of 
the board of directors of the Shelton State 
Bank, which institution he assisted in 
organizing, and with the affairs of 
which he has been actively identified 
since. Mr. Thatcher has never suf- 
fered the buzzing of the bee for public 
office to interfere with his private pursuits 
or disturb the serenity of his mind. He 
has found his chief enjo\Mnents, as well as 
his highest reward, in attending strictly to 
his own business. He has a pleasant home 
and an interesting family, to which he 
gives his time and which yield him in 
return for his care and thoughtful solici- 
tude in their behalf that highest form of 
earthl}' happiness, peace and contentment, 
garnished with those delightful home 
loves and fire-side attachments, which 
neither wealth can buy nor position give. 
Mr. Thatcher was married in 1870, the 
lady whom he selected for a life compan- 
ion being Miss Flora M. Blanchard, a 
daughter of William M. Blanchard, of 
Medina county, Ohio. Four children have 
graced this union, all girls, tlie eldest of 
whom is now dead — Emma H., Angle, 
Lora and Hazel. Mr. Thatcher's father, 
as already stated, died when he was 
young. His christian name was Buckley 
and he was a native of New York; married 
and came West, settling in Medina county, 
Ohio, where he followed the peaceful jnir- 
suit of agriculture till his deatli, which 
took place in 18.52 and was caused b}' a 
railroad collision. Mr. Thatclier's mother, 
Emerancy Culver, was also a New Yorker 
by birth, and following the fortunes of her 
husband to the West, she discharged her 
duties of wife during his life and a mother 



before and after his death, in a way be- 
coming her sex, rearing to maturity a 
family of nine children, to whom she gave 
up to her latest hour wholesome advice, 
and enforced this with an example in her 
own person of a pious, christian mother, 
havins been a life-long member of the 
Congregational church. She died in 1886, 
at the age of seventy -seven. The children 
who survived her were Koland C, Gil- 
bert J., Melvina, Georgia, Mattie, Sarah, 
Abbie, Charles P. and Timothy D., the 
last mentioned being our subject. Mr. 
Thatcher and his excellent wife are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian church and gen- 
erous contributors to benevolent and char- 
itable work. 



GEOEGE MILLER, one of the 
most prosperous farmers of Buf- 
falo county, is the son of Wil- 
liam and Fannie (Hicks) Miller. The 
former was a native of Delaware count}', 
N. Y.; from there he emigrated to Perue, 
hence to Iowa, and from there to Missouri. 
In 1861 he returned to Iowa, where he still 
resides. In politics he is a democrat. He 
was married to Miss Fannie Hicks, a na- 
tive of New York State, in 18—. They 
were both active and zealous workers in 
the M. E. church. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Miller were born twelve 
children, viz. — Charles, George, Calvin, 
Lynas (dead), Mary Catharine, William, 
Josephine, Willis, Miles, Martha, Lizzie 
and Samuel. 

George, the subject of this biographical 
notice, was born in New York in 1841. 
With his parents he moved to Pennsylvania 
and thence to Missouri. He then began 



506 



BUFFALO CO UNIT. 



life for himself, first ^oing to Kansas. 
He therebeganfreio^htingacrossthe plains, 
making bis first trip to Mexico, next to 
Colorado, and then to Wyoming, where 
be remained four years; he then retm'ned 
to bis old home in Iowa, and thence came 
to Nebraska, first locating in Omaha, then 
came to Buffalo county in 1871, where he 
has since remained. Mr. Miller has met 
with very marked success, ivhich is due to 
hard work, good management and econ- 
omy. He now ranks as one of the most 
prosperous farmers of Buflalo county, own- 
ing at present over one thousand acres of 
land and feeding 150 head of cattle and 
50 horses, this being but a part of his 
present possessions. 

While Mr. Miller has made a financial 
success, he has made a success which is 



moi'e enduring, in securing for himself a 
reputation for being of irreproachable 
character, in all things doing unto others 
as he would v;ish to be done by. In 1S72 
he was married at Anamosa. Jones county, 
la., to Miss Angeline B. Coliorn, — Eev. 
Lease officiating. Mrs. Miller is a native of 
Iowa, born in 1849. Being a lad}- of keen 
insight and good judgment, she has proven 
herself to be a valuable helpmeet to Mr. 
Miller. To them have been born eight 
children, viz. — Alma, Alva Howard, 
Henry Augustus (dead), Arthur C, Bertie, 
George E., Dolly (died in infancy) and 
Kattie Blanche. Politically, Mr. M. is a 
democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been 
members and liberal supporters of the 
Methodist Episcopal church for a number 
of vears. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



MATTHEW D. BOGERT, a pros- 
perous farmer and highly es- 
teemed ciiizen of Kearney 
county, is a native of New York, and 
through his veins courses the blood of the 
sturdy old Dutch stock, which for many 
generations has formed the best citizen- 
ship of New York, and won for it the dis- 
tinctive appellation of the "Empire State." 
He is the only surviving child of David 
and Sarah (Tinkey) Bogert, the former of 
whom was a son of Matthew T. and Polly 
(Demorest) Bogert, and the latter a daugh- 
ter of Andrew and Jane (Vanderbilt) 
Tinkey. His grandfather Bogert was a 
native of New Jersey and a soldier in the 
War of the Revolution, a faithful adherent 
to the cause of the colonies, and one who 
attested his faith by his services in the 
long and arduous struggle by which the 
liberties of the colonies were achieved. Mr. 
Bogert's paternal grandmother was also a 
native of New Jersey. His great grand- 
father, Jacob Tinkey, was a native of 
New York, and was reared an orphan, 
being brought up in a family in which he 
afterwards married; his wife, Sarah Onder- 
donk, being born and raised in York State. 
Mr. Bogert's father, David Bogert, was 
born in New Jersey in 1791. He was 
reared in his native state and in New York, 
whither he moved when he went in busi- 



ness. He was a brickmason by trade and 
followed contracting and building. He 
married in 1812, and the same year en- 
listed in the United States army to fight 
the British during the War of 1812-li, 
dying in 1815 from fever contracted in the 
army. He was a man of active life and 
robust ph^'sical constitution, a great lover 
of sports, and noted as the most graceful 
dancer in social society in the city of New 
York. He was a democrat in politics in 
the days when the two great parties were 
whigs and democrats, and he was an 
ardent patriot. Mr. Bogert's mother, 
Sarah Tinkey, was born in New York in 
1794, dying in 1861. She was a pious, 
good woman, a life-long member of the 
Dutch Reformed church. There were only 
two children in the family to which the 
subject of this sketch belonged, himself 
and a sister, Ann Maria, afterwards wife 
of James Eckerson. She died in 1882, 
leaving a family of five children — 
Matthew, John Esler, Sarah Catherine, 
Maria Elizabeth and Harriet Anna. 

Mrs. Sarah (Tinkey) Bogert was married 
the second time to Jolm A. Sewin, by 
whom she had two children — Andrew T. 
Sewin, who now is postmaster at Lenox, 
Mass., and John L. Sewin (now deceased). 

The subject of this sketch was born in 
1813 in the citv of New York. He was 



fint) 



510 



KEARNEY 00 UNI Y. 



reared mainly on a farm, receiving a good 
common-school education and being 
brought up to the habits of industry and 
usefulness common to farm life. In 1831 
he married Miss Catherine Blawvelt, a 
lady of his own age, being a native of 
New York, and a daughter of Dowah and 
Elizabeth (Van Houten) Blawvelt. Mr. 
Boaert continued to reside in New York 
State, engaged in farming and kindred 
pursuits until 1879, when he moved to 
Nebraska and settled in Kearney county, 
taking a homestead in section 26, town- 
ship 7, range 16 west, where he now 
resides. He has led an active, industrious 
and useful life, and, although somewhat 
advanced in j'ears, he continues to look 
after his affairs with undiminished inter- 
est and prosecutes them with unabated 
vigor. He has held a number of public 
positions in life, the duties of which he 
has discharged with zeal and fidelity. He 
was elected to the state legislature in New 
York, in 1849, and represented his people 
acceptably in the state assembly for one 
term. The legislature of New York State 
is composed of one hundred and twenty- 
eight members. Mr. Bogert was one of 
fifteen members that came out boldly as 
free soilers, opposed to the extension of 
slavery. He was then appointed treasurer 
of Rockland county, and after filling that 
office for one term he was elected county 
treasurer, which office he held for eighteen 
years by successive re-elections, and during 
said time held the office of deputy county 
clerk for sixteen years. Since locating in 
Kearney county he has filled the office of 
county supervisor from his township for 
five years, and was elected in November, 
1889, for two years more, and has served 
as postmaster at Blaineville from March, 



1880, to the present time; and was chair- 
man of a committee appointed to exam- 
ine the county ti'easurer's accounts four 
years in succession. In politics he is a 
democrat, and he has been for a number 
of years a member of the Masonic order. 
He is a man of sound intelligence and 
possesses a wide range of knowledge. He 
was left a widower in 1884, his most ex- 
cellent wife now sleeping in Oak Hill cem- 
etery', at Nyack, on the Hudson river, in 
her native place. 



CYRUS A. WEBSTER, a thriving 
farmer of Blaine township, Kear- 
ney county, Nebr., was born in 
1848 in Fulton county, 111., and is a son of 
Elisha and Lovine (Pigsley) Webster. 
Elisha Webster is a native of Chautauqua 
count}', N. Y., and was born in 1819, but 
in 1835 moved to Fulton county. 111., and 
thence came to Nebraska in 1880. He is 
a farmer by vocation, in politics is a repub- 
lican, and in religion a Methodist. Mrs. 
Webster is a daughter of Welcome and 
Thiza (Clark) Pigsley, and was born in the 
State of New York in 1830; from New 
York she went to Ohio, thence to Michi- 
gan, and thence to Fulton county. 111., 
where her marriage took place in 1847. 
She has had three children, as follows — 
Cyrus A., Asel M. (who died in 1878, at 
the age of twent^'-seven years) and Mrs. 
Louie Love. The paternal grandfather of 
our subject was Martin Webster, a 
native of Vermont,, who married Susan 
Rogers, a native of New York. 

Cyrus A. Webster was reared on a farm 
and received a good common-school educa- 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



511 



tion, and at the age of twenty years began 
his business life on iiis own account. In 
1879 he came to Nebraska and for ayear re- 
sided in Polk county, then for two years in 
Buffalo county, and then came to Kearney 
county, settling on section 24, township 7, 
range 16. Here he has a farm of six hun- 
dred and forty acres, of which four hun- 
dred acres are under cultivation. He 
keeps from fifty to one hundred and 
twenty-five head of cattle and about the 
same number of hogs and from twelve to 
fifteen horses. 

Mr. Webster is a local preacher in the 
Methodist Episcopal ciiurch and has of 
late held large and successful revival meet- 
ings. Politically, he is a stanch repub- 
lican. 

In January, 1869, Mr. "Webster married 
Miss Mary I. Barnes, who was born in 
1851, in Oiiio, fi'om which state she was 
taken to Illinois by her parents. To this 
felicitous union have been born ten chil- 
dren, viz. — Otis Melvin, Stella, Etta Belle, 
Ada L. (who died December 10, 1887) 
Louis, Thomas (who died in 1882), Adol- 
phus(who died also in 1882), Clyde, Laura 
and Fa3\ The parents and surviving 
children hold a very high place in the 
esteem of their neigiibors and their walk 
through life is such as to merit this 
esteem. 



PETER NYQUIST, an old settler 
and prominent fai-mer of Kearne}'^ 
county, is a native of Sweden and 
a splendid representative of that large 
class of industrious, enterprising citizens, 
the Swedish-Americans, by whom Kearney 



county is in a great measure settled. He 
comes from a long line of Swedish ances- 
tors, being a cion of that sturdy, thrifty 
stock tiiat has made the "snowy kingdom 
amid the icy seas " blossom with the best 
fruits of an advanced civilization. His 
father, Olaf Nyquist, was born in the 
year 1818, and is still living, being a resi- 
dent of his native countr\', where he has 
been engaged all his life in the pursuit of 
agriculture. He is a good type of his race 
and calling, being an industrious, hard- 
working, economical man, diligent in the 
discharge of his duties as a citizen and 
greatly devoted to his family and church. 
He has affiliated with the Lutheran church 
almost all his life, and is not only a man 
of great devoutness, but possesses a very 
tender regard for all his fellow-men and is 
ever read}' to render any assistance in his 
power to those in affliction or distress. 
Mr. Nyquist's mother, whose maiden 
name was Mary Magnuron, was born in 
1807 and died in 1875, having led a life of 
great industry and christian devotion, a 
zealous member all her years of the 
Lutheran church. These were married in 
1836, the father, for lack of age, obtain- 
ing special permission for the purpose from 
the Crown. They had born to them a 
family of six children, all of whom reached 
maturity, and all but one of whom are 
now living, the full list in the order of 
their ages being— Carolina, Joannah, 
Helena, Peter, Gustave and John. The 
subject of this notice was born in the year 
1844, was reared on his father's farm and 
received an ordinary common-school edu- 
cation. He came to America in 1868 and 
stopped in Illinois, where he engaged as 
a farm laborer and railroad hand for seven 
years, working industriously and saving 



512 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



his earnings with a view of putting them 
to a good use later on. He returned to 
Sweden in 1875 and secured the promise 
of a neighbor girl, Miss. Ann Soloman, to 
join her fortunes with his in the new 
worki ; and, bringing her with him, re 
turned, and in tlie city of Chicago was 
married and came at once to Nebraska. 
He settled in Kearney count}', taking a 
homestead in section 33, township 7, range 
16 west. It is needless to state tliat the 
country at that time bore an appearance 
of newness to which Mr. Nyquist was 
decidedly unaccustomed, and that he en- 
countered many obstacles of a discourag- 
ing nature in his first efforts to make a 
home in the West. When he settled in 
Kearney county it was ten miles to his 
nearest neighbor on the north and twelve 
miles to his nearest one on the south, and 
the whole country to the west was prac- 
tically unsettled. He had $500 with which 
to begin, and with this and two willing 
hands and a stout heart, re-enforced by 
the efficient aid and sustained by the 
sympath}^ and counsel of a good wife, he 
set about to build out of the rude and in- 
hospitable forces of nature a home and an 
asylum where he might spend his declin- 
ing days in peace and plenty. He worked 
hard and managed well, and as the 
result of long years of patient toil and 
thoughtful attention, he now has what he 
so much desired, a good home surrounded 
by the necessaries and comforts of life. 
He owns two hundred and fortj' acres of 
good land, most of which he has under 
cultivation and otherwise well improved, 
his sod-house and barn having given way 
to larger and better buildings, and his 
place being ornamented with trees and 
shrubbery, and showing in every detail 



the industry and thrift that prevail on his 
premises. 

His marriage has been blessed with six 
children, four girls and two boys — Mary, 
who departed life June 26, 1884; Caro- 
line, Emma, John, Charles and Helen. 
Mr. and Mrs. Nyquist are both members 
of the Lutheran church, being zealous in 
the support of all church work and gen- 
erous in their contributions towards the 
furtherance of the gospel cause. 



OFFER POULSON is a native of 
Denmark and was reared on a 
farm until about twent3'two 
years of age, when he began to learn 
wagon-making. At the age of twenty- 
six he came to America, landing in Balti- 
more and going thence directly to Chi- 
cago, where he arrived in 1872, and fol- 
lowed his trade there until coming to 
Nebraska in February, 1876. Here he 
located a homestead of eighty acres (all 
the law allowed at that time) in the east 
half of the northeast quarter of section 2, 
township 5, range 14, in Cosmo township, 
Kearney county; since then, however, in 
1881, he has purchased the southeast quar- 
ter of section 35, township 6, range 14, in 
Lincoln township, adjoining his first tract, 
and his farm now comprises 240 acres. 
His first dwelling. was a small, cheap 
shanty, in which he managed to live until 
1880, when he erected his present com foi't- 
able dwelling. His farm is now highly 
improved with good barns, groves, or- 
chards, and every convenience calculated 
to make home desirable, and he has 240 
acres under cultivation in mixed crops. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



513 



When be first came he had about enough 
money to pay the expenses of himself and 
family on the way, and his onW farm 
stock consisted of two small mules and two 
cows. The first two or three years were 
disastrous ones, and it was a hard matter 
for him to make ends meet. The grass- 
hoppers the first year destroyed every- 
thmo- green in the country, and the second 
year, 187S, hail was equally as destructive, 
he being one of the greatest sufferers in 
the neighborhood. He was in debt for his 
farm machinery, but his creditors never 
annoyed him, but waited patiently until he 
could raise and dispose of a crop or two. 
He is now as nicely situated as he could 
desire, and is giving much attention to 
breeding fine-gi'ade live stock. He has on 
his farm an imported English stallion tliat 
weighs 1,800 pounds, and his stock of hogs 
is very large and of choice varieties. 

Paul Cristoffesson Poulson, the father 
of the subject proper of this sketch, was 
also a native of Denmark and came to 
America in 1879, and died in Nebraska in 
1888. He married Anna C. Ottasan, who 
died in her native country in Denmark 
in 1877, the mother of six children, of 
whom our subject is the second and the 
first of tiie family that came to America. 
All of these children are now in Kearney 
county, Nebraska, with the exception of 
the eldest brother, who is still in Den- 
mark. 

Offer Poulson was married at Piano, 
Hi., to Mary Larsen, just prior to coming 
to Nebraska. She is the daughter of Dal- 
gaard Larsen, of Denmark, who never 
reached America. The widow of this 
gentleman, however, died in this country 
soon after arriving here. To the union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Poulson have been born 



three children, viz. — Louie C, Arthur M., 
and Emma E. Politically, Mr. Poulson is 
independent; he is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity and of the Farmers' 
Alliance and Club, the latter organized for 
the purpose of advancing the interests of 
agriculturists. 



WARD SHUE, a native of Penn- 
sylvania, was born in 18-19. 
liis father, E. H. Shue, was 
born in 1812, in New York State, whence 
he moved, when a young man, to Wayne 
count}', Pa. He was a successful farmer, 
and for years was a deacon and ruling- 
elder in the Presbyterian church. In pol- 
itics he was a republican. About 1881, 
wliile visiting our subject, he was taken 
sick, and a short time after returning to 
iiis home in Pennsylvania, passed awa}' to 
his long home. Vashti (Wright) Shue, 
the mother of Ward Shue, was born in 
Pennsylvania, in 1820, and for some time 
was a school teacher. In 1848 she was 
married to E. II. Shue, to whom she 
bore four children, namely — AVard, Nancy 
A., EHzabeth P., who died young, and 
Edward A., who died in 1881. 

AVard Shue was reared a farmer and 
was educated at Deposit Academy'. He 
taught school for a while, and at the age 
of twenty-six went to Iowa. In 1878 he 
came to Nebraska and settled in Kearney 
county, on section 34, township 7, range 
16 west. For some time after ari-iving here 
he was engaged in teaching, often being 
away from home a week at a time, leav- 
ing his newly-wedded wife alone, half a 
mile from a neighbor, and seeing no 
human being except her husband for 



514 



KEARNEY COUNTY 



weeks at a time. His worldly possessions 
on reaching Nebraska were very limited, 
but he now owns a quarter section of well 
stocked and well improved land. He has 
always made it a rule of his life not to go 
in debt for anj^thirig, and to this rule 
he attributes much of his success. In poli- 
tics he is a republican and a prohibitionist. 
In 1878 Mr. Sliue married Miss Amelia 
Vaupel, an estimable German lady, who 
was born in 1855, and who was left an 
orphan at the age of seven years. Her 
father was George Vaupel, a native of the 
city of Hanover, Germany, and a tailor 
by trade. Her mother was Minnie (Berg- 
muller) Vaupel, also a native of Germany, 
who boi'e her husband five children, 
namely — Anna, now teaching in Brook- 
lyn, N. Y., and who has traveled through 
Europe, studied French in Paris, and who 
has given lessons in French and German 
for years ; Mary, now Mrs. Reynolds ; 
Amelia, now Mrs. Shue ; Minnie and 
Antoinette, who died in infancy. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Ward Shue have been born four 
children, as follows — Emma Elizabeth, 
who died when young; Anna Althea ; 
Minnie Vashti, who died last winter of 
scarlet fever ; and Eddie Ezra. Upon the 
death of Minnie, her uncle, Mr. Reynolds, 
wrote the following touching lines: 

Dear Minnie is dead ! 
So gentle and beautiful, 
Loving and dutiful — 
Her last prayer is said. 

So trusting and mild, 
So sweet in her piirity 
She rests in security. 
By sin undetiled. 

But God's way is best ! 
"We give her up tearfully, 
Yet think of her cheerfully 
In heaven at rest. 



JOHN N. WARP, a farmer of Cosmo 
township, Kearney county, was 
born in Norway, near Kcenigsburg, 
August 23, 1847, and was reared 
to farming. He was but seven years of 
age when he lost his father, and was but 
a little older when his mother died. His 
struggle with the aifairs of life began at 
the age of thirteen,' when he hired out as 
a common laborer. At the age of twenty- 
two he came to America, landing in New 
York, whence he went to Chicago, and 
then to Wisconsin, where, for two or 
three years, he was employed in rafting 
timber ; he then returned to Chicago, and 
for nearly two years worked in a foundrv 
and machine shop. In March, 187'i, he 
came to Nebraska and passed two years 
in Omaha; in 1876, he located a home- 
stead of eightjr acres in the southwest 
quarter of section 10, township 5, range 
14 ; in 1877 he had five acres broken, and 
then returned to Omaha, where he passed 
another year, and then came back to his 
farm to stay. He built the usual sod 
house, in which he lived alone two years, 
when, in December, 1880, he married, but 
still kept his habitation in the old sod 
house until 1888, when he put up a nice 
frame dwelling. When Mr. Warp came 
here he had a small amount of mone\^, 
but it was soon exhausted, and his prog- 
ress has been made hj hard labor. He 
has added to his original eighty acres the 
adjoining tract of eighty acres, and of the 
one hundred and sixty has one hundred 
and ten under cultivation in mixed crops 
and well slocked with choice animals, as 
well as improved with orchards, groves 
and convenient barns, etc. Mr. Warp 
married Miss Hilza Johannes, daughter of 
Johannes Johannsen, the latter a stone- 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



515 



mason and farmer, who died in Norway. 
Mrs. Warp came to America witli a bro- 
ther in 1S7S, and this brother is .still liv- 
ing in Kearney county. Five children 
have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Warp, named as follows — Julius N., 
Edward M., Oscar, Lena and Ida. Since 
Mr. Warp has lived here he has been very 
successful as a farmer, and has fully 
established himself in the good opinion 
of his fellow-citizens, whom he has served 
in several official capacities. In 1885 he 
took the census of Cosmo township! ; he 
has filled the ofiice of assessor five terms, 
and has just been elected to fill it a sixth 
term ; but politically, he is independent. 
Since 1876 he has been a member of the 
I. O. O. F.,and has long been a consistent 
member of the Danish Lutheran church. 
Nelson Warp, the father of our subject, 
for a number of years worked for the 
irovernment in the silver mines of Nor- 
way, but in 1850 emigrated to California, 
where he remained about four years, when 
he returned to his native country and 
soon after died. lie married Miss Inger 
M. Jacobstatle, who bore him three chil- 
dren, of whom John N. is the eldest. 
One daughter is a resident of Omaha. 



MICHAEL C. BANG, farmer of 
Cosmo townshi]i, Kearney 
county, was born in Denmark, 
October 5, 1849, and was reared on the 
home farm until nineteen years old, when 
he left his home and worked out as a farm 
hand for two and a half years. In Octo- 
ber, 1872, he departed from his native 
shore and soon found himself in Quebec, 
Canada. The same vear he came to the 



United States and worked in the great 
canal at Sault Ste Marie, Mich., till the 
spring following, when he went to the 
copper mines of Lake Superior, where he 
worked for fourteen months; he tlien 
went to Kendall county, 111., where he 
worked for monthly wages until 1878, 
when he married and lived on a rented 
farm until January, 1880. when he came 
to Nebraska and bought a claim and 
located his homestead in the southwest 
quarter of section 18, township 5, range 
14, Kearney county. The place contained 
a dug-out, a stable and a well, and twenty- 
five aci'es of the land were broken. He 
lived in the dug out at first, but soon built 
a sod house, in which he lived until 1884, 
when he erected a fine frame house, in 
which he now resides. When he came 
here he had a small amount of monev, 
which he paid out for his land. He had 
brought some farming implements from 
Illinois, and had four head of horses. 
After the first year he was very successful 
with his crops and now has 115 acres 
under cultivation ; he has groves, orchards, 
and fine livestock, has everything in good 
shape, and is looked upon as being one of 
tiie best farmers in his township. 

Mr. Bang married Mary Anderson, 
daughter of Andrew C. Nelson, from 
Denmark, and this union has been blessed 
with seven children, viz. — Andrew C, 
Nora M., Kristena E., Ingeborg A., James 
E., Emma Johanna and Saddle C. Since 
coming to Nebraska Mr. Bang has served 
two terms as school treasurer — six years ; 
he was justice of the peace two terms and 
has served three terms as count}' super- 
visor. He was nominated at a recent 
democratic convention for sheriff of the 
county, and came very near being elected. 



516 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



receiving a flattering vote for the repub- 
licans, and carrying his own township 
with a heavy majority, receiving every 
vote but eleven, as well as carrying the 
township of his opponent. He and his 
family belong to the Danish Free Luth- 
eran church. 

Kristen Bang, the father of our subject, 
was a carpenter by trade, but passed the 
best part of his life on the farm where he 
died in 1878, at the age of seventy-one 
years. His first wife, the mother of 
Michael Bang, bore the maiden name of 
Dorthea Jensen, and became the mother of 
eis:ht children, four of whom were reared 
to maturity. By a second marriage Kristen 
Bang had born to him ten children. A 
year after our subject reached America 
he was followed by a brother, who is also 
now living in Kearney county, Nebr. 



JENS IVERSON, one of the most en- 
terprising and wealthy farmers of 
Cosmo township, Kearney county, 
was born February 16, 1854, in 
Schleswig Holstein, at one time a province 
of Denmark, but now belonging to Prus- 
sia. He was reared a farmer and fol- 
lowed that vocation in his native country 
until 1872, when he came to America, 
landing in New York, but immediately 
departing for Lee county, 111., and passing 
a few days in Chicago, en route. He 
went to work as a farm hand, was married 
in Lee county, in 1874, and both he and 
his wife toiled on together until 1878, in 
October of which year they reached 
Nebraska. Mr. Iverson located his home- 
stead on section 34, township 5, range 14, 
and at the same time took a timber claim 



on tlie southwest quarter of section 34, 
township 5, range 14. On his homestead 
claim Mr. Iverson built a sod house, broke 
twenty acres of land, dug a well and made 
other improvements, and, after a residence 
there of about two and one-half years, 
abandoned it and in 1880 settled on his 
timber claim. He has added two hundred 
and forty acres to the original plat and 
has two hundred and fifty acres under 
cultivation in mixed crops, has plent}' of 
live stock, including graded Durham cat- 
tle ; his granaries and barns are all com- 
modious frame structures and supplied 
with every convenience, and groves of tim- 
ber are pleasant features of his farm. 
Since residing hei"e he has never met with a 
total failure in his crops, but in 1887 came 
pretty close to one, on account of dry 
weather and chinch bugs. Otherwise, he 
has been very successful and is now one 
of the' wealthiest farmers of Cosmo town- 
ship — all his wealth having been gained 
by his own industry and the aid of his 
most excellent wife. It will be remem- 
bered that when he was first married he 
lived on a small piece of rented land ; in 
the cultivation of this, his wife assisted at 
the plow, and since coming here she has 
never tired of rendering herald in any re- 
spect. He commenced his career in Ne- 
braska with five dollars in his pocket, and 
owned, besides, an old team and two colts, 
but no cattle. Now he has an abundance 
of everything, and Mi's. Iverson has no 
longer to aid in the farm work ; but the 
couple still cling to the old sod house as a 
residence. 

The maiden name of Mrs. Iverson was 
Sophia C. Grisen, a native of Prussia, but 
she has borne her husband no children. 
In politics Mr. Iverson is a republican. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



517 



and lias filled the offices of school treas- 
urer and township treasurer. With his 
wife, he belongs to the Lutheran church. 

Jacob Iverson, father of our subject, is 
a farmer and is still living in Prussia, at 
the age of seventy-six years. He married 
Cristine Damgaard, who bore him nine 
children — Jens, our subject, being the 
seventh. Jens Iverson has one sister in 
America, who is married to Fred Cristis- 
son and resides in the neighborhood. Mrs. 
Iverson has one brother and two sisters in 
this country. 



CHAELES A. HANSEN, a pros- 
perous farmer of Cosmo town- 
sliip, Kearney county, was born 
at Thisted, Denmark, May, 14, 1S4S. He 
attended the school of his native town 
until fourteen years of age, when he was 
apprenticed for live years to the painter's 
trade, and followed this business in the 
old country until 1869, when he came to 
America. He landed in New York, but 
at once went to Chicago, where he con- 
tinued working at his trade until 1876, in 
March of which year he came to Kearney 
county and located a homestead on the 
east half of the northwest quarter of sec- 
tion 26, township 5, range 14, and also 
bought the remaining half-quarter adjoin- 
ing, of the railroad company. On this 
projierty he erected good buildings, set 
out groves and addetl all the conveniences 
necessary to make farm life profitable and 
pleasant. One hundred and ten acres are 
under cultivation in mixed crops, and the 
live stock is all of the best class, hogs 
being a specialty. During the first four 



years of his residence here Mr. Hansen 
had a rather tough time of it, as at the 
start his only possessions consisted of a 
team and one cow ; but his industry and 
skill have made him quite wealthy. 

Mr. Hansen was married at Chicago, in 
1872, to Miss Cristena Neilson, a native of 
Denmark, and this union has been blessed 
by the birth of five children, viz. — Harrel, 
Anine, Ilosana, Christian and Loruad. 
Mr. Hansen is politically a democrat and 
has served one term as justice of the 
peace. 

The father of our subject, Hans August 
Hansen Bronderslev, is still living in 
Denmark, and was at one time chief of 
the fire department of his native cit\'. 
His regular business, however, was that of 
ale brewer, but he is now retired, at the 
age of sixty. He married Cristena 
Thorp, who bore him four children, Charles 
A. being the eldest. Another son is in 
Kansas City, Mo., engaged in steam dye- 



SOCEATES ATWATEE was born 
in Wells, Eutland county, Vt., 
January 12, 1823. His parents, 
Daniel and Louise (Stevens) Atwater, 
were both natives of the Green Mountain 
State. His father was born October 27, 
1785, and his mother, June 27, 1795. 
They were married about 1816, and had 
ten children. 

His paternal grandfather, Simeon At- 
water, was a native of Vermont and 
a soldier in the Eevolutionar}^ war. The 
Atwater family are of English-French 
descent. The maternal grandfather of 
Socrates Atwater, named Stevens, was 



53 8 



KEARNEY CO UNI Y 



also a native of Vermont and a Revolution- 
ary soldier. His father and mother both 
died on the same day, in 1861, and sleep 
side by side in the same grave. Botli 
were members of the Methodist church. 

Socrates Atwater, the subject of this 
sketch, was married, March 30, 1850, to 
Lydia Wendover, who was born in Butler, 
Wayne county, N. Y., July 11, 1831. She 
IS a daughter of Thomas and Margaret 
"Wendover, both natives of New York, the 
former having been born at Sand Lake, 
January 2, 1808. They have rpared two 
children, namely — Erastus W., born July 
8, 1855, and Orlando D., born December 
30, 1865. 

He came to Kearney county, Nebr., in 
1879, and settled in Eaton township, 
where he purchased railroad lands, and 
now has three hundred and twenty acres 
of as fine land as lay in the state. He has 
taken great pains with the cultivation of 
trees, and he can show as thrifty a lot as 
one would wish to see. He has served 
the people of his town as justice of the 
peace, and is regarded as one of the repre- 
sentative men of the county. He has 
several interesting relics which carry us 
back to old revolutionary times, having 
an old flint-lock, brass- barreled horse- 
pistol, such as wei-e used by cavalrymen 
in revolutionary days ; also a powder- 
horn, on which is artistically carved an 
ingenious representation of the harbor of 
New York city, also showing the courses 
of the Hudson and Moluiwk rivers, with a 
description of the country along each. 
Another interesting specimen in his col- 
lection is a Dritisii red military coat. 
All these were captured from the British 
by Mr. Atwater's two grandfathers. 



JOSEPH SEWARD FRANK was 
born in Will count}', Illinois, Sep- 
tember 7, 1838, and is the son of 
Nathaniel and Lydia (Curtis) 
Frank. His father was born at Gran- 
ville, N. Y., September 22, 1805, and his 
mother was born August 28, 1807, in 
Berkshire count}', Mass., and died Decem- 
ber 15, 1870, in Omro, Wis. His paternal 
gi'andfather, Nathaniel Frank, was born 
in Connecticut, November 26, 1776, and 
died January 31, 1824. He was a colonel 
in the War of 1812, and one of the prom- 
inent and influential men of his day. 
Nathaniel Frank, Jr., engaged in mercan- 
tile business at Gawanda, N. Y., in an 
early day. and continued in that line for 
several years ; subsequently he moved to 
Omro, Winnebago county. Wis., where he 
continued his former business together 
with buying and shipping stock. He 
served as justice of the peace for over 
forty years in the States of New York and 
Wisconsin. During his official career he 
performed the ceremony which united, 
for better or for worse, over ninety 
couple. He is still living, and has been a 
devoted member of the Presbyterian 
church for many years. Joseph Seward 
Frank was next to the youngest of four 
children, and remained at home assisting 
his father in business until he enlisted. 
He attended the common schools of his 
day as well as the high school at Omro, 
Wis. 

When the war broke out he was a 
young man, but not too young to off'er his 
services in defense of his country's flag. 
Enlisting for three years, December 7, 
1861, in Company F,. Eighteenth regiment 
Wisconsin volunteer infantry, he served 
under the gallant Gen. Prentice, and was 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



519 



an active participant in the terrible battle 
of Shiloh, where he was taken prisoner 
on April 6, 1862, and held as such for six 
long months. He was a sufiferer in 
Libby, Montgomery and Macon prisons, 
when he was finally exchanged. The 
prisons were examined, and all those 
unfit for further service were discharged 
and sent home. He had suffered the tor- 
tures of prison life until he was a mere 
skeleton. 

After partial health was restored, Mr. 
Frank spent seven 3'ears in the mining 
regions of northern Michigan, and a few 
years in the mercantile business at Omro, 
Wis. He came to Kearney county, Nebr., 
July, 1876, in a prairie schooner, and took 
a homestead in Eaton township, where 
he has since resided. Tliere was scarcely 
any settlement in the vicinity at that time, 
and the country presented a wild and 
somewhat dreary appearance. 

On October 15, 1868, Mr. Frank was 
married to Miss Anna H. Amerman, who 
was born at Tompkins, Delaware county, 
N. Y., December 24, 1842, but reared in 
New York City. She was a daughter of 
Eev. Thomas Amerman, a prominent 
Presb^'terian divine. Her parents emi- 
grated to Wisconsin in 1850. Her father 
was compelled to quit the ministry on 
account of ill-health, and died in 1884. 
He was a graduate of Amherst College 
and of the Theological Seminary of New 
Brunswick, N. J., and was ordained in 
1830. Mrs. Frank was a frequent con- 
tributor to the religious press and was a 
devoted christian woman and a very 
successful teacher in the public schools. 
She died November 6, 1889. To this 
union were born eight children, viz. — 
Charles E., born July 20,1869; Irving 



A., born April 21, 1871 (deceased) ; 
George S., born August 18, 1873 ; Percy 
L., born March 17, 1875; Cornelia E., 
born January 19, 1877; Eleanor Anna, 
born December 16, 1880 ; Sarah H., born 
August 3, 1883 ; Jennie L., born January 
3, 1886. 

Mr. Frank was justice of the peace for 
a number of years, and was the first 
su])ervisor of Eaton township. He has 
been a zealous christian for many years, 
and enjoys the respect of all who know 
him. He is an enthusiastic temperance 
man, and hopes to live to see the total 
prohibition of the liquor traffic. Mr. 
and Mrs. Frank were charter members of 
the First Presbyterian church of Kene- 
saw, Nebr., and, when the country got 
more thickly settled, helped to form the 
Eaton, now the Hartwell, Presbyterian 
church. Mr. Frank has been for years a 
ruling elder, and Mrs. Frank one of the 
main supporters of the Sabbath-school. 



DAVID JONES, a prominent 
farmer and early settler of Eaton 
townsiiip, Kearney countj', was 
born in Wales, February 16, 1820. .His 
father, Jenkins Jones, came to America in 
1830 and his wife came ten years later. 
David came in 1832 and settled at Phila- 
delphia, where he found employment, and 
while there served an apprenticeship at 
wagon-making. He was but a young 
man when he moved to La Salle county, 
111., in 1843, and worked at his trade there 
until 1854, when he went to farming. He 
came to Nebraska in the spring of 1875, 
and settled in Eaton township, Kearney 



520 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



county, wliere lie has since resided. He 
had his entire corn crop destroyed by the 
grasshoppers the second year, but aside 
from that he has enjoyed a reasonable 
degree of prosperity. February 22, 1880, 
however, he lost by fire all his buildings, 
except his house ; all of one year's crops, 
and macliinery to the amount of $1,500, 
carrying no insurance. Mr. Jones was 
married April 8, 1848, to Lucitia Peck, a 
native of New York, born May 10, 1829, 
and a daughter of David and Levilla 
(Hawkins) Peck, both of whom were 
natives of New York and members of the 
Baptist church. 

Mr. and Mrs. David Jones have five 
children, viz. — Margaret, born February 
28, 1849 ; John, born March 1, 1851 ; India, 
born January 27, 1854; George D., born 
July 21, 1860 (deceased) and Ida May, 
born February 6, 1864. Mr. Jones was 
elected county commissioner of Kearney 
county in the fall of 1875, and served 
three years, and was re-elected in the fall 
of 1881 and served until a change of town- 
ship representation was made. During 
his oSicial term as commissioner, the 
county seat was changed from Lowell to 
Minden. Mr. Jones is one of the sub- 
stantial farmers of Eaton township, and 
one of the best known men in the county. 



JOEL HULL. More than any other 
man, Joel Hull, the subject of this 
sketch, has been instrumental in the 
founding and developing of the city 
of Minden. Born in Meigs county, Ohio, 
November 23, 1831, he traces his ances- 
try back through a long line of standi 



New England stock, members of whom 
were prominent in the early struggles 
with the Indians in the Revolutionary 
war, and in everv conflict in which the 
nation has had a part, from its earliest 
history to the present. 

His father, of whom a sketch appears 
elsewhere in this volume, was Hiram Hull, 
son of Joel Hull, of Massachusetts, whose 
father was William Hull, of same state. 
Luna (Bosworth) Hull, the mother of our 
sketch, was a daughter of Ilezekiah Bos- 
worth, of Vermont, and Huklah (Pearce) 
Bosworth, of New York. 

Mr. Hull was educated at the Ohio 
Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio. 
At this point he took up the stud\' of law, 
which profession he had decided to adopt 
for his life work. His preceptors were the 
law firm of Sweetser & Pleid, both of 
whom were eminent men, not only having 
made a success of their professional work, 
but having also served in Congress. 

Too close application to study soon im- 
paired the health of young Hull and com- 
pelled him for a time to abandon his 
chosen work and he consequently engaged 
in the business of dealer and manufacturer 
of leather. At the outbreak of the war of 
1861, he was one of the first to spring to 
the aid of his distressed country, and in 
1862 received a commission to recruit a 
company for the Ninety-first regiment 
Ohio infantry volunteers, and was com_ 
missioned a lieutenant in Company B of 
the regiment he helped to form. He 
was prominent in leading the army in the 
battles in the Shenandoah valley, at Win- 
chester, Lynchburgh, and many minor 
engagements. His unfiinching bravery 
was demonstrated at the battle of Bunker 
Hill in the Shenandoah valley, wliere he 




JOEL HULL. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



523 



led the skirmish line of the little force of 
thirteen hundred men against the enemy 
wiiich numbered seventy-seven hundred 
men, under Rosser, of Earley's corps. 
Tlie spirit which animated their leader 
thrilled his men, and they undauntedly 
followed him to success, routing the entire 
rebel force and capturing all their artillery, 
taking prisoners, and disabling the enemy 
in greater numbers than the little force, of 
which he was the prominent part, con- 
sisted. For his brilliant service in this 
action and the military ability there dis- 
played, he was the next day promoted to 
the responsible position of adjutant-gen- 
eral of his brigade, then commanded by 
General Crook. 

His brigade was engaged in the battle 
of Winchester, where the army under 
Crook was defeated by the overwhelming 
numbers of the opposing army, but the 
retreat was effected in good order and 
with such military precision, that his 
brigade was carried out with but slight 
loss. His service expired in 1864 and he 
was immediately, by the governor of Ohio, 
tendered the colonelcy of a new regiment ; 
but before he accepted, the call for more 
men was countermanded and the war 
came to a close. 

The war being ended. General Hull 
located in Toledo, Ohio, and there estab- 
lished a large steam tannery, and in com- 
pany with a firm of dealers in hides and 
leather, he operated the business under 
the firm name of Joel Hull & Co. till 
1872, then selling his interest to his part- 
ners he came to Nebraska, and, after 
inspecting various portions of the state, 
decided to cast his fortunes in Kearney 
county, and there located June ;^U, 1872, 
just ten days after its organization as a 



county, it having then a voting population 
of only thirty -one. Thus it will be seen 
that General Hull was a pioneer in 
this part of the state. Of his com- 
peers at that time but four remain, 
the others having passed over to the silent 
majority. Hon. Lewis A. Kent, a sketch 
of whom appears elsewhere in this work ; 
Dr. Cooper, of Lowell, and Charles 
Sydenham, in company with the subject 
of our sketch, constitute the quartette still 
living in the county of those brave men, 
who, in early days, paved the way for civ- 
ilization. 

Mr. Hull entered a homestead near the 
site of the present city of Minden, and at 
once engaged in farming. He early con- 
ceived the idea of moving the county seat 
from the village of Lowell to a more cen- 
tral portion of the county, and to this end 
began to agitate the question in his vigor- 
ous wa_y. Hard work, and against strong 
opposition, accomplished his end and he 
succeeded in having the county seat lo- 
cated at Minden, where it still remains. 
He, himself, laid out the town and built 
the first four houses after the removal of 
the county seat to the site had been se- 
cured b\' a very large majority of the 
voters of the county. 

He presented city lots to seven different 
religious denominations and aided six of 
them in erecting their church ediffces upon 
the donated lots, and presented to the 
school district a quarter block on which to 
erect its first school house in the city. 

In 18.55, in Newark, N. J., Mr. Hull 
was united in marriage with Miss Mary 
E. Frisbie, daughter of Nathaniel Frisbie, 
of New York State. To bless this home, 
five children have been sent, whose names 
in the order of their birth are — John F., 



o2i 



A'K I RyEY CO UN TV 



Arthur E., George H., Frances E. (now 
Mrs. E. L. Marsh) and Carrie A. On March 
31, 1879, Mr. Hull was married the second 
time to Mrs. Elsie E. Granger, daughter 
of Robert and Mary D. Scott — this being 
the first marriage celebrated in the present 
city of Minden. 

A fine baby boy in due time put in 
an appearance ; to him, as the pioneer 
baby of Minden, the town site association 
deeded a lot. Joel L. is his name. Two 
others, Walter Scott and Otis H., followed 
in due time. 

Judge Hull was admitted to the practice 
of law in Nebraska, in 1878, and since that 
time he has followed the practice of the 
profession of his first choice, from which 
he was, by unavoidable circumstances, so 
long delayed in entering upon. Judge 
Hull is a stanch republican, although 
political aspirations have never given him 
any trouble. 

Since the location of Minden, his efforts 
for its upbuilding have been untiring, no 
opportunity having been lost to forward 
the interests of that communit\^ He has 
had the pleasure of witnessing its growth 
from its incipiency, and of knowing that 
to his efforts is largely due its present 
thriving and growing condition. Though 
his own private interests have often been 
sacrificed for the interest of the commu- 
nity of which he is a part, he feels amply 
repaid for any sacrifice he may have made ; 
but to enter into the detail of all that he 
has done for the county of his choice and 
the town of his creation, would require 
pages where we can devote but paragraphs. 

Judge Hull and his wife are both broad- 
minded christians and are especially noted 
for their widely spread and judicious 
charities. Their church affiliations are 



with the Methodist denomination. It is 
not necessary for as to add, perhaps, that 
Judge Hull is counted as a part of the 
bone and sinew of Minden, of Kearney 
county, and of the State of Nebraska. 
His friends are legion. 



DAVID SCEAMLIN is one of the 
well-to-do farmers of Eaton 
township, Kearney county, and 
one of the most successful agriculturists 
in the county. He was born in Grand 
Eapids, Mich., June 3, 18-12, and is the 
son of Jacob and Ann (Dickie) Scramlin, 
the former a native of New York and the 
latter of New Brunswick. David Scram- 
lin is the fifth of a family of seven chil- 
dren and was reared in Illinois. He 
began working out when seventeen years 
old, and at nineteen went to northern Mich- 
igan, where he remained several years. 
He was a resident of La Porte county, 
Ind., from 1865 to 1872, and from there 
he went to Minnesota. He came to 
Kearney county, Nebr., in the spring of 
187-1 and took up a homestead, on which 
he built a sod house and began breaking 
sod for a crop. He could only see two 
houses when he first settled where he now 
lives. He was married January 31, 1866, 
to Harriet Cowgill. She is a native of 
Eoss county, Ohio, and was born June 21, 
18-43. Tliey are both devoted members 
of the Presbyterian church. Mr. S. has 
always affiliated with the democratic 
part}' and at one time was iy member of 
the K. of L. He has three hundred and 
twenty acres of ri(;h land, well improved, 
and is one of the most liighly I'espected 
citizens of Kearney count}'. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



525 



MILES FIERO, one of the most 
jirominent men of Eaton town- 
ship, Kearney county, was born 
in New York, December 11, 1838. His 
jiarents were John and Nancy (Comcross) 
Fiero, both of whom were natives of 
New York. His father was a farmer and 
died in 1847. 

At the age of eighteen, the subject of 
tliis sketch began farming for himself. 
Five years later he responded to his 
country's call by shouldering a musket 
and joining the Union army. He joined 
the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth regi- 
ment New York volunteer infantry, in 
August, 1862, but was transferred in 
about three months to the Ninth New 
York heavy artillery. He saw service at 
the battle of North Ann river, and was 
with the Army of the Potomac in the 
battle of the Wilderness, but was not in 
the engagement himself. He was also at 
Cold Harbor, where he was wounded by 
a minie-ball in the left leg, just above the 
ankle. He was sent home on furlough, 
where he lay under the doctor's care for 
one hundred and twenty days, when he 
rejiorted back to New York hospital, and 
was mustered out June 6, 1805. He hob- 
bled about on crutches, about eight years 
in all, and his left leg was amputated 
twenty-three years after it was shattered 
b}^ a rebel bullet. 

Mr. Fiero came to Nebraska in the 
spring of 187-i, taking a soldier's home- 
stead in Kearney. The entire count}' 
was scarcely settled at that time and cast 
only forty-four votes. He was a victim 
of the grasshopper raid, and like hundreds 
of others saw his corn crop dissappear 
before the army of h()|)pers in a I'emark- 
ably short space of time. During those 



dark days Mr. Fiero was obliged to go to 
Kansas for corn to feed his horses. 

Our subject was married, October 4, 
1857, to Jane E. Tiffany, who is a native 
of Ontario county. New York. Four 
children have been born to this union, 
viz. — Emma Jane, born January 16, 1860, 
now the wife of John D. Jones ; John 
Miles, born November, 1862; Hattie Belle, 
born May, 1866, now the wife of Stanley 
Carpenter, and Carrie Alice, born August, 
1869, wife of W. D. Howard. 

Mr. Fiero has served as justice of the 
peace for several years and is now post- 
master of the village of Hartwell, having 
been appointed in December, 1889. He 
is a member of the A. F. and A. M., also 
the G. A. R., and is a republican. He 
came to Hartwell in 1884 and engaged in 
the implement business, but is now in the 
groceiy business and enjoys the good will 
of everybody in the town and community 
in which he lives. 



CHARLES A. ROHDER was born 
in Germany, September 17, 1834, 
and is a son of Adam and Mary 
(Niederhof) Rohder, both natives of the 
Fatherland. The subject of this sketch 
left his native land when nineteen 3'ears 
old to escape the draft. He first went to 
England, and there found an opportunit^y 
to work his passage to America on a boat 
which was about ready to sail, landed at 
New York and immediately went to Cam- 
bria county. Pa., where he had a sister 
living. He next went down the Ohio 
river to Cairo and served as a cook on a 
steamer on the Mississippi for eight years. 



526 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



He came to Lowell, Nebr., in tlie spring 
of 1873, and immediately engaged in the 
bakery business. The town was prosper- 
ous, and Mr. Rohder's business flourished, 
and he remained there till the town went 
down, when he purchased railroad land 
in Eaton township, where he has since 
resided. He went all through the grass- 
hopper famine and has seen great herds 
of liufl'alo, antelope and deer in the vicinity 
where he now lives. 

Mr. Eohder was married, February 8, 
1805, to Eva Ebel, by whom he had four 
children, born as follows — Augustus, 
September 1, 1866 ; Fred, July 27, 1868; 
Elizabeth and John. His second marriage 
was on February 20, 1871, to Dora E- 
Reeder. This union has been blessed with 
the following named children — Henry 
W., born June 25, 1872 ; Dora E., born 
September 8, 1874; Chas. S., born Octo- 
ber 23, 1876; Leona, born September 17, 
1878; Emma, born August 23, 1880; 
Frank, born March 17, 1882; William, 
born October 18, 1884, Earnest, born June 
6, 1886, and Josie, born November 7, 
1887. Mr. Rohder has 160 acres of well 
improved land, and has a considerable 
number of trees growing. He is a demo- 
crat and has held various local offices ; in 
religion he is a member of the Catholic 
church. 



JOHN DAVIDSON is one of the pros- 
perous and well-to-do farmers of Kear- 
ney county. He was born in Scotland, 
January 14, 1850, and was reared on a 
farm in Ayrshire, south Scotland. He came 
to America when he was twenty-one years 
old, and is now thoroughly imbued with 



American thrift and enterprise. He 
landed in New York city and spent the 
first year in that state. He came West as 
far as Silver Creek, Mich., in 1872, where 
he spent two years, coming to Kearney 
county, Nebr., in the spring of 1874, and 
was among the first to take a homestead 
in that county. There was scarcely any 
settlement previous to that time, and the 
country was anything but inviting to a 
man like Mr. Davidson, who had so re- 
cently come from one of the oldest and 
most densely populatetl countries of 
Europe. But he was here, and he de- 
termined to stay. He was young and 
ambitious, and he made up his mind that 
what others had done he could do, so he 
located his claim and erected a small frame 
house upon it. He was single and without 
means, so he went to Lincoln and worked 
during the summer, returning to spend the 
winter upon his claim. He hired some 
breaking done, and the second year pre- 
pared to do some farming, but the grass- 
hoppers came and destroyed everything 
green. This caused great suffering among 
many of the early settlers, and had not aid 
Ijeen sent them from the East, many would 
doubtless have suffered greatly for the 
necessaries of life. When the provisions 
were distributed, Mr. Davidson refused to 
accept anything, as he was young and had 
no family to look after and could take care 
of himself. The following year crops 
prospered and a fair yield was made, and 
since that time the farmers have had no 
cause to complain. 

Mr. Davidson was married April 28, 
1879, the lady whom he chose for a com- 
))anion being Miss Lydia J. J!arnhart. 
She is a native of Michigan, having been 
born in Berry county June 29, 1852. Her 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 






fatlier, Samuel Barnhart, is a native of 
Ohio, and her mother, whose maiden name 
was Sarah Everdeen, is a native of Vir- 
ginia. They were married in Ohio, and 
located soon after in Michigan, where the 
father died in 1885, the mother in 1878. 
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Davidson lias 
been blessed with three children — David, 
born August 19. 1884 ; James, born March 
7, 1886, and John, born November 16, 
1889. 

Mr. Davidson has been county super- 
visor, and made a reputation as a careful 
and conservative official. He owns three 
hundred and twenty acres of as fine 
land as cnn be found in the state, has it 
under good cultivation, and his improve- 
ments are among the best in the township 
of Eaton. 



IAPtS PETERSON, a native of Den- 
mark, was born March 5, 18-45, 
_^> and is a son of Lars and Kate 
(Johnson) Peterson. The senior Peterson 
was a farmer and died in 1847. There 
jvere eight children in the Peterson fam- 
ily, five boys and three girls. Lars Peter- 
son is the youngest of the famil}' and 
remained on the old liomestead, attendina: 
school when he could, until he was about 
twenty years old, when he came to Amer- 
ica in 1865, and landed at New Yoi'k 
bity August 5, and came West immedi- 
ately as far as Muskegon, Mich. lie 
worked in a sawmill at tiiis j)oint for a 
few months, when he departed for Eock 
Island county. 111., and found employment 
on a farm there at fair wages. He ne.xt 
went to Omaha and worked for a transfer 



company for two years. Subsequently he 
visited Denver and spent three j'ears in 
the gold and silver mines of Colorado. 
His next move was to California, where 
he was employed at farm woi-k for about 
three years. In 1878 he visited Denmark, 
and, after his return, spent six months in 
Omaha; he then came to Kearney county 
and bought railroad land in Grant town- 
ship. 

Mr. Peterson was married, October 26, 
1878, to Kirstine Hoist, who was born in 
Denmark, June 23, 1853, and came to 
America in 1876. Eight ciiildren grace 
the happy home, born as follows — 
Andrew, July 19, 1879 ; Christian, Novem- 
ber 14, 1880; Matilda, November 16, 1881; 
Frederick, January 24, 1883 ; Willemoes, 
March 19, 1885; George, November 29, 
1886 ; Eva and Adam (twins), May 28, 
1889. Mr. Peterson has three hundred 
and twenty acres of land, all under culti- 
vation. His house and barn are new and 
substantial structures and everything 
bears the mark of a thrift}' and enterpris- 
ing husbandman. 



A 



NDREW P. PETERSON was 

born in Sweden, January 29, 
1848, and is a son of Andrew 
and Anna Catrena Anderson. His father 
died in 1860 and his mother in 1876. 

Mr. Peterson came to America in 1871, 
and went first to Connecticut and later to 
Micliigan, where he worked in the mines 
along Lake Superior. He subsequently 
worked in the marble quarries in Ver- 
mont. In 1875 he spent five months in 
Sweden, and shortly after his return he 



538 



KEAEXEY COUNTY. 



came to Xebraska and settled in Grant 
township, Kearney county. He took a 
homestead and had only $160 in money. 
He purchased a yoke of oxen, for which 
he paid $75, constructed a dugout and 
later a sod house. At first he met with 
much difficulty and worked on a railroad 
for a short time in order that he might 
get money to provide for his family ; but 
he has been industrious and economical 
and has prospered. 

He was married December 26, 1873, to 
Miss Imer Rayena. a native of Sweden, 
who was born January 1, 1S54, and came 
to America in 1870. They have six chil- 
dren, viz. — William, born August 20, 1874 ; 
Ida, born January 16, 1876 ; Frank, born 
June 10, 1878 ; John H., born October S, 
1885 ; Peter J., born December 17. 1886 ; 
and Alice E., born August 3, 1889. 

Mr. Peterson has been a deacon in the 
Lutheran church for several years and has 
alwavs endeavored to live an honest, con- 
sistent and upright life. He addresses 
the people at Xorman and other points, 
at regular intervals, upon religious topics. 



JAMES THOMPSOX was born in 
Canada. January 21, 1853. and is the 
son of James and Mary (Tarne\-) 
Thompson, the former a native of 
Scotland and the latter of Ireland. He 
was one of a family of fifteen children, 
and left his home and kindred in Canada 
when only thirteen vears old to fi^ht his 
own battles through life. He crossed 
oVer into the States in the fall of 1866, 
and wended his wav as far West as Win- 



nebago count}'. 111., where he hired out to 
work for a farmer. He soon gained an 
established reputation as an industrious 
young man, and he always found a de- 
mand for his services during the seven 
and one-half years he remained in that 
locality. In March. 1874, he came to 
Kearney county, Xebr., with a view of 
securing for himself a fann. After pros- 
pecting about for a short time, he located 
a homestead and tree claim in Grant 
township, and constructed adugout, which 
served as his place of abode for some 
years. There was scarcely any settlement 
in all that section at that time, and it was 
not an uncommon thing to see a herd of 
antelope, and occasionally a few buffalo. 
He worked in the Gibbon settlement north 
of the Platte most of the time during 
the first season, and in this way managed 
to secure money with which to provide 
himself with the necessary food for the 
winter. He passed through the famous 
grasshopper raids of 1874 and 1876, and 
witnessed considerable suffering among 
his less fortunate neighbors. He was 
young and unmarried, and refused to ac- 
cept aid that was sent to alleviate the 
wants of the sufferers, seeing about him* 
men with families, who stood in greater 
need of assistance than he. 

Mr. Thompson lived the qoiet life of a 
bachelor until February 13. 1890. when he 
was married to Miss Kate M. Doal, who 
is a native of Denmark, born July 29, 
1864. and came to America with her par- 
ents when about six yeare old. 

Mr. Thompson has two hundred and 
forty acres of as fine land as can be f(_)und 
in the county, and it would be difficult to 
find as many acres as pleasantly situated. 

On his timber claim are fuUv twenty 



KEARSEY COUNTY. 



529 



thousand large, thrifty trees, planted and 
nurtured by his own hands. 

Being a son of poor parents, 3'oung 
Thompson was denied the excellent ad- 
vantages enjo^'ed b}' the youth of to-day 
for obtaining an education, but, since 
thrown upon his own resources, he has 
improved his spare time and collected a 
generous fund of useful information. He 
is well posted upon the topics of the da}', 
and is a ready conversationalist upon 
almost any subject. He has filled the office 
of justice of the peace acceptably, and 
and has held various otiier local offices. 
Although formerlj' an enthusiastic repub- 
lican, he has changed his political views 
and become an ardent advocate of the 
union labor party. He is one of the rec- 
ognized leaders of his party in Kearney 
county, and a man who is highly respected 
bv all who know him. 



LEWIS T. MEYER was among 
the first settlers of Kearney 
_^ county, Nebr., and is today one 
of the substantial farmers of Grant town- 
ship. He is a native of Illinois, born in 
St. Clair county, April 23, 1844. His 
father, Charles A. Meyer, is a native of 
France, but is now residing at Davenport, 
Iowa. He is a sboemakur b\' trade and 
an ardent believer in the Catholic religion. 
Lewis T. Meyer was only seventeen years 
old when the Civil war broke out, but he 
bad a loyal heart in him and was among 
the first to offer his services to his countr}'. 
Heenlisted August 10, 1861, in the Thirty- 
seventh Illinois volunteer infantry, and 
rendered gallant service at Pea Kidge, 



Prairie Grove and Vicksburg. His regi- 
ment was also placed in charge of Ft. 
Blakely, near Mobile, Ala., for some time. 
He marched into Texas under General 
Ord, and was in the Army of the South- 
west until mustered out May 15, 1866. 
After returning from the scene of the 
great civil conflict, Mr. Meyer went to 
Iowa and engaged in farming for several 
years. He came to Kearney count}', 
Nebr., in the spring of 1873, and his was 
one of the first dozen families that settled 
in Grant township. When he halted on the 
vast ])rairie, where he has since lived, there 
was not a house in sight and the nearest 
trading paint was Lowell, some twenty 
miles distant. Wild game was plenty, 
and it was indeed fortunate for the early 
settler that such was the case, for he 
depended largel}' on the antelope and 
buffalo for iiis meat. His first act after 
selecting his homestead was to construct 
a sod house. This done, he proceeded to 
break prairie enough to plant a few acres 
of corn, onl\' to have it entirely destroyed 
by the grasshoppers. He tried to smoke 
themoff from a small patch of corn, but 
his efforts were all in vain. The grass- 
hoppers had come to stay as long as a 
green blade of corn was left. Thus he has 
endured all the trials and vexations inci- 
dent to the life of the earl}^ settler, and 
has lived bravel}' through them all, and is 
now in possession of a splendid farm for his 
reward. 

Mr. Meyer was married November 2, 
1870, to Miss Ehoda A. Owen, who is a 
native of Kentucky. This union has boen 
blessed with eight children as follows — 
Carrie C, born November 11, 1871 ; 
Olive E., born December 20, 1872; Nolle, 
born October 25, 1874; Anna M., born 



530 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



July 31, 1876 ; Effie Bernice, born March 
10, 1878 ; Lewis T., born September 2. 
1880; Alberta P., born April 16, 1884:; 
and Walter L., born November 17, 188G. 

Mr. Meyer has served the people of his 
township as county supervisor and has 
filled numerous other local oiRces. lie 
has taken special pains in raising fruits, 
and, as an evidence of the success he has 
attained, it might not be out of place to 
remark that he has been awarded several 
first premiums at fairs. In politics he 
is a republican first, last and all the time. 
He and his estimable wife are devoted 
members of the Presbyterian church. 



JAMES PKICE, one of the representa- 
tive pioneers of Kearney county, was 
born in Cayuga county, N. Y., March 
10, 1835. His parents, |Aaron and 
Jemima Price, both died in 1889; the for- 
mer was a native of New Jersey and the lat- 
ter of New York, and both were members 
of the Congregational church. At the age 
of sixteen Mr. Price came west to Ohio 
and found employment in Fulton county, 
where he remained for six years. He was 
married March 28, 1885, to Miss Jane Por- 
ter, and this union has been blessed with 
eight children, nameh' — Mina (deceased), 
James (deceased), Elmer (deceased), David 
(deceased), Charles, William, Adelina and 
Guy. 

Mr. Price enlisted September 12, 1864, 
in the Fourteenth Michigan regiment, 
but served on detached duty mainly, and 
was engaged in guarding recruits through 
to headquarters. He was mustered out 



May 16, 1865, and returned to Michigan, 
at the close of his militar}'- service, and 
resumed his favorite occupation as farmer. 
He emigrated to Decatur count}^ Iowa, in 
1869, where he farmed for four years 
and then removed to Kearney count}', 
Nebr., in the spring of 1873, and is one 
of the first settlers in Grant township. He 
took a soldier's homestead and broke fifty 
acres of sod, but his entire corn crop was 
destroyed by the grasshoppers, and he was 
left without a thing in the world to sup- 
port his family on, so he went to Arkan- 
sas, where he worked on the Arkansas 
river for some time. In the spring of 1875 
he returned to Nebraska and resumed his 
efforts at farming. Many settlers became 
so discouraged at seeing their crops des- 
troyed, that they offered their claims for 
almost nothing in order to get out of the 
country. In 1875 Mr. Price secured the 
crop on a half section of land for a horse. 
Lowell was the nearest town, and there 
was only one house between his place and 
that. It was not an uncommon thing for 
settlers to get lost in those daj's and be 
obliged to camp out on the prairie all 
night. Mr. Price has had experience of 
this kind frequently, and he knows what 
it is to spend a night on the prairie during 
a terrible thunder storm. He has 320 
acres of splendid land, for when he selected 
his homestead he had the pick of nearly 
the whole township, and he could not have 
selected a more beautiful piece of land. 
He has improved it from time to time, as 
his circumstances would permit, and lias 
taken special pains with fruit trees, and 
now has one of the best young orchards in 
the county. He set his apple trees out in 
1880 and during the summer of 1889 
gathered 160 bushels of that fruit. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



531 



Mr. Price affiliates with tlie democratic 
party, hoUling pronounced views in regard 
to the tariff tiiat are in harmony with tliat 
pai'ty. 



SOREN C. LARSON, one of the 
well to do farmei's of Kearney 
county, was born in Sulsted Sogn, 
Kjaer Hirre, Alborg Amt., Denmark, 
August 22, 1843. His father's name was 
Lars Peter Sorenson, and his mother's 
name was Karn Kirstine Pedersdotter, 
before marriage. His father was a wood- 
worker, and, although born poor, he proved 
to be a hard-working, industrious man, 
and by his rigid economy and unceaseless 
perseverance succeeded in acquiring con- 
siderable property. His first wife (the 
mother of the subject of this sketch) died 
in 1860, and he remarried. He died about 
1868, the father of thirteen children, seven 
of whom were boys. Nearly all of the 
bo3's learned the same trade as the father 
had, and as fast as thev became of age 
invariabh'^ left for America. 

After serving about three months in the 
marine service of Denmark, Soren C. 
Larson came to America in April, 1866, and 
came as far west as Milwaukee, but soon 
returned as far east as Michigan, where he 
worked for a few months. He then went 
to Racine, Wis., where he found emjiloy- 
ment in the great wagon shops there. In 
1867 he came as far west as Omaha and 
hel})ed erect a large number of houses in 
that city, during the nine months he was 
there, then returned to Racine, Wis. 
After the great fire in Chicago, he went 
there and worked at the carpenter trade 



for some time and again returned to the 
shops in Racine, Wis. He came to Ne- 
braska in 1882 and settled in Kearney 
county, where he purchased a quarter 
section of land, on which he has since 
resided and has greatly improved. 

He was married in Racine, Wis., Ma}'^ 
15, 1868, to Miss Johanne Katrine Ander- 
son. She was a native of Denmark, born 
August 15, 1848, and came to America in 
1865. This blessed union has resulted in 
the birth of ten children, namely — Louis, 
born January 3, 1860; George, born Au- 
gust 24, 1872; Clara, born December lU, 
1874; Rosa C, born June 9. 1877 ; Arthur, 
born October 14, 1879 ; Alice, born Octo- 
ber 27, 1885; and Harry Alwin, born 
December 28, 1888, and three deceased. 
Mr. Larson has been treasurer of Grant 
township for two years and is now serving 
his third term as county supervisor. 



JOHN ANDERSON, one of the 
honoi'ed pioneers of Kearney county, 
is a native of Denmark, and was 
born January 25, 1840. His father, 
Andrew Anderson, was a native of the 
same country and lived the modest pnd 
unpretentious life of a farmer. He was 
twice married and was the father of four- 
teen children, thirteen of whom were by 
his first wife, who died in 1862. The 
senior Anderson lived to a ripe old age, 
and alwavs remained a loyal subject of 
his native country. He died in 1886. 

John Anderson, the subject of this 
sketch, served an apprenticeship at the 
carpenter trade. The year of 1863 marked 
the breaking out of the war between 



532 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



Germany and Denmark. Young Ander- 
son, loyal to his country, left his work- 
shop and joined the army. 

The Danish throne passed that year 
from Frederick VII. to Christian IX., who 
began his administration with an attempt 
to detach Schleswig from Holstein and 
to incorporate the former province with 
his own kingdom. This action on the 
part of Christian was not in accordance 
with the treat}' of Loudres of 1852, and 
naturally produced great excitement 
throughout Germany. A diet was con- 
vened and it was determined to prevent 
by force the consummation of Christian's 
plans. A German army was accordingly 
thrown into Schleswig, and the Danes 
were driven back to a line of fortifications 
called the " Dannewerk," which they had 
drawn across the peninsula. The Prussian 
army greatl}' outnumbered that of the 
Danish, and in April of 1864 these works 
were carried by storm. The brave and 
plucky Danes could doubtless have resisted 
the attacks of four times their own num- 
ber, but an army of two hundred thousand 
men against twenty-four thousand was too 
powerful and they were compelled to 
succumb to the inevitable. Mr. Anderson 
belonged to the department of heav}' artil- 
lery, and was stationed at Fort Dybbcel, 
where the brave Danes were under the 
constant fire of the opposing armies for 
five long weeks. John Anderson proved 
his loyalty to his native country, but, as 
an industrious and ambitious young man, 
he longed for opportunities that were 
beyond his reach. He had already heard 
considerable about the advantages enjoyed 
by the citizens of America, and he deter- 
mined upon further inquiry, which event- 
ually led him to resolve to become a 



citizen of the western world. He accord- 
ingly set sail and arrived on the shores of 
the new country in the spring of 1866. 
He journeyed as far west as Milwaukee, 
and thence soon after to White Hall, 
Mich., where he worked a short time as a 
mill-wright. He subsequently established 
himself at Paintwater, Mich., where he 
remained for seven years. 

Mr. Anderson came to Kearney county, 
Nebr., in the s])ring of 1874, and was 
among the first to take liomesteads in 
Grant township, where he has since re- 
sided. Settlers in Kearney county then 
were few and far between. Antelope, 
and occasionally a few buffalo, roamed 
about the vicinity with little fear of 
molestation. 

Mr. Anderson, being an expert carpenter 
by trade, found plenty of employment in 
neighboring localities, and concluded to 
hire his " breaking" done the first season, 
while he worked at his trade. He planted 
twenty-five acres of sod corn, which was 
entirely destroyed by the grasshoppers, 
that being the first year of their famous 
raid. He had bi-ougiit with him from the 
East, lumber and other necessary mate- 
rial, with which he erected a sixbstantial 
frame house in the following fall. He 
planted seedlings, which have since de- 
veloped into shady groves, and other- 
wise improved his farm from time to 
time as circumstances would permit, until 
he now has one of the choicest farms in 
the county. 

Mr. Ander.son was married in Novem- 
ber, 1867, to Miss Mary Rassmussen. She, 
too, is a native of Denmark, born Decem- 
ber 21, 1840, and came to America in the 
spring of 1863. This happy union has 
been blessed with four children, namel}' — 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



533 



Clara, born November 15, 1869; Minnie, 
born September 15, 187;3; Annie, born 
November 6, 1876, and Clara Annie, born 
April 3, 1880. Great sorrow was brought 
upon this liapp\' family by the death of 
the three eldest daughters in a single 
week, in 1879. 

Mr. Anderson has filled the important 
office of assessor for three times, has 
served once as supervisor, and took the 
United States census of Grant and Cosmo 
townships, in 1880. He is a prominent 
member of the Farmers' Club, and enjoys 
the high esteem of all who know him. 



JACOB MATSEN was born in Den- 
mark, June 14, 1852, and came to 
America in the spring of 1873. He 
first located in Ludington, Mich., 
where he spent two 3'ears, and went from 
there to Kacine, Wis., where he worked 
on a farm for about two years. Next he 
came to Kearne}' county, Nebr., in the 
spring of 1876 and settled on a homestead 
in Grant township, and built a sod iiouse, 
and farmed some the first year. His farm 
now comprises two hundred acres and it 
is well improved. One of his first acts 
was to plant fruit trees, and as a result he 
now has considerable choice fruit. 

Mr. Matsen was married August 9, 1879, 
to Miss Carrie Larson, who is a native of 
Denmark, born July 6, 1850. She came 
to America in 1879. This union has been 
blessed with tl ree children, viz. — Annie 
M., born July i, 1880 ; George, born 
October 7, 1882 ; and Jim M., born March 
9, 1888. 



He has filled various local offices and 
is one of the representative Danes of 
Grant township. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Matsen belong to the Lutiieran church. 



LEWIS J. LORAIN, one of the first 
settlers in Kearne}' county, is a 
_^ native of Ohio, born in Washing- 
ton county, November 5, 184r5. 

His father, Croton J. Lorain, was born in 
Bedford county. Pa., and his mother, who 
bore the maiden name of Mary Lobdell, was 
a native of Ohio. She died in 1855. The 
senior Lorain, wiio has resided in various 
states, now lives in Franklin county, being 
one of the early settlers in that section of 
the great state of Nebraska. 

Lewis J. Lorain, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared on a farm, and, like 
most farmer bo^'s of his day, had to 
depend solely on the common district 
school for his education. When the war 
broke out he was but sixteen years old, too 
young to be accepted as a soldier, but the 
following year, 1862, his services were 
gladly accepted, and he accordingly' en- 
listed, joining the Fourth West Virginia 
regiment. His first skirmisi) was with 
Moccasin's Eangers. He afterwards was 
at the battles of Cedar creek, Winchester 
and Petersburg. He was taken prisoner 
while under General Hancock in the Shen- 
andoah valle}', but was fortunate enough 
to make good his escape. He served till 
March 1, 1864, when he was mustered out. 
He then re-enlisted in the three-months' 
service, and was mustered out the second 
time in September, 1865. being one of tlie 



534 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



last boys in blue to leave tlie field of tlie 
great civil conflict. 

After the war, Mr. Lorain emigrated to 
Jersey, 111., where he was a successful 
farmer for ten years. His next move was 
to Nebraska, where he arrived in 1877, 
settling in Kearney count}', which at that 
time bordered on the frontier, and took a 
tree claim in Grant township, in the south- 
east corner of the county. At that time 
there were very few settlers in that sec- 
tion, and the country, of course, was very 
new. There was any amount of antelope 
and deer, and once in a while a few buffalo 
could be found. He built a comfortable 
sod house and was not loncf in brinffinjj 

Q DO 

order out of cliaos. 

Mr. Lorain was married, March 13, 1869, 
to Miss Mary C. Whitten. She is a native 
of Jersey county. 111., and was born De- 
cember 1, 1849. As a result of this happy 
union, four children have been born — Mary 
A., born March 26, 1870 ; Charles, born 
January 20, 1874; Minnie B., born De- 
cember 2, 1876, and Crayton J., born Feb- 
ruary 19, 1881. 

Mr. Lorain has one hundred and sixty 
acres of land well improved, and has fully 
thirty thousand thi'ifty trees growing 
nicely. He also has a large variety of fruit 
trees, many of which are beginning to bear. 
He is one of the few Nebraska farmers 
who believe all the common kinds of fruit 
can be successfully raised in this country. 
He is a firm believer in the principles of 
the republican party, and has always 
strictly adhered to the party on all state 
and national questions. 

There is a bit of ancestral history con- 
cerning the Lorain family, which is of 
sufficient general interest to deserve men- 
tion. Mr. Lorain's father was one of the 



radical abolitionists of Ohio in the ante 
l)elhim days, and was a member of the 
famous James G. Birney party. He was 
a conductor on the " Under Ground " rail- 
road, which was successfully operated in 
those exciting daj's. Like most radical 
leaders of great moral reforms, he had 
enemies by the thousa,nds and was closely 
watched on every side. He and his com- 
panions were arrested at one time, charged 
with aiding negroes to escape, and were 
thrown in jail, in which tliey suffered con- 
finement for six months. His comrades 
were Peter Garner and Mordecai Thomas. 
Mr. Lorain's paternal grandfather was a 
private soldier under Genei-al LaFa^'ette, 
and came to America along with that dis- 
tinguished personage. 



JOHN F. FRANKLIN, the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Sweden, 
February 20, 1849. His father, 
Benjamin Franklin, a farmer bj' oc- 
cupation, was also a native of Sweden, 
born in the 3'ear 1792, and was an officer 
in the regular arm}', and when a mere boy 
our subject traveled with him as one of 
the camp followers and was wounded dur- 
ing an engagement with Napoleon, in one 
of his campaigns through Germany. 
Anna (Anderson) Franklin, mother of our 
subject, was also a native of Sweden, born 
in 1809. There were in all eight children 
in the family — three brothei's and five 
sisters — as follows — Andrew, who is now 
a farmer in the old country ; Ephraim, 
who is a section forenuin in the old ccjun- 
try ; Anna, Christena, Clara, Jane, Mary 
and John F., our subject. 



KEA RNEY CO UNTY. 



5:55 



Swan Franklin, the paternal grandfather, 
was a native of Sweden, and throughout 
life was an officer in the )"egular army and 
was commander of the Esworth regiment, 
lie was noted for his bravery and was 
wounded in tlie battle of Leipsig with 
Napoleon. He died at the age of sixtj"^- 
eight years. 

John F. Franklin spent his early boy- 
hood days at home on the farm and at- 
tended school until sixteen years of age. 
He had the advantage of one term of high 
school and received what was considered 
a liberal education. He helped his 
brother farm the home place, and for a 
sliort time was engaged with a telegraph 
compan}'. Arriving at the age of twenty 
years, he decided to seek his fortune in 
the western hemisphere, and accordingly 
embarked for America. After visiting a 
few weeks at Burlington, Iowa, he en- 
gaged emplo\'ment as brakeman on the 
I. B. & W. railway, between Urbana, and 
Peoria. He followed this for nine months 
and then went South and for two 3'ears 
worked on the old Jeff. Davis plantation 
in Mississippi. He then came North and 
hired to a farmer in Henderson county, 
111., as stock feeder. At this he worked 
for five years, and in February, 1879, emi- 
grated West and located in Kearney 
county, filing a claim under the home- 
stead law on tlie southwest quarter of 
section 6, townsliip 6, I'ange 15, on wiiich 
he still resitles. At tiiat early da\' tiie 
country, wiiich is now studded with fine 
farm residences, j^resented a wild and bar- 
ren aspect. Antelope were numerous, but 
the settlers were few and far between. 
Mr. Franklin built a small frame shanty 
in which he kept bachelor's hall, and broke 
out eighty acres of his land the lirst year. 



The following 3'ear he built a more sub- 
stantial frame dwelling and is now replac- 
ing it with a still more substantial one. 
He was married December 11, 1880, to 
Anna Carlson, who was born in Sweden, 
November 3, 1855, and came to America 
in 1S71. Her father, Carl Peterson, was 
a native of Sweden, and was a carpenter 
by occupation. Her mother, Anna L. 
Peterson, was also a native of Sweden, 
born in 1826, and came to America in 
1872. There were eight children in the 
Peterson family, viz. — Caroline, John, 
Fred, Anna, Matilda, Sophia, Ida and one 
that died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. 
Franklin have four children, viz. — Amanda 
W., Jessie L., George B. and Eudoljih C. 
The parents are both members of the 
Swedish "Bethania" church. 

Mr. Franklin is a republican in politics 
and for the past four years has held the 
office of assessor. 



GUSTAF A. STRAND, a highly 
prosperous farmer of Haj'es 
township, Kearney county, is a 
native of Sweden, and was born Septem- 
ber 18, 1842. He is a son of John and 
Anna (Johnson) Strand, natives also of 
Sweden. His father was born January 
21, 181S, and still lives in the old country, 
being a small but successful farmer; and 
yet over thirty-seven years of his maturer 
life were spent in the regular army of his 
country. Mr. Strand's mother was born 
in February, 1821, and is still living in the 
old country. Four children were born to 
these — three boys and one girl, of wIkmii 
Gustaf A., our subject, is the eldest, the 



536 



EEA RNET CO UNI Y. 



others being John A., Glaus O. and Anna 
C. Three of these are in America. 

Gustaf A. was reared in his native 
country, received a good common-school 
education, learned the shoemaker's trade 
and followed it and railroading until he 
was nearly twenty-eight years of age. 
He came then in the spring of 1869 to 
America, reaching New York May 7th 
and going direct to Red Wing, Minn. 
There he found his first employment as a 
laborer on the railroad, but followed that 
only a short time, going soon afterwards 
at his trade as a shoemaker, in Cannon 
Falls, Minn. Subsequently he went to 
Burlmgton, Iowa, and engaged in the nur- 
sery business, following it for fifteen years. 
In the fall of 1880, he came on a prospect- 
ing tour to x^ebraska, and. after looking 
over a considerable portion of the south- 
western part of the state, he made up his 
mind to locate in Kearnej' county, and 
bought, at that date, the northwest quar- 
ter of section 3, township 6 and range 15 
west. The country was then new and in 
a comparatively unsettled condition, and 
Mr. Strand, not caring to settle his family 
so far west, returned home to Burlington 
and continued to reside there till March, 
1885, when he came back, bringing his 
family with him, and settled on his pur- 
chase. He built a small farmhouse, 16 
by 20, which he occupied till the fall of 
1889, when he erected his present large 
and handsome residence. He has been 
steadily engaged in fai'ming and the nur- 
sery business, having established the first 
nursery in the county, and having been 
very successful in the handling of trees 
and shrubbery. 

Mr. Strand has been twice married, and 
is the father of six children. He inarrieii 



first, March 8, 1869, his wife being Miss 
Louisa Sampson. She died February" 2, 
1886, leaving four children — Gustaf, born 
March 8, 1870 ; Charles E., born Septem- 
ber 24, 1871 ; Anna L., born February 24, 
1883, and Amelia C, born December 29, 
1885. Mr. Strand married again Novem- 
ber 13, 1886, his second wife being Mrs. 
Anna Headstrom, widow of Eric Head- 
strom. She is a native of Sweden, and 
was born October 2-4, 1850. She is a 
daughter of John Johnson and Hettie 
Miller. Her father and mother were both 
born in 1818, and lived always in their 
native country. Mrs. Strand has one 
child by her former marriage — James AV. 
Headstrom, born April 4, 1872. To the 
latter marriage have been born two chil- 
dren — Edward, July 16, 1887, and Paul 
W., May 19, 1888. 

Mr. and Mrs. Strand are zealous mem- 
bers of the Swedish Lutheran church. 



JOHN M. LEWIS, the subject of 
this biograi)hical sketch, was born 
in Wayne count}', Ind., March 19, 
1838. His father, Caleb Lewis, a 
farmer by occupation, was born in West 
Virginia, February 22, 1793. His mother, 
Polly (WilliLts) Lewis, was a native of 
Indiana, and was born March 6, 1803. 
There were ten children in the family to 
which our subject belonged, three boys 
and seven girls. 

George Lewis, the paternal grandfather, 
was a native of Virginia, and was born 
January 8, 1762. Leah Lewis, the pater- 
nal grandmother, was also a Aitive of 



KEARXF.Y COUNTY. 



537 



Virginia, and was born November 12, 
1769. There were eleven children in their 
family. 

John M., the subject proper of this 
sketch, attended the neighboring schools 
in early life and worked the farm until 
his father's death, which occurred in 1870, 
after which he settled up his father's 
estate. In 1S76 he moved to Illinois, and 
worked on a farm for his brother in Mer- 
cer county, where he worked till January, 

1878, when he emigrated West and settled 
in Kearney county, Nebr., homesteading 
the eighty-acre tract on which he still 
lives, in section 14, township 6, range 15. 
At the same time he took a timber claim 
of one hundred and sixty acres in section 
22, township 6, range 15, which he still 
owns. The country was wild and 
unbroken, and one mile from where the 
city of Minden now stands were only one 
store and a sclioolhouse, and wliere scores 
of good farm houses are now were then 
only small sod huts. Wild game was 
plentiful, and antelope roamed over the 
unbrolcen prairie in herds. The first year 
Mr. Lewis erected a small frame house, 
twelve by fourteen feet, and broke out 
forty-seven acres of sod, on which he har- 
vested an abundant crop, lie has been 
very prosperous since coming to Nebraska, 
and tiie elegant residence and other build- 
ings which adorn his place show his 
success. 

Mr. Lewis was married, October 3, 

1879, to Nancy A. Kobbins, who was 
born in Hamilton county, Ohio, August 
It), 18-40, and is the daughter of Abram 
and Nancy (Johnson) White, both natives 
of North Carolina, but no cliildren have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. 

Politically, he is a republican. 



A 



UGUST JOHNSON is one of the 
most prosperous farmers of Hayes 
township. He was born in cen- 
tral Sweden, August 15, 1839, and is 
the son of John and Sarah (Styne) Larson, 
both of whom were natives of Sweden. 

Our subject spent the first thirty years 
of his life in his native place, attending 
school and working on the farm. He 
came to America in 1869, landing at New 
York, June 15, and soon found employ- 
ment in the stone quarries there. He then 
came West and located in Henderson 
county. 111., Avhere for eight years he 
labored on a farm. In 1873 he came to 
Kearney, Nebr., and with the money he 
had saved through his industry and rigid 
econora}^ he purchased a half section of 
railroad land at $3.50 per acre. At that 
day there were but two or three settlers 
to be found between his place and Kear- 
ney (city), and it was one wild, unbroken 
prairie, and antelope could be seen in 
herds of twent\^ or thirty. Mr. Johnson 
returned to Henderson county, 111., and in 
1875 came back to look after his land 
The grasshoppers had devastated the coun- 
tre the year previous, and when he arrived 
were fast destroying the crops of that 
year. Mr. Johnson was so discouraged 
that he offered his half section of land for 
sale at a great discount, but did not dis- 
pose of it. He went to Kearney, there 
being but five stores there then, and 
while there witnessed the grasshoppers 
come in clouds like an approaching storm 
and fall so thick and fast that lie could 
not place his finger on the gi'ound without 
touching one. He returned to Illinois, 
and, February 15, 1876, came back to look 
after his land. The outlook was but little 
better. Hearing better reports as time 



538 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



advanced, he came back in 1879 to stay. 
He traded his 160 acres of raih'oad land 
for eighty acres homestead and eighty 
acres raih'oad land, constructed a small 
dug-out and began " baching" it. He 
lived a lonely life for three years and 
then built a fine frame house. He has had 
good crops ever}' year except one, when 
he had a partial failure. The fine build- 
ings, together with the high state of culti- 
vation of his farm, are good evidence of 
his prosperity since coming to Kearney 
count3^ 

He was married March 15, 1885, to 
Louisa Wielhemena, who was born Novem- 
ber 21, 1863, in central Sweden. She 
came to America when eighteen j'ears of 
age, with an uncle, her father and mother 
having died when she was quite young. 
Her father and mother were Andrew P. 
and Sarah Louisa Weisman, both natives of 
Sweden. Tiiere were four children in the 
family, the other three still living in the 
old countr3^ Mr. and Mrs. Johnson both 
incline to the Lutheran faith, although 
the}' are not members of the church. 
He iielped to build the old sod church in 
his community, and later on contributed 
towards the erection of the present fine 
structure. Politically, Mr. Johnson is a 
republican. 



SALMON C. STEWAET. A com- 
paratively old settler of Kearney 
count}', as he is one of that county's 
most prosperous, most intelligent and 
most highly esteemed citizens, is Salmon 
C. Stewart, casiiier of the State Bank at 
Axtell, a sh(jrt biographical sketch of 
wlium is here inserted. 



Mr. Stewart comes of the pioneer stock 
of the "Buckeye State," his parents both 
being natives of Ohio, the father having 
been born in Hamilton county and the 
mother in Belmont county. His fatlier, 
James A. Stewart, who is still living, being 
a resident of Minden. Kearney county, 
this state, was born in the year 1811 and 
reared in his native county in Ohio. He 
has been twice married, his first wife hav- 
ing been Miss Bradley of Hamilton county, 
by whom he had one child, Willliam H. 
Stewart, now residing in Danville, Iowa, 
and holding a prominent position with the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad 
Company. His second wife was Miss Lu- 
cinda Cowles, a daughter of Salmon and 
Polly (Miner) Cowles, natives of New- 
York. Salmon Cowles was an eminent 
Presbyterian minister, who served his 
church with distinction to the age of 
eighty-five years, passing most of his life 
in southeastern Iowa, where he is still 
most pleasantly remembered. The elder 
Stewart was married the second time in 
1843, and by this marriage had born 
to him ten children, of whom the subject 
of this sketch is the fourth, the others 
being — Oscar E., who resides at Ottumwa, 
Iowa, being assistant superintendent of 
the C. B. & Q. R. II., which position he 
has held for seven or eight years — a gal- 
lant ex-federal soldier, who served with dis- 
tinction as a member of the Fifteenth Iowa 
infantry during the late war and carrying 
with him wounds received in the battle 
of Atlanta ; James II., another volunteer 
to the Union cause, wiio died of disease 
contracted in the service of his country ; 
Mary E., widow" of A. G. White and 
now resident of Minden, Kearney county, 
this state ; Laura M., wife of J. 11. Cheney, 




S. C. STEWART. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



541 



of Livermore, Cal. ; Kebecca A., wife of J. 
W. Gilman, of ]\Iinclen, Kearney couiitv, 
this state ; John M., assistant attorney- 
general of this state ; Nellie, wife of J. 
M. Bird, of Hastings, this state ; Sybil L., 
wife of M. J. Wickersham, of Axtell, 
Kearney county, and Emily T., residing 
witii her father at Minden and a teacher 
in the public schools at that place. 

The subject of this notice, Salmon C. 
Stewart, was born in Henry county, Iowa, 
in 1850, and was reared mainl}^ in Des 
iloines county, that state, being brought 
up on his father's farm. He received a 
•rood English education and was trained 
to the habits of industry and usefulness 
common to farm life. In 1874, lie mar- 
ried Miss Ellen Goldsmith, of Lee county, 
Iowa, and, returning shoi'tly afterwards 
to Henry county, that state, engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, which he followed 
till ISSO, moving that year to Kearney 
county, this state, and locating on a farm 
near Minden. He was engaged in farm- 
ing in Kearney county, only two years, 
when he moved into Minden and engaged 
in the loan business. In 188-1: he, in com- 
pany with others, organized the State 
Bank, at Axtell, of which he became cash- 
ier at that date and has held that position 
since. He has extensive interests outside 
of the bank, being identified with the 
leading enterprises and a zealous supporter 
of tiie leading interests where he lives. 
Mr. Stewart has been a hard worker and 
has been rewarded for his labor far beyond 
the average man. Foi'tunate by circum- 
stances, he lias been singularly happ\' in 
the turn in which lie has been able to give 
his affairs. He began with comparatively 
little, his start having been secured from 
his earnings as a school teacher. His in- 



vestments have been judiciously made, 
and under his watchful attention have 
yielded him good returns on every hand. 
He is a man of sound intelligence as well 
as discriminating judgment, and he 
bestows on his affairs that care and solici- 
tude which are the surest guarantees of 
success. 

In 1882, Mr. Stewart was called upon 
to mourn tiie loss of his most estimable wife, 
who had borne him for several years the 
cherished companionship which he sought 
with her hand. She had been a life- 
long member of the Presbyterian church 
and died happy in the faith which had 
born the richest fruits in her life and shed 
over her ever}^ act its sweetest fragrance. 
Besides her husband she left surviving her 
three children — Lona S., now a student in 
the Wesleyan University at Lincoln, this 
state, and Yallie E. and Viola D., at home 
with their father. 

In 1885, Mr. Stewart married again, 
selecting as a second companion Miss 
Dora Carpenter, then of Kearnej' county, 
but a native of Iowa, who, abandoning 
the home of her nativity and foregoing 
the pleasures of youth, came to Nebraska 
and cast her lot on the then frontier, tak- 
ing up the rude and inhospitable life of 
the pioneer, braving all the dangers and 
hardships of that life, in order to secure 
an independent living. She took up a 
claim and became one of the first teachers 
in Phelps county, making her way heroic- 
all}' and successfully alone until she joined 
her fortunes with those of her husband. 
Their union has been blessed with two 
children — Stanley and Maxwell. 

In politics Mr. Stewart is a republican. 
He has never aspii-ed to public life, but is 
a stanch supporter of the ])rinciples of his 



543 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



party, and renders it efficient aid when 
called upon for that purpose. He is a 
zealous member of the Masonic fraternity, 
and, although a member of no church, he 
is a liberal contributor to all charitable 
purposes. 



A UGUST E. ANDERSON, the sub- 
/ \ ject of this biographical memoir, 
J^ \. is one of the rising young men 
of Kearney county, and was born in 
Sweden, December 21, 1859. His father, 
A. M. Anderson, an earh' settler of Kear- 
ney count}', was born in Sweden on Ma\' 
2, 1835, and is now living. His mother, 
Mary (Anderson) Anderson, was also born 
in Sweden, in 1839, and is now living in 
Kearney county. These were the parents 
of six children, three of whom are now 
living in this county. His paternal grand- 
father, Andreas Anderson, a farmer and 
carpenter by occupation, was born in 
Sweden in 1801. The ]iaternal grand- 
mother, Elizabeth Anderson, was also a 
native of Sweden, borq in 1807. His 
trreat-ffrand father on his father's side was 
Nicholas Anderson, a native of Sweden, 
but bej'ond this nothing is known. His 
maternal grandfather, A. P. Nelson, a 
blacksmith and farmer by occupation, was 
born in Sweden in 1805, and died at the 
extreme old age of eight\'-iour years. 
His maternal grandmother, Carrie Nel- 
son, was born in Sweden in 1810. 

August E., the subject proper of this 
sketch, attended school in his earl\' boy- 
hood days, received a liberal education 
and also helped his father al)out the farm. 



Hearing flourishing reports from friends 
in this country and desiring to better his 
condition, he, in 1871, at the youthful age 
of fifteen, embarked for America. In 
1876 he came with his ])arents toKearne}' 
county, when there were but five dug- 
outs and shanties in sight. The country 
was new and work was scarce, so he went 
to Iowa and for three years worked on a 
farm near Mt Pleasant. He afterwards 
worked for some time on a farm in Hen- 
derson count}', Illinois, and after accumu- 
lating a small sum of money, returned to 
Kearne}' county and bought one hundred 
and twenty acres of railroad land, paying 
$4.00 per acre. This land was in section 
35, township 6, range 15. He had about 
fifty acres broken out, when he sold it and 
in 1882 bought the quarter section on 
which he now resides, in section 28, town- 
ship 6, range 15. He at once built his 
present neat frame dwelling and moved 
on the place, and now has his farm under 
a high state of cultivation. 

Mr. Anderson married January 17, 
1882, taking for a life companion Miss 
Gussie Peterson, who was born in Sweden 
October 14, 1862, and when only three 
years of age came to America. Their 
union has been blessed with four children, 
as follows — Arvid H., born Ma\' 11, 1SS3; 
Lillian M., born March 18, 1884; Elmer C. 
born June 5, 1886; Eber E., born May 1, 
1888. Mr. Anderson and his excellent 
wife are both members of the Swedish 
Lutheran church. 

Politically, Mr. Anderson is a stanch 
republican. He has held ever\' office in 
his township, having first been elected 
road overseer in 1882, which office he held 
one 3'ear. He was elected assessor for 
three continuous vears, town clerk two 



[{BARNEY COUNTY 



543 



years, town treasurer one year, and is now 
serving his second year as a member of 
the board of supervisors. All tliese 
offices he has filled with credit to himself, 
and, notwithstanding his youthful age, he 
is already prominent!}' mentioned as one 
of the coming candidates for the office of 
representative for his county in the state 
legislatui'e. 



ADELBERT B. ANDREWS is one 
/ \ of the early settlei-s and most 
X \. prosperous farmers <jf Kearney 
county. He was born in Rhode Island 
December 10, 1852, and is a son of 
Benton S. and Phoebe (Capwell) An- 
drews, natives of Rhode Isiantl. The 
father was a cotton-spinner by occupa- 
tion, and was born in 182G ; the mother 
was born in 1828 ; and these were the 
])arents of fourteen children, the subject 
being the second. The paternal grand- 
father, Jonathan Ancfrews, was born in 
Rhode Island in 1808, and the paternal 
grandmother, Phoebe (Sweet) Andrews, 
also a native of Rhode Island, was born 
in 1810. 

Our subject moved with liis parents to 
Brownsville, Minn., when only two years 
of age, and remained with them until he 
reached his sixteenth year. During the 
greater part of" the time he attended 
school, receiving a good education. He 
next moved with his parents to Crossville, 
Tenn., where he was for six years en- 
gaged principally in farming. From 
there he went to Wheaton, III, and theie 
farmed for two years, and in 1876 came 
to Nel)raska and settled in Kearney 
county. lie at once filed a claim under 



tlie homestead law on eighty acres, being 
a quarter of section 32, township 7, 
range 15. He erected a small frame 
house and began farming, which was 
considered a great experiment in Kearney 
county at that early day, and there were 
but few settlers at this time, and no 
roads, except a trail from Bloomington to 
Kearney, and one from Bloomington to 
Lowell, then the county seat. The 
prairie had been burned over the winter 
previous to his arrival, and presented a 
gloom}' appearance. Mr. Andrews had 
verv little with which to begin farming 
when he came to the count}' ; nevertheless, 
he broke out twenty-five acres with an ox 
team and planted it in corn. This flour- 
ished for a time, and gave evidence of 
an abundant crop, but the grasshoppers 
destroyed every vestige of his crop in 
August, leaving him with practically 
nothing on whicli to live. Hard times, 
accompanied with many hardships and 
privations, followed. He was compelled 
to haul brusii from the Platte river, a dis- 
tance of twelve miles, and besides, the 
winters were colder then, the winds more 
severe, and the snow more abundant, so 
that it was a struggle to live ; but he Avas 
determined to stick to his claim, notwith- 
standing that one summer he was com- 
pelled to go East and work in order to 
get money with which to harvest his own 
crop. Although very poor in the early 
days, he has since prospered far beyond 
his expectations, and now owns four hun- 
dred acres of well improved land. His 
success is due to his industry and good 
management. 

Mr. Andrews married December 15, 
1880, taking as a life companion Miss 
(Jllie Semones. Their union lias been 



b4i 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



blessed with five children, four of whom 
are now living-. 

In i)o]itics, Mr. Andrews is a stanch 
re])ublican. In 1886 he served as justice 
of tlie peace, and in 1887-88 filled the 
otlice of supervisor. He and his excel- 
lent wife are highly esteemed in the com- 
munity in which they live. 



THOMAS SMITH, the subject of 
this biographical memoir, is one of 
the early settlers and most pros- 
perous farmers of Kearney county, Nebr. 
He was born in England. October 22, 
ISli. His father, Nathan Smith, a 
farmer by occupation, was born in Eng- 
land in the year 1814, and is still living 
and is in good health. His mother, Sarah 
(Kent) Smith, also a native of England, 
was born October 6, 1817, and bore her 
husband thirteen children. 

Thomas, our subject, came to America 
with his parents at the early age of eight- 
een months, and consequently lias no 
recollection of his native country. The 
family settled on a farm in Clark county, 
Ind., where Thomas resided until twenty- 
three years of age. In early life he 
attended the district school during the 
winter months and worked on a farm 
during the summer. He began farming 
for himself at the age of twenty years, 
and two years later he went to Warren 
county. 111., where he spent the next 
twelve years of his life, principally 
engaged in farming. In February, 1880, 
he immigrated "West, and located in 
Kearney county, Nebr., buying southeast 



quarter of section 21, township 6, range 
15, on which he still resides. The coun- 
tr}', though new at that time, was fast set- 
tling up. There were a few antelope to 
be seen, but the rapid settlement of the 
country that and the following year caused 
them to disappear entirely. The first 
year Mr. Smith broke out fort}' acres of 
land and erected his present line frame 
dwelling. In 1884, he pui'chased a home- 
stead claim in section 22 and lived on it 
six months — long enough to prove up on 
it. He also purchased another eighty- 
acre tract in section 15, and now has three 
hundred and twenty acres of fine land — 
— most of wliich is under a high state of 
cultivation. 

Mr. Smith was married Octolier IS, 
1866, to Rebecca M. Ganote, who was 
born in Clark county, Ind., July 17, 1848, 
antl is one of nine children born to 
John and Catherina (Greenlee) Ganote: 
the former of whom, a farmer by occupa- 
tion, was a native of Kentucky, born in 
1829; the latter was born in 1838 The 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Smith has been 
blessed with six childi'en, as follows — 
Alberta, born December 5, 1868 ; Calvin 
T., born February 22, 1870; Alice, born 
May 30, 1875 ; Nathan G., born Novem- 
ber'l, 1876 ; Maggie E., born May 9, 1889 ; 
and one, Sarah C, who died in infancy. 
Mr. and Mrs. Smith incline religiously to 
the Methodist faith. Politically he is 
independent in county elections, but on 
national issues he is a republican. He was 
the first township treasurer in 1884, and 
also filled that office in 1886-90. He has 
ever held the respect of his fellow-citizens, 
and the confidence they have placed in 
him has never been betrayed, nor will 
ever be. 



KEA RNEY GO UNTY. 



545 



CII AKLES AVEEDLUN. Ainongthe 
many fine farm residences that greet 
tlie eyes of the traveler tbrough 
Hayes township, one of tiie most conspic- 
uous is that of this gentleman. lie was 
born in Sweden March 25, 18-i3, and is 
tlie son of Charles and Gertie (Munson) 
Carlson, both of whom were natives of 
Sweden. Tlie former, a farmer by occu- 
pation, was born in 1806, and the latter in 
1811. These wei'e the parents of six chil- 
dren, four bo3'S and two girls, two of 
M'hom live in Kearne}' county. 

Charles resided in Sweden until twenty- 
five years of age, engaged in early life in 
attending school and working on the farm. 
His father died when our subject was only 
nine years old, and many of the duties of 
farm life fell upon the latter, who emi- 
grated to America in 1868, and went direct 
to Altona, 111., where he remained a few 
weeks and then went to Burlingtfjn, Iowa, 
and was a resident of that place for eleven 
vears. While there he was engaged at 
farm and railroad work. In February, 
1879, he came to Kearney county and 
homesteaded a quarter in section 22, town- 
ship 6, range 15. He constructed a small 
dug-out, in which he lived about four 
months, and then Iniilt a comfortable frame 
house. He and his brother broke out 
eightv-five acres the first year and planted 
it in sod-corn, from which they harvested 
a fair crop. Corn-stalks and weeds, with 
an occasional load of willow brush from 
the Platte river, twenty miles away, 
served as fuel the first year. When Mr. 
Weedlun came to Kearney county he had 
but little to start with — a team, harness 
and wagon were about all. At the pres- 
ent time he owns four hundred acres of 
fine land, three hundred of which are 



under cultivation. He has raised consid- 
ei'able stock and has prospered far beyond 
his expectations, his success being due to 
his own industry and good management. 

March 10, 1880, Mr. Weedlun married 
Tilla W. Carlson, a daughter of Charles 
and Anna Carlson, natives of Sweden. Mr. 
and Mrs. Weedlun have had born to them 
one child — Mabel, born Februar}' 7. 1889. 

In politics Mr. Weedlun is a republican 
and takes an active interest in his part}-. 
He held the office of road supervisor for 
his township in 1887-88. In 1886 he built 
the present residence at a cost of $1,500 
and the spacious barn at a cost of $1,000. 



OTTO PETEESO^r. The subject 
of this brief biographical sketch 
is one of the early settlers of 
Kearney county and a representative citi- 
zen of Hayes township. He was born in 
Sweden April 3, 1831, and is one of the 
family of five children born to John and 
Mary (Johnson) Peterson. The father 
was born in 1801 and followed farming 
all his life. Both parents were members 
of the Lutheran church and zealous chris- 
tian pcoi)le. 

The early life of our subject was spent 
in attending school and working on his 
father's farm. He received a good com- 
mon-school education, began life for him- 
self at the age of twenty-one, and was 
engaged in agricultural pursuits until 
18*57, when, in April of that \'ear, he em- 
barked for America. Arriving in this 
country, he first located at Burlington, 
Iowa, where for four years he was engaged 
in farm and nurser}' woik. lie next 



546 



KEARNEY COUNTY 



moved to Henderson county, 111., where 
he fanned for seven years, and in the 
spring of 1878 came to Kearney count}', 
Nebr. Two years previous he had come 
to the state to consider the advisability of 
locating, but the few half-starved settlers 
of that early day presented anything but 
an inviting appearance to a new-comer, 
and he returned home, having decided to 
wait a few years. When he came to the 
county in 1876, there was but three houses 
between Kearney and Bloomington, but 
on his second visit he counted sevent\', so 
I'apidly had the country settled up. The 
country at that time teemed witli antelope 
and other wild game, but the rapid set- 
tlement of the next few 3'ears drove them 
to the outskirts of the settlement. He 
homesteaded a quarter in section 20, town- 
ship 6, range 15, and erected a sod house 
thereon. The following year he took 
another quarter in the same section as a 
timber claim, which gave him the east 
half of the section, making three hundred 
and twenty acres. Tiiis he still owns and 
has well improved. He had previously 
purchased a half section of railroad land 
in section 29, but sold it in 1880 and 
bought a quarter section across the road 
from his present place. The first year he 
broke out forty acres and raised a good 
crop of corn. Of the four hundred and 
forty acres whicli he now owns, four hun- 
dred and ten are under cultivation. 

Mr. Peterson married June 25, 1855, 
taking- for a life partner Miss Anna 
Johnson, a native of Sweden. This union 
has been blessed with seven children, as 
follows — Peter J., Minnie, Gussie, Ed- 
ward, Tilda, Charles and Otto, all of 
whom are now living and are consistent 
members of the Lutheran church. 



Mr. Peterson has been deacon in the 
Swedish Lutheran church ever since he 
has been in the county, and superintend- 
ent of the Sunday-school since its organi- 
zation. He gave liberally and was instru- 
mental in erecting the present fine edifice, 
one of the best of that denomination west 
of Chicago. Mr. Peterson has, by his 
generous acts and kind disposition, en- 
deared himself to his people, and his 
name will long be remembered in connec- 
tion with the earh' history of the cliurch. 

He is a good man and highly esteemed 
by the people of Kearney county. 



NELSE ANDERSON, the subject 
of this sketch, is one of the earli- 
est settlers and most properous 
farmers of Hayes township, Kearney 
county. He was born in Sweden, October (5, 
1833, where he resided the first thirty-six 
j'ears of his life, attending school in his 
boyhood and working on the farm in after 
years. In 1869, he came to America, lo- 
cating in Moline, 111., where he found em- 
ployment as a farm hand. He resided 
there until 1877, when he came further 
west and settled in Nebraska, taking a 
homestead in Hayes township, Kearney 
county, wiiere he has since resided. 
When Mr. Anderson settled in Kearnej' 
county he was unmarried and for the first 
eight years he led the bachelor life of the 
frontier. His means were limited and he 
of necessity began in an upretentious 
wa}', building the primitive dug-out, 
which he fitted up with rude furniture 
manufactured by himself. He endureil 
many hardships and privations, but he 



fouglit the battles of the pioneer alone 
and he came through the trying times of 
those years all the better off for what he 
endured. lie now has one of the best 
farms in Kearney county in a gooil state 
of cultivation and furnished with a splen- 
did class of buildings, his sod house hav- 
ing given away to a large frame and his 
small thatched roof barn to a most com- 
modious one — in fact one of the best in 
the township — and all the result of his 
own industry and economical manage- 
ment. 

In 188-1, he married Ellen Akesson, by 
whom he has had two children — Hulda J. 
and Clara J. In the labor of making for 
himself a home, be has been ably assisted b}^ 
his excellent wife, who has borne her full 
share in her economical management of 
the household. 

Mr. Anderson never allowed any politi- 
cal aspirations to interfere with his useful- 
ness as a citizen, but is a republican, and is 
a stanch supporter of the principles of his 
part}'. He is progressive and enterprising 
and takes an active interest in all the 
affairs of his township. 



NE. NILSON, Jk., the subject of 
this biographical notice is a 
native of Sweden, and was born 
in the year 1856. He is a son of Nils and 
Hannah Nilson, natives also of Sweden, 
the former having been born in 1825 and 
the latter in 1823. His father and mother 
were married in 1851, and became the 
parents of five children, all of whom are 
now living, having reached maturity, are 
married and are themselves the heads of 
families. These are — Mrs. Bettie Nilson, 



Peter Nilson, Nilson E. Nilson, Mrs. 
Ellen Lind and Mrs. Anna Hergom. 

The subject of this notice was reared in 
his native place and began the battle of 
life at the early age of nine, hiring out to 
a farmer at that time for iiis board and 
clothes, doing farm work through the 
summer and attending school during the 
winter. In this way he received the rudi- 
ments of a common-school education and 
the training of au industrious, frugal far- 
mer's boy. He came to America at the 
age of twenty and stopped in Henderson 
county. 111., where he went to work as a 
farm hand, and remained till 1877, coming 
then to Nebraska. He settled in Kearney 
county, taking a homestead in section 8, 
township 6, range 15 west, which he 
proved up on and sold, purchasing an- 
other place in the same vicinit}', where he 
located and continued to reside. He had 
been steadily' engaged in farming, and 
although he has had many ups and downs, 
not the least of which have happened to 
him since becoming a citizen of Kearne}' 
county, he has, notwithstanding, pros- 
pered under all his trials and hardships, 
and he is to-day recognized as one of tlie 
most successful farmers, as well as one of 
the most highl}' esteemed citizens of the 
localit}' where he lives. 

In 1882 Mr. Nilson married Miss Kate 
Oleson, a native of Sweden, born in 1853, 
and this union has been blessed with a 
family of three children — Mary E., born 
April 20, 1883; Oscar, born August 1, 
1887, and Arthur A., born May 12, 1888. 

Mr. and Mrs. Nilson are zealous mem- 
bers of the Lutheran church, as were also 
their j)arents. In politics Mr. Nilson is a 
republican and takes an active interest in 
public matters, though never to the ex- 



548 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



tent of asking office for himself, he being 
a man of phiin life and unambitious im- 
pulses, content to follow the even tenor of 
liis wa\% discharging his duties as a citizen 
and to his family and his church, tberein 
finding his chief pleasure and best reward. 



DAYID S. NEWBOLD, one of the 
first settlers in his immediate 
vicinity in Liberty township, 
Kearnev county, was born in Rush countv 
Ind., near the city of Rushvdle, in 
May, 1847. He was reared on a farm, 
received a good common-school edu- 
cation, and learned carpentering for a 
trade in Illinois, to which state, at the age 
of eight j^ears, he was taken by his parents. 
In this state he grew to manhood, and 
here, also, he married, in 1870, and fol- 
lowed his trade, as well as farming on 
rented land for about six years, and then 
ran a saw-mill until 1878, when he came to 
Nebraska. In this state he settled on sec- 
tion 7, township 7, range 14, in the north- 
east quarter. He, as was the habit of all 
settlers in the eai'ly days, built a sod house, 
which lasted him for eight years. His 
fuel consisted of hay from the prairie and 
the stalks of the corn which he subse- 
quently raised on his ploughed land, coal 
being unknown in his section at that time. 
Going manfully to work, he has developed 
from the raw prairie a splendid farm, im- 
proved now with groves of timber, with 
bearing fruit trees, and with a first-class 
frame dwelling-house, and commodious 
barns and other outbuildings. He has 
been untiring in his industry, but the result 
is wealth and a most comfortable home, 



with trading point and postoflRce within 
convenient distance. This is another ex- 
ample of success with which an energetic 
young man can meet by exercising his 
abilitj' to labor and by energ}^ and in- 
dustry in a newly developed country. 

The father of David S. Newbold was 
William E. ISTewbold, a native of Delaware, 
who, when a mere lad, being an orphan, 
went alone to Kentucky, in which state 
he learned blacksmithing. After his mar- 
riage in Kentucky, he migrated to Indiana, 
and afterward to Illinois, and in Crawford 
countv of the last named state died, 
in 18G6. His wife was named, in her 
maiden days, Susannah Huff ord, a daughter 
of Daniel Hufford, a very prominent 
Kentuckian. This union was blessed by 
the birth of eight children, and, of these, 
three sons reside in Nebraska, David S. 
being the youngest child. 

David S. Newbold married Miss Frances 
Ream, daughter of Solomon Ream, 
formerly of Zanesville, Ohio. Seven chil- 
dren were born to this marriage, of whom 
three have (Jied. The living are named — 
William G., Lillian B., Louis F., and War- 
ren D. Alluding again to William R. 
Newbold, the father of David S., it may 
be well to add that he was a descendant of 
a signer of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence of the United States of America — 
C«sar Rodney, who was an ancestor of 
Wm. R. Newbold's mother, her maiden 
name being Comfort Rodney. The de- 
scendants of Caesar Rodney have never 
failed to keep up the dignity pertaining to 
so illustrious a family through all genera- 
tions to the present time, and among them 
the subject of this sketch commands the 
highest respect of his fellow-citizens. 
Since his residence in Nebi-aska, Mr. New- 



Kt:ARNEY COUNTY. 



549 



bold has never made a failure in securing 
a good crop, and the dangers lie en- 
countei'ed traveling through ice and snow 
in his early days to gather willow l)rush 
for fuel from the islands of the Platte 
river, some eight miles away from his 
homestead, have all passed away, and he 
is enjoying ]ieace and comfort im his pleas- 
ant liomestead. In religion Mr. Newbold 
is a free-thinker; in politics he is a 
democrat. 



EDWAKD KKICK, a farmer of 
Liberty township,Kearney county, 
is a native of Pennsylvania, and 
was born in Jul\% 1843. He was reared 
in Schuylkill county, Pine Grove town- 
ship, and was educated at the common 
schools until he reached his fourteenth 
year, when he entered upon an apprentice- 
ship at the shoemaker's trade. In 1861 he 
moved to St. Joseph county, Ind, where he 
followed his trade until October, 1864, 
when he enlisted in Company II, Ninety- 
fii'st Indiana volunteers, but was after- 
wards transferred to Company C, One 
Hundred and Twenty-fourth Indiana in- 
fantry, and was assigned to the Western 
Department, under General SciioHeld. Ho 
served in Kentucky, Tennessee; he was 
also at Atlanta; reached "vVashington ; 
took part at Fort P^isher, and tiirougliout 
all his skirmishes and battles escaped with- 
out a wound or capture. He was mus- 
tered out at Greensboro, N. C, in Septem- 
ber, 1865, and received his discharge 
papers and pay at Indianapolis. He then 
returned to St. Joseph county, Ind., and on 
October 21, 1865, married Miss Matilda 



Stewart, daughter of Jolin Stewart, of 
Pennsylvania, who settled in Indiana in 
an early day, and followed farming until 
his death in 1861. For seven years after 
his return to St. Joseph county, Ind., Mr. 
Krick followed his trade as foreman of a 
shoe manufacturing company, and later 
carried on the boot and shoe business at 
Mishawaka, until his coming to Nebraska 
in 1878. Here he located his present 
homestead on the southeast quarter of 
section 9, township 7, range 14, Kearney 
county. To this quarter he has added 
one hundred and eighty-three acres of 
school land, and has improved both tracts. 
His residence is a good two-story frame 
house, anil his farm is improved witli 
groves of trees and bearing orchards, 
although, on settling, the wiiole prairie 
around him was one bari'en waste. He 
has two hundred and forty acres under 
cultivation in mixed crops, and has an 
abundance of live stock. Since he settled 
here he has always madea success of farm- 
ing and has met with no failure, with the 
exception of the loss or great damage done 
to one crop by a hailstorm. All his ac- 
cumulations are the result of his own in- 
dustry ; for he had, on arriving here, only 
44 cents in cash and a worn-out team as 
personal propert3\ The residence of him- 
self and family for the first seven years in 
Liberty township was a dug-out ; his pres- 
ent substantial two-story frame dwelling 
shows the good fortune he has met with 
by good management. 

Henr\' Krick, the father of Edwai'd, is 
a native of Pennsylvania, of German de- 
scent. He has been a shoemaker the 
greater part of his life, and is now a resi- 
dent of Indiana. His wife, before mar- 
riage, bore the name of Sarah Shrattei'. 



550 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



She also is a native of Pennsylvania, of 
German descent, and has borne her hus- 
band eight children, of whom Edward, 
the subject of this sketch, is the eldest and 
the only one living in Nebraska. To the 
union of Edward and Matilda (Stewart) 
Krick have also been born eight children, 
named as follows — Ellsworth, Ida, Sadie, 
Johnnie, Eleanoi'a, Louis, Freddie and 
Gracie. Of these children, Ellsworth died 
in 1SC6, at the age of six months ; Freddie 
died in 1882, at tiie age of six weeks, and 
three da3's later Sadie expired at the age 
of fourteen years. 

Mr. Krick is a member of the I. O. O. 
F. and the G. A. K.; in politics he is a 
re])ublican. He now looks back with pride 
on the success lie has met with in Nebraska 
since his financial ruin by the panic in 
Indiana, prior to his coming hither, and 
thinks that all his early struggles in this 
state have been fully compensated for by 
fortune and the esteem in whicii he is held 
bv his neighbors. 



JOHN ETZELMILLER, an extensive 
farmer of Kearney count\', and one 
of her most enterprising citizens, 
was born in Hesse Cassel, German}^, 
in January, 1S3I, in which country he 
was reared to farming and received a fair 
education. At the age of twenty-four 
years, in 1855, he landed in New York 
City, and thence went to Illinois, in 
which state he worked as a farm hand 
until September, ISCl, when he enlisted 
in Company B, Sixt\'-fourth Illinois 
sharpshooters, and served throughout the 
war. He took part in man}' battles, and 



among them were those at Island No. 10, 
luka, Corinth, Snake's gap, Dallas, and 
many others. He was also with Gen. Sher- 
man in his famous "March to the Sea," and 
was at Bentonville, N. C. He was never 
wounded or captured, nevertheless he 
was several times shot through his cloth- 
ing, and once had a ball go through his 
canteen, and on another occasion had his 
hat penetrated with bullets. His com- 
rades fell all about him, but he escaped 
unharmed ; nevertlieless, he suffers from 
the effects of rheumatism, witii which he 
was affected while in the service, and his 
eyes are also badly affected through 
exposure while in the army. His corps 
commanders were Gens. Buck, Dodger, 
Eosecrans, Ransom and Mower,and under 
all he sei'ved faithfully and gallantly. 
Mr. Etzelmiller was mustered out at Louis- 
ville, Ky., in 1865, and received his dis- 
charge papers and pay at Chicago. After 
serving his adopted country thus faith- 
fully, he returned to the state in which he 
had lived prior to the war, and followed 
farming until 1877, when he came to 
Nebraska. Here he located a soldier's 
claim in the northwest quarter of section 
28, township 7, range 14, in Liberty 
townsiiip, Kearney county, and to his 
first entr}' has since added acres upon 
acres, until he now owns about seven hun- 
dred and twenty, with about two hundred 
and sevent^'-five under cultivation, the bal- 
ance being in pasture and hay. He raises 
mixed crops, and also gives much attention 
to live stock. His horses, cattle and 
other stock are all well graded. His 
farm is improved with fine groves, orchards 
and buildings, and commands a fine view 
of Minden, which is almost four and one- 
half miles distant. When Mr. Etzelmiller 



KEARNE)' COUNTY 



551 



first came to Nebraska he brought to the 
new country all farming im])lements, 
horses, etc., necessary' for his purpose, and 
was in good condition to commence the im- 
provement of the then unbroken country, 
and has contributed largely to its devel- 
opment. Since his settlement he has al- 
ways succeeded in raising good crops, 
with the exception, perhaps, of the season 
of 1SS9. when his small grain was badly 
injured b\' hail. 

Ilenr}' Etzelmiller, the father of John, 
was a farmer and died in his native 
country of Prussia, in 1SS5. His wife, 
Elizabeth Walenfiner, bore him seven 
chikiren, of whom our subject is the eldest. 
Two sisters followed John to America a 
few years after his arrival here, and both 
are married and residing in Boston, Mass. 
Mr. John Etzelmiller was married in 1867, 
to Miss Katrina Haley, a native of Ger- 
man}^, who found her way to America 
unattended. This union hiis been blessed 
b}' the birth of seven children, named — 
John, William, Henry, Theodoi'e, Katie, 
Lizzie and Mary. In politics, Mr. Etzel- 
miller is a democrat. He is a member of 
the German Lutheran church, of which the 
adult members of his family are also 
members. As a soldier his standing is 
unexceptionally good and he stands liigh 
in the esteem of the G. A. R., of which 
order he is also a member. Prior to his 
coming to this country' he had served in 
the army of his native country three 
years, and after his arrival was one of the 
first to respond to the call to arms in de- 
fense of the Union. He is now nearly 
three-score years of age, and the battle of 
life with him has been a victorious one. 

He stands beyond reproach as a citizen 
and neio-hbor. 



JOHN W. HAWKINS, a prosperous 
farmer of Lii)erty township, Kear- 
ney county, was born in Rush count}-. 
Inch, in bctober, 1839, but at the 
as'e of twelve vears was taken to Illinois 
by his parents. He was reared to farm- 
insT, was educated at the common schools, 
and in 1865 was mari'ied and began the 
battle of life on his own account by farm- 
ing in Coles county, on rented land ; subse- 
quently, he bought land near Homer, Ver- 
milion county, which he farmed, and was 
also engaged in running teams and manu- 
facturing brooms, as well as acting as 
policeman for some time in Iloopeston, 
Vermilion county. 111. In 1880 he came 
to Nebraska and bought a pre-em])ted right 
from a squatter on the southwest quarter 
of section 28, township 7, range 14, about 
four miles northeast of Minden. There 
was a sod house on the land, and so)ne 
little breaking of the soil had been done ; 
but after three years of occupancy of the 
sod cabin, Mr. Hawkins built himself a 
handsome frame dwelling, in which he now 
lives. His farm is imjiroved with com- 
modious barns and granaries, groves, 
orchards of apples, cherries, etc., and 
berry patches, the balance, not under 
cultivation, being in pasture and hay. 
He has never met with a failure in his 
crops since settling here, but in 1889 a 
hailstorm damaged his product to a small 
extent, and this is the only thing he has 
to complain of as an impediment to his 
otherwise successful jjrogress. As an evi- 
dence of his skill as a fai'mer, it need only 
be said that it was but lately that Mr. 
Hawkins captured a prize for his exhibit 
at the Lincoln Corn Show, or Fair. 

Richard Hawkins, the father of John W., 
was a native of Indiana, was a fai'mer, and 



552 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



died in Illinois in 1870. He married Miss 
Jane Wilson, of Indiana, and this union 
was crowned b}' the birth of nine children 
John W., the second born, is the only 
member of the family residing in Ne- 
braska. Mr. Hawkins, the subject of this 
sketch, married Miss Sarah Danner, a 
native of Delaware county, Ind. Mr. 
Danner was for many years a school- 
teacher, was a justice of the peace, and 
died in Delaware county, in January-, 
IbSl ; his widow afterwards was married 
to Joseph Danner, brother of the former 
husband, and in 1858 moved to Coles 
county. 111. Mr Hawkins is politically a 
republican, and with his wife is a member 
of the Christian church. 



JASPEE WILSON, a wealthy farmer 
of Liberty township, Kearney 
county, was born March 15, 1838, 
in Monongalia county, W. Va.. and 
reared on a farm until sixteen years of 
age, when he began an apprenticeshij) at 
carpentering, at which he was working 
when the war broke out. In June, 18C1, 
he enlisted in the Union armj'. Com- 
pany E, Second West Virginia infantrj', 
and first served under McClellan, and 
later under Gen. Pope. He took part 
in many memorable battles and skirm- 
ishes innumerable, but passed through 
them all without a wound and without 
being captured. At the end of three 
years he was mustered out at Wheel- 
ing, and returned to his home, where he 
was married in 1864, and where he lived 
eleven years, engaged in farming and 
milling, and then moved to Illinois and 



remained a year or so. In 1878 he came 
to Nebraska and located his homestead in 
the southeast quarter of section 7, town- 
ship 7, range 14, then all raw prairie. He 
at once put up a sod house, and the first 
3'ear broke up about ten acres of the prai- 
rie and raised some sod-corn and plenty 
of melons. His fuel was willow brush, 
for which he went seven or eight miles to 
gather from the banks of the Platte river. 
Later he had his corn-stalks and cobs for 
fuel. After his sod bouse was built and a 
well dug, Mr. Wilson had left but $2.50 
in cash and no team or farm implements 
worth mentioning. But he possessed an 
immense amount of determination, and at 
the end of two years had succeeded in 
proving up his claim to his homestead. 
By persistence in hard work and proper 
attention to the details of his farm econo- 
mies, he has succeeded in reaching a point 
at which he can, in ease and comfort, 
enjoy the fruit produced bj' his pioneer 
labor. The sod house has been replaced 
b}' a comfortable two-story frame, and the 
raw prairie turned into blooming orchards 
and groves, fields teeming with grain, and 
meadows on which cattle graze in luxury. 
He has always met witli success in raising 
good crops, and has escaped the many 
devastations of his section caused by snow, 
hail and grasshoppers. 

The father of the subject of this sketch 
is Levin Wilson, who is a native of Vir- 
ginia and a farmer. He was a strong 
Union man during the dark days of the 
Rebellion, but, being too old to enter the 
army, he gave his sons to the service of 
his country. Levin Wilson married 
Amanda Dawson, a native of Virginia, 
who bore him three sons and three daugh- 
ters — Jasper, our subject, being the third 



KRARXEV COUNTY. 



553 



in order of birth. Levin is still livino- in 
West Virginia, at the age of eighty-three 
years. Jasper Wilson married Miss 
Elizabeth Shriver, daughter of Abram 
Shriver. Abram is still living in his native 
State of Virginia, at the age of seventy 
years. To the union of Jasper Wilson 
and Elizabetii Shriver have been born 
twelve children, viz. — Martha F., Silas E. 
Ervinc, Abram, Anthonv C, Albert, 
Arley S., Marion B., David G., Eva G., 
Floyd and Maggie J. Of these, Silas E., 
died September 8, 1868, about five years 
of age, and Abram died December 23, 
1868, at the age of one year. 

Jasper Wilson is in politics a republican 
and iias served two terms as supervisor 
and has been school treasurer ever since 
his district has been established. He is a 
member of the Christian church, as well 
as of the G. A. R., and, as his military 
record shows, is a true lover of his native 
country. 



ALBERT G. BLOOMFIELD is a 
/ \ native of Parke county, lnd.,and 
J_ V was born March 8, 1855. At the 
age of eleven 3'ears he was taken by his 
parents to Illinois, where he was reared to 
farming and educated at the common 
scliool. At twenty one years of age he 
married Miss Anna, daughter of James 
Barwick, of Ohio, and this union has been 
blessed with si.x cliiklren — Dora Myrtle, 
Guy H., Erma L., Ehua R., Elfa and 
Sarah Letha. (^f these, Dora ami Sarah 
Letha died young. Lnmediately after 
marriage, Mr. Bloomfield began teaching 



and also farming on rented land, but 
found that the two would not go together, 
and gave up teaching. He also became 
tired of renting, and in the fall of 1881 
came to Nebraska and bought one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of railroad land in 
Kearney county ; but about five years 
later, early in 1886, located a homestead 
of eighty acres in the northwest quarter 
of section 21, township 7, range 14, which 
adjoins his railroad land, and in ISltO he 
purchased eighty acres, the east half of 
the southeast quarter of section 23, town- 
ship 7, range 14, making a total of three 
hundred and twenty acres. He had a 
small amount of mone}' and a team, and 
industriously set to work to cultivate his 
land. For four years he lived in a dug- 
out, but this was replaced in 18S5 by a 
commodious frame structure. He has 
been successful ever since his arrival here, 
has raised bountiful crops and is now very 
well to do. His retrospect of the incon- 
veniences and hardships he endured and 
overcame after his arrival here is not an 
unpleasant one, and his present beautiful 
homestead he considers to be ample com- 
pensation for his past labor. He stands 
high in the esteem of his fellow-towns- 
men, and has served them as town clerk 
for four years, and also as town treasurer, 
and now holds the office of county super- 
visor — an office established in 1SS3. In 
politics he is a i-epublican. 

David Bloomfield, father of Albert G., 
was a farmer, and a native of Ohio, from 
which state he migrated to Indiana and 
later to Illinois. In 1883 he came to 
Nebraska and here he died the same year, 
at the age of eighty years. He had 
married, while a resident of Indiana, Miss 
Sarah, daughter of Jacob Shocke\', a Bap- 



554 



KEA RNEY CO UNTY. 



list minister, ami to this union were born 
six children, Albert G. being the fourth in 
the order of birth. Mrs. Sarah Bloomtield 
is now a resident of Nebraska. 



CHRISTIAN BROTHE was born 
in the city of Halle, Prussia, June 
16, 1825. He attended school until 
fifteen years of age., when he was 
em))loyed by an uncle, a grain dealer, 
with whom he remained until twenty 
3' ears old, when he entered the regular 
army, in which he served until his dis- 
charge in 1848. In October, 1851, he 
was mai'ried, and the samej'ear reentered 
the arni}'^ and served a year and a half 
lontrer. He then established a swimmin": 
school, which he managed until 1865. In 
1866 he came to Anierica ; remained in 
New York City three 3'ears, working at 
brick-making, and then went to Haver- 
straw, on the Hudson river, and was 
employed in a large calico factory until 
1S71, when he came to Nebraska, and, 
March 13, entered eighty acres in the 
southeast half of the southwest quarter of 
section 26, township 7, I'ange 14, to which 
he has since added, until he now owns 
four hundred and eighty acres, of which 
he has three hundred and eighty under 
cultivation in mixed crops. lie also gives 
his attention to live stock, especially to 
hogs. His farm is improved with large 
bearing orcharils and groves and commo- 
dious buildings. He has met with no 
absolute failure in his crops, although on 
one occasion his gi-ain was damaged by 
hail to some extent, and for the lirst two 
years the grasshoppers made sail havoc 



with everything green, and then, indeed, 
he found it rather hard to make a living. 
He secui'ed possession of two calves, how- 
ever, which grew to be of use to him in 
plowing the land, etc.. and thus he lias 
progressed, until the sod iiouse in which he 
lived the first nine years has given away 
to a fine frame dwelling, and he now 
stands in front rank of the wealthy and 
respected men of his countr\\ 

Gottlob Brothe, father of Christian, 
served in the Prussian army as sergeant 
in all its wars against Napoleon, and died 
in his native country at the age of eigiity- 
five. He married Miss Caroline Saal- 
mann, daughter of Gottlieb Saalman, 
and to this union were born seven 
sons and seven daughters. Christian being 
the fourth child. When the latter came 
to America he left his family behind him, 
but at the end of eighteen months had 
been enabled to save sufficient to send for 
his wife and living children. He was 
married in his native citv to Henrietta 
Seydel, daughter of Gottlieb Seydel, who 
was a butcher and died in liis native 
Prussia in 1867, at the age of eighty-four 
years. Henrietta, his wife, died in 1863, 
at the age of seventy-eight. To the union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Christian Brothe four 
children have been born, two of whom 
died in the old country. Of the two still 
living, Hilda is married, and Kurt, the son, 
is living with his parents. 

Mr. Brothe in politics is a democrat 
and has met with much popularity with 
his fellow-citizens. For two terms he has 
served as school director, he being an 
especially well educated man, having 
acquired a great portion of his kno\vlecige 
by self-tuition and hard study during his 
long term of service in the Prussian 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



army ; he has also served one term 
as justice of tlie peace and is now 
serving his first term as township 
clerk. Although not an office-seeker, nor 
an aspirant to office, these positions which 
lie has been placed in have been thrust 
upon him, and he has considered it to be 
his duty, as a good American citizen, to 
yield to the wishes of his fellow-townsmen 
and serve them when desired to do so. 
lie has tilled every position with credit to 
himself anti to the entire satisfaction of 
his constituents. Ilis perfect knowledge 
of both the German and English languages 
makes him an especially valuable aid in 
the service of his adopted country, and 
his wonderful industry and enterprise 
make him equally valualjle in the devel- 
opment of the section in which he has cast 
his lot. 



WILLIAM W. GORMLY was 
born in Lawrence county, 
Pa., and is a son of David 
Gormly, also a native of Pennsylvania, 
and a carpenter by trade, and at present 
a resident of Allegheny City. David 
Gormly married Miss Meluzena Clements, 
a daughter of John Clements, a boiler- 
maker of Ohio. To this union have been 
born four children, of whom William "W., 
our subject, is the youngest. One 
daughter married William McFate, and 
lives in Custer county, this state ; one son 
is in the milling business at Kearney 
city. 

William W. Gormly was reai'ed on a 
farm, and at the age of twenty-two left 
Pennsylvania and passed a year in Mis- 



souri, then went to Kansas and worked as 
a farm hand until 1880, when he came to 
Nebraska, and for three years stopped at 
Shelton, Buffalo count}', working as a 
miller; he then took a mill at Lowell, 
Kearney count\', which he conducted one 
3'ear; in the spring of 1885 he bought his 
present homestead — the southeast quar- 
ter of section 12, township 7, range 14 — 
which had been entered as a timber claim 
by another party who had set out ten 
acres in timber, and this was the only 
improvement that had been made. Mr. 
Gormly has now sevent\'-five acres under 
cultivation in mixed crops, and has a good 
dwelling and farm buildings, and plenty 
of live stock. 

In 1883, Mr. Gorml}' married Miss 
Alice, daughter of Jason Bloodgood. 
Mr. Bloodgood is a native of Pennsylvania, 
who moved to Iowa, but in 1870 came to 
Nebi'aska, and at present is a large land 
owner in Kearney county. He served in 
the Union army during the late rebellion, 
was twice wounded, and is now receiving 
a pension. The union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Gormly has been blessed with three chil- 
dren, viz. — Jason, Meluzena and Amy. 
Mr. Gormly is a democrat, and has served 
one term as town treasurer ; he is now 
filling the office of justice of the peace. 



CHARLES A. SMITH, one of the 
early settlers of Nebraska, was 
born at Madison, Wis., January 
■4, 1856. He came to this state at the age 
of twenty -one, with his mother and step- 
father, Josejih Piidvham, who settled on 
the prairie near where the city of Minden 
lias since been located. The countrv was 



556 



KEA RSE Y CO UNTY 



wild and unsettled, with no improvements, 
and it was a long time before Mr. Smith 
could make up his mind to remain. He 
assisted Mr. Piiikham, however, in build- 
ins: a sod house, and in arranging: for the 
future life on the prairie of his mother and 
step-father, and was eventually induced 
by them to remain himself. He finalh'^ 
secured some cattle and broke the raw 
prairie for other pei-sons. at $2.50 per acre. 
He thus acquired a small capital, and in 
the meantime, having located a home- 
stead of eighty acres on the north half of 
the northwest quarter of section 19, town- 
ship 6, range 14, commenced making 
improvements. He built a sod house, as 
was the custom, living with his mother 
meanwhile. Before he could fully get 
ready for living on his own place, how- 
ever, he had to mortgage his cattle to 
raise means to buy a stove, plows, etc., 
and was then ready to start housekeeping 
and farming on his own account. For 
two vears he led a single life, and then, 
in February', 1880, was married, and life 
became more enjoyable. He occasionalh' 
did a little freighting and other odd jobs, 
to raise a little cash, which was a verv 
scarce article in those days, and on one 
occasion he was obliged to sell his last hog 
in order to raise money to buy coal. Just 
before his marriage he traded his ox teams 
for horses, and farming became more 
]ileasant. He prospered, Iniilt a comfort- 
able frame dwelling, and after living on 
the place six years sold out and bought 
land nearer Minden, where he could carry 
on farming and at the same time reside in 
town, where he had built a pleasant resi- 
dence. He now owns two hundred acres of 
tine land and an interest in a brick block 
on the square in Minden, and is engaged in 



trading as well as farming, and is finan- 
cially one of Kearney county's most sub- 
stantial citizens, and verv glad that he 
took his devoted mother's advice to make 
Nebraska his home. 

Mr. Smith married Miss Lilly A., the 
estimable daughter of George C. and 
Lucia A. Dutton. Mr. Dutton is a native 
of New York State and of English descent. 
He moved to Lake county, Ind., where 
he was engaged in the lumber business 
and farming until ISTS, when he came to 
Nebraska, and is now running a stock 
ranch near Cozad, in Dawson county. He 
is about sixt\'-four years of age, and is in 
receipt of a pension for disease contracted 
while serving in the Union army during 
the late war. To the happy union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Smith have been born two chil- 
dren — Clarence H., who was born Feb- 
ruary 22, 1887, and who died July -i of 
the same year, and Cora B., now a little 
over two years of age. Mr. and Mrs. 
Smith are members of the Presbyterian 
church, and Mr. Smith is a member of the 
A. O. U. W. and the Sons of Veterans. 
In politics he is a republican. 

William E. Smith, the father of our sub- 
ject, died while in the service of his country, 
at Jacksonport, Ark., June 27, 1862, of 
congestive chills ; his brother, a lieutenant, 
died soon after. The mother of our sub- 
ject bore the maiden name of Debora 
Miles, and was a daughter of Warren 
Miles, who was born in New York State, 
but moved to Wisconsin and farmed near 
Madison until his death, in 1876. To 
William E. Smith and wife were born four 
children — two of whom died befoie the 
war ; the two who survived until after the 
war closed were Charles A. and William 
IL The latter was killed in his third term 




W. D H4HT. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



559 



as constable, while in the discharge of his 
sworn diit}'. The two brothers had always 
acted together in business, and were full 
of enterprise and always enjoyed the full 
confidence of their fellow-citizens. 



WILLIAM D. HART^the genial 
and popular postmaster of 
Minden, who is the subject of 
tliis sketch, is a native of Indiana, having 
been born in Decatur county, that state, 
May 25, 1859. His father. Calvin D., 
was a miller by trade, and a Mexican 
veteran, Avho also served during the war 
of the rebellion as second lieutenant of 
Company C, Forty-seventh regiment 
Indiana volunteers. The mother of Mr. 
Hart was Ann Eliza (Blood) Hart. 

Mr. Hart was tiie second of two chil- 
dren, and is the only living representative 
of his family, all the rest having passed 
over to the silent majoritj'. Mr. Hart 
was educated in Indiana, at Fremont, and 
came to Nebraska in 1879 in search of a 
place to locate — arriving at Minden soon 
after the town was laid out, and has 
made Kearney county his home since that 
time. 

He first engaged in teaching, but 
shortly thereafter decided to turn his 
attention to the study of law, and began 
to read with this end in view. As a 
means of livelihood, while preparing for 
his profession, he engaged in the loan 
and insurance business, wliicii so greatly 
increased on his hands that he was 
obliged to abandon the study of law, and, 
in 1882, to admit a partner to his busi- 



ness. He afterwards sold his interest to 
his partner, and bought an interest in the 
Kearney County Gazette, taking editorial 
charge of the same. This position he 
continued successfully to fill, and in No- 
vember, 1887, he purchased the entire con- 
cern, greatly increasing its facilities by 
the addition of steam-power presses. 
Under his efiicient management the cir- 
culation of the paper rapidly rose from 
seven hundred to eleven hundred. 

In October, 1888, he organized The 
Gazette Publishing Company, of which 
he, himself, was elected president ; Joel 
Hull, vice-president, and A. M. Louie, 
secretary and treasurer. 

Mi\ Hart, on May 1, 1889, disposed of 
the controlling interest in this company 
to citizens of Minden. In August of that 
yeai", he was appointed, by President 
Harrison, postmaster at Minden, and the 
appointment was confirmed on December 
24, 1889. Mr. Hart is a republican in 
politics, and is also an enthusiastic advo- 
cate of temperance, heartily favoring the 
prohibitory amendment soon to come 
before the people. 

Mr. Hart was married on the twenty- 
fifth of June, 1885, to Miss Ella Van 
Hise, daughter of W. H. and Mary H. 
Van Hise, of Minden. This union has 
been blessed by two children — Ray W. 
and Leone Clare. In addition to his 
laborious business enterprises, Mr. Hart 
has found time to cultivate the social 
side of his nature. He is a Mason, and a 
member of the A. O. U. W., a select 
knight, uniform degree, being its first 
commander. Mr. and Mrs. Hart are 
members and earnest workers in the 
Presbyterian church, Mr. Hart being an 
elder. 



ofiO 



KEAEXEY COUNTY. 



CURTIS E. SHELDOX, an enter- 
prising farmer and live stock 
raiser as well as borer of wells, of 
Lincoln township,Kearneycounty,was born 
in Portage county, Ohio, in October, 18-1:5. 
His father, Seth A. Sheldon, also a native of 
Ohio, but lately a resident of Illinois and 
recently removed to May township, is a 
prominent man in his township, and also 
has held several local offices. He married 
Miss Sally A. Chapin, of New York Slate, 
who has borne two children — Curtis E. 
and Mary A., the latter married to Huston 
Banton, a resident of Macon county, 111. 
Curtis E. Sheldon was reared on a farm 
and was educated in the common schools. 
At the age of thirteen years, he was taken 
by his parents to Moultrie county. 111., 
where he lived ten 3'ears and then moved 
to Douglas county, was there married and 
there lived until February, 1876, when he 
came to Nebraska, located in Kearney 
county, and after living four years at dif- 
ferent points, settled on a timber claim of 
one hundred and sixty acres in the south- 
east quarter of section 12, township 6, 
range 1-t, which he at once commenced 
improving, and now has thirteen acres in 
timber and has under cultivation about 
seventy acres in mixed crops ; he is also a 
stock-raiser to a considerable extent, and, 
in addition, gives much attention to boring 
wells; his sons in the meantime conducting 
the farm. Mr. Sheldon's possessions have 
all been gained by his own industry since 
coming to Nebraska, as he reached here 
comparatively a poor man. In 1849, 
while a resident of Douglas county. 111., 
Mr. Sheldon married Martha, daughter of 
A. H. Harland. Mr. Harland has been 
county judge of Kearney county three 
terms, but is now engaged in farming. To 



the union of Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon have 
been born ten children, viz. — Hattie C, 
William S., Milton II., Arthur E.. James 
L., Ashley E., Walter R., Oda A., Bertha 
P. and Earnest E., the last two being 
twins. Mr. Sheldon is not a part}' man, 
but votes as his conscience dictates. 



JOSEPH PINKHAM. a pioneer and 
one of the most successful farmers of 
Kearney county, was born near St. 
Marys, Canada, July 9, 1845. Sam- 
uel Pinkham, father of Joseph, was also 
a native of Canada, was a farmer, and 
married Miss Domachille Sharka, a native 
of Canada, of French descent, who bore 
her husband tivechildien, of whom Joseph 
is the eldest. The death of Samuel Pink- 
ham took place in ISSS, at Austin, Minn. 
Joseph Pinkham was reared on a farm 
in Canada until about twelve years of age, 
when he was brought to the United States 
by his parents, who located in Green 
county, Wis., in 1856; in 1859 they moved 
to Crawford county, in the same state, 
where, in November, 1S61, Mr. Pinkham 
enlisted in Company' K, Twelfth Wiscon- 
sin infantry. His regiment was assigned 
to the Western division of the army, and 
was at once employed in the pursuit of 
Price, mostly in Missouri, Arkansas, and 
Kansas. Mr. Pinkham was subsequently 
at the siege of Vicksburg, and after ihe 
fall of that city re-enlisted with his regi- 
ment, which stili retained its name. It 
then joined Sherman's arm\' at Eesaca, 
and was made part of the seventeenth 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



561 



corps, under Gen. McPherson, and was at 
tlie siege of Kenesaw mountain, and was 
ensraffed in the battles of July 21 and 
22, 1S63, before Atlanta, at the time Gen. 
McPherson was killed, and participated 
at its siege, was with that part of the army 
tliat circled or swung to the right and en- 
gaged the enemy at Jonesborough when 
Atlanta fell, and afterwards, through all 
the engagements in the famous " March to 
the Sea," wasatthegrand review at Wash- 
ington, and, although in many terrific 
battles, Mr. Piukham was never captured 
nor severely wounded. He was mustered 
out at Louisville, Ky., and received his dis- 
charge and pay at Madison, Wis., at which 
point he was enrolled. Eeturning to his 
home, he resumed farming, but in a few 
years sold out and turned his attention to- 
wards acquiring an education, his oppor- 
tunities for that purpose having been 
quite limited in his earlier days. Begin- 
ning in 186S, he attended a select school 
one year, then studied three years at the 
State University, Madison ; next took a 
commercial course, and in 1873 married 
and resumed farming, raising tobacco 
chiefly for two A^ears. Seized with a de- 
sire to come West, he moved to Iowa, 
lived there until August, 1877, when he 
came to Nebraska and settled in Kearney 
county. 

lie located his homestead claim on the 
northeast quarter of section 8, township 
6, range 14, two miles ffom Minden, built 
a (lug-out with no floor, and lived in this 
a short time. lie next built a sod house, 
in which he lived about three years, when 
the town of Minden was located. He then 
moved to the town, erected several Iniiid- 
ings, and made the town his I'esidencc for 
seven years. Here he was elected justice 



of the peace, which office he held six 
years. While here he also studied law 
during his leisure hours and was admitted 
to the practice in the lower courts. In 
1887 he erected a commodious two-story 
frame dwelling on his farm and moved 
into it. He is now the owner of three 
hundred and twenty acres, of which two 
hundred and twenty-five acres are under 
cultivation. He raises mixed crops and 
stock, giving special attention to Norman 
horses, as well as graded cattle and hogs. 
He has an orchard of 225 apple trees, and 
large quantities of small fruits, and for 
several \'ears his displays of fruit at fairs 
have received numerous premiums. He 
has never made a failure in raising a good 
crop since his arrival in Nebraska, and his 
farm shows every evidence of thrift and 
good management. When he settled here 
there were only two frame shanties in his 
part of the country, the other dwellings 
being all dug-outs. In the direction of 
Kearney city there were but one or two 
houses. Mr. Pinkham was largel}' instru- 
mental in procuring the removal of the 
county seat from Lowell to Minden, the 
latter being near the center of the county. 
During the stay of Mr. Pinkham in Min- 
den, hotel accommodations were very 
meager, and with his characteristic energy, 
assisted by his noble wife, he started a 
hotel and boarded all the leading men 
connected with the railroad, during its 
survey and building. He still owns con- 
siderable property in the town, but is en- 
joying the fruit of his early pioneer life 
on his original homestead entry. 

Mr. Pinkham married Mrs. Deborah 
A. Smith, widow of William E. Smith, a 
soldier of the late war, who died at Jack- 
sonport. Ark., of congestive chills, June 



563 



KEARNEY COUNTY 



27. 1862. His brother, Lieutenant Smith, 
died a siiort time after. At that time 
Mrs. Smith iiad made arrangements, and 
had her trunk packed, to go into the army 
as a nurse, but an attack of illness forced 
her to relinquish her purpose. To the 
union of William E. and Deborah Smith 
were born four children, of whom two 
died before the war. Of the two surviv- 
ing after the war — Charles A. Smith is 
married and is a progressive farmer ; the 
second son, William H. Smith, served 
three terms as constable in Nebraska, and 
was killed in the discharge of his sworn 
dut}'. He was an enterprising man and 
belonged to the Sons of Veterans. 

Mrs. Pinkham is a daughter of Warren 
Miles, of New York State, who married 
there, but afterwards moved to Wisconsin, 
pursued farming as a vocation, and died 
in 1S76, near Madison. To the union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pinkham have been 
born three children, named — Inez P., 
Lewis W. and Nellie L. Inez died soon 
after coming to Nebraska, there being no 
physician to be had, and but a few neigh- 
bors at hand to sympathize or render aid 
during her illness. 

Mr. Pinkham is a member of the G. A. 
E. and in politics is a republican. Mrs. 
Pinkham is a member of the Presbj'terian 
church and also of the Ladies' Relief Com- 
mittee. Mr. Pinkam is of a quiet disposi- 
tion and is highly respected by all who 
know him. He has been greatly aided 
by his amiable wife in his acquisition of 
his |)resent ]iroperty, she being a lady of 
most excellent judgment, great foresight, 
and possessed of much energy and indus- 
try, as well as great suavity of manners, 
winning friends wherever she is known. 



JOHN LIENHAET, a well-to-do 
farmer of Kearney count}', is the 
second son born to John Lienhart 
and Anna C. (Killer) Lienhart, both 
natives of Germany. John Lienhart was 
a young man when he came to America. 
He first located in Canada, where he was 
married, December 25, 1845, and resided 
in Waterloo county, Province of Ontario, 
where his wife died, October 16, 1861. In 
1865 he moved to La Porte county, Ind., 
where he followed farming for a number of 
years, then went to Nebraska and resided 
with his son John, whose name heads this 
sketch, until his death, September 7, 
1S90. To the union of John and Anna C. 
Lienhart were born three sons and three 
daughters. One of these daughters is a 
resident of Canada, one of Nebraska, the 
other was a resident of Chicago, 111., until 
her death, in 1889. The three sons, Henry, 
John and Conrad, are all resitlents of 
Nebraska. John Lienhart, the subject of 
this sketch, was born in Waterloo county, 
Canada, January 29, 1854 ; he went from 
there with his father to La Porte county, 
Ind., when a child. At the age of twenty- 
one he immigrated to Kearne\' county, 
Nebr., arriving here in the fall of 1875, 
and located a homestead in the southwest 
quarter of section 10, township 6, range 
14, on which he still resides. He at once 
began improving, building at first a sod 
house, which served him as a dwelling for 
nine years. 

He has never met with a failure in rais- 
ing a crop. He now has good improve- 
ments, including a good bearing orchard, 
and has about one hundred and twenty- 
five acres under' cultivation in mi.xed crops ; 
his farm is also well stocked witli cattle, 
horses and hogs. When he came here he 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



5C3 



had hut little means, and soon got rid of 
what little he iiad ; for the spring follow- 
ing his arrival found him with no money 
at all. His present prosperous condition 
is due to his earnest determination to have 
something. That something he has suc- 
ceeded in getting. 

He was married, January 1, 1880, to Miss 
Azora Kronkright. Her father, George 
Kronkrigiit, was a native of Vermont, 
from which state his parents moved to 
Indiana, when he was a chikl. From In- 
diana he went to Iowa, where he was 
married to Eliza J. Rodgers. To their 
union were born five children. Azora, 
being the second, was born June 11, 1862. 
Her father is a farmer, now living in 
Nebraska. 

To the union of our subject with Miss 
Kronkright have been born five boys, 
viz. — George W., born September 20 
1880, died May 6, 1885; Ealph V., born 
Januar}' 27, 1883; Raymond H., born 
April 18, 1886; John L., born April 6, 
1887; Frank E., born December 24, 1889. 



CHRISTIAN PETERSON, one of 
the most prosperous young farm- 
ers of Kearney county, was but 
twenty-one years of age when he came 
to Nebraska in 1876. His father, Peter 
Henry son, was a native of Denmark, was 
a carpenter and a farmer, and died in his 
native land in 1885. Peter Henryson 
married Cristena, daughter of Paul 
Swanson, who was also a carpenter and 
farmer, and who died in his native land. 



Denmark. The children born to this 
union were seven in number, of whom 
four sons came to America. Of the three 
brothers of our subject, the eldest, Anthon, 
lives in Lincoln township, this county, 
and owns a large and well improved farm; 
Jens Peter Peterson lives in an adjoining 
township and is also the owner of a well 
improved homestead. Henry, the youngest 
brother, was the last to come to America, 
but has not yet settled, and is working in 
the Union Pacific railroad shops in W\'o- 
ming. On first coming to Nebraska, 
Christian Peterson located his homestead 
in Lincoln township, Kearney county, in 
the northeast quarter of section 18, town- 
ship 6, range 14, Lowell being the county 
seat. Mr. Peterson began improving and 
broke up land preparatory to cultivation, 
when the question of establishing the 
town of Minden was broached and the 
village was soon seen to rise from the 
prairie. In the meantime, however, Mr. 
Peterson had secured a contract to carry 
the mail, and for two years his route lay 
between Lowell and Keene ; he also carried 
to and from Fredericksborg, and had, in 
all, routes for five post-offices. His farm, 
which is one mile from Minden, is now 
well improved and comprises five hun- 
dred and sixty acres, four of which are 
under cultivation. He has groves, or- 
chards and commodious buildings and a 
handsome and desirable dwelling-house, all 
gained by his industry, economy and prac- 
tical good sense. Taking advantage of 
the rapid rise of the town of Minden, Mr. 
Peterson, with his usual foresight, started 
a dairv, and for three years supplied the 
citizens with milk, butter, etc., and from 
the traffic derived a very fair income. 
In 1887 Mr. Peterson was married to 



564 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



Miss Nellie May Warner, a (laughter of 
H. H. Warner, a fanner of Wisconsin, 
but at that tiine a resident of Kearne\^ 
county, Nebr. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson 
are both members of the Methodist Epis 
copal church, and in politics Mr. Peterson 
is s. republican. The career of Mr. Peter- 
son, as recorded above, gives a fair exam- 
ple of what a young man of well directed 
ambition can accomplish. He was 3'oung 
when he came to tliis country, but soon 
imbibed American ideas of progress, and, 
witii a natural aptitude, put them to prac- 
tical use. Aided by his excellent business 
qualifications, this practical use of these 
ideas has led to wealth, hon6r and the re- 
spect of all who know him. 



JOHAN BRAUN is a native of the 
town of Lutzk, Russia, and was born 
in March, 1846. He received very 
good schooling in his youthful days, 
and later learned the trade of a tanner, 
whicii he followed during his stay in his 
native country. In 1871 he married Miss 
Ernestina Renn, daughter of Johan Renn, 
a weaver, who still resides in the old 
country. In 1874 Mr. Braun came to 
America, landing in New York City, from 
which point he came at once to Kearnej^ 
count}', Nebr., and in June of the j'ear 
named located a homestead near where 
Minden now stands. This farm is in the 
northeast quarter of section 12, township 
6, range 15, and on it he lived for ten 
years, wiien he sold out and bought the 
farm he at present occupies, situated in 



the southwest quarter of section 29, town- 
ship 6, I'ange 14. This farm was then 
raw land, to which Mr. Braun added 
eighty acres, making a total of two hun- 
dred and forty acres, all now under fence 
and improved with good buildings, orch- 
ards and groves, and one hundred acres 
under cultivation. It is located three 
miles south of Minden, which town affords 
him a read\' market for his produce. Mr. 
Bi'aun was a stockholder in the Town of 
Kearney Land Association, that platted the 
young city in 1881, but he has since sold 
out his shares at a considerable profit. He 
is a gentleman possessing keen foresight 
and business sagacit\', and, although of 
foreign birth, has become a true American 
and takes a genuine interest in the ad- 
vancement of the country in which he 
lives. He was among the first to settle in 
Kearney county when the then frontier 
was an unbroken prairie, but he has lived 
to see it become a well improved and 
blooming section of the country, that has 
become wealthy through the enterprise of 
just such men as himself. On his first set- 
tlement here he had but little money, and 
for two years was harassed by the grass- 
hoppers, which devastated the country 
and brought ruin in their train. Not- 
withstanding these pests and the visita- 
tion of disastrous storms, Mr. Braun was 
tenacious in his purpose and held his own 
until now he is quite as comfortable as 
one would wish to be. 

August Braun, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, followed the trade of a tan- 
ner in his native Russia until he came to 
the United States, where, until recently, 
he followed farmnng in Nebraska until 
about seventy years of age, when he 
retired from active work. He married 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



565 



Miss Jolianna Juraclc, who bore liiin four 
children, and tlie whole family came to 
Nebraska with Johan in 1S7-1-, he being the 
eklest cliild. Of these children one girl 
has died since coming here.. The union of 
Johan Braun and Ernestina Renn has 
been blessed with five children, born in 
the following order — Ottilie, Wilhelm, 
Frederich, Ludwigand Anna. In politics 
Air. Eraun acts indepentlently; in religion, 
he and his family affiliate with the German 
Evangelical Lutheran church. Mr. Braun 
has had his military experience, but not in 
this country, as the late Civil war was 
happily over wiien he arrived here; but 
he served in the army of his native coun- 
tr}' in the war of 1SG6 as a private, and in 
the war of 1870 as a sergeant, and passed 
through both contests without injury, and 
without doubt he would willingly have 
given his services to his adopted country, 
iiad he been present when she required the 
aid of soldiers such as he. 



OLIVER SUTTON, a thriving 
farmei- of Kearney county, was 
horn in Portage county, Ohio, 
August 2, 1845. He was reared to farm- 
ing and was educated at the common 
schools. After reaching manhood he 
moved to LaPorte county, Ind., was there 
mari-ied July 21, 1871, and continued to 
farm there until 1875, when in April of 
that year he came to Kearney county and 
located eighty acres in the west half of 
the northeast quarter of section 22, town- 
ship 6, range 14. He built a sod house, 
whicli for seven vears served him as a 



dwelling, when he erected a frame house, 
in which he now lives. Since first locat- 
ing he has purchased eighty acres of rail- 
road land adjoining his original plat, and 
now has a fine farm improved with 
orchards,groves and commodious buildings. 
As will be seen, he was a [)ioneer of the 
county. He came with an old team, 
bringing his wife and two children, but 
his stock of money was very small, and 
that small stock was soon exhausted. 
Tiie country was a broad expanse of 
unbroken })rairie and his neighbors were 
about five miles distant ; but immigrants 
soon commenced coming in and now the 
prairie is dotted over Avith fine dwellings 
and barns and well fenced farms ; the 
town of Minden, the present county seat, 
with a population of 2,500 inhabitants, has 
risen from the wide waste, and every evi- 
dence of progress and civilization is within 
view of his homestead. After sheltering 
himself and famih' with his sod-built house, 
Mr. Sutton broke up his prairie farm to 
the extent of twenty acres and raised a 
fair crop of grain, and, with the excep- 
tion of the years of the pestiferous grass- 
hoppers and those of the terrific 
storms, has raised very good crops. 
The deer, antelope, and buffalo, 
which were plenty when he first came, 
have disappeared, and his post-office, 
instead of being at Lowell, is at Minden, 
and his trading point is here also, instead 
of being at Kearney Junction — fifteen 
miles away. Of course it will be under- 
stood that there were no railroads through 
Kearney county in those days, and going 
to his market point with his produce and 
returning with his purchases he was com- 
pelled to use a team over the whole fifteen 
miles, both ways. But Mr. Sutton was 



566 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



enterprisiiifr and energetic, and was 
resolved to overcome every diflBculty, and 
succeeded in overcoming each, being now 
quite wealthy. Mr. Sutton took for his 
wife Miss Annie Lienhart, daughter of 
John Lienhart, who is of German descent, 
and now a resident of Kearney county, 
where also reside his sons, brougiit hither 
througli the influence of our subject who, 
in his early days, was very active in induc- 
ing immigration to the county. To the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton have been 
born eight children, who were named as 
follows — Charles, John, Minnie, Warren, 
Mary, Ada, Ida and Oliver. Ida, the 
twin of Ada, died when about eighteen 
months old. 

Milton Sutton, the father of Oliver, the 
subject of this sketch, is of Irish descent 
and was born in Ohio, of which state he 
is still a resident. He has always followed 
farming and stock-raising on the Western 
Reserve, and now, at the age of seventy- 
one years, is enjoying the comforts result- 
ing from his early industry. He has 
enjoyed the full confidence of his neigh- 
bors and has held several county offices. 
His wife was Miss Eleanor, daughter of 
John Caldwell, a native of Ohio and a 
farmer, who at one time was clerk of 
Williams county. To Mr. and Mrs. Sut- 
ton have been born two children — Oliver, 
the subject of this sketch, and Frank, a 
resident of Nebraska. Mrs. Eleanor Sut- 
ton died while her children were quite 
young ; and subsequently, Mr. Sutton mar 
ried Mary Woodward, daughter of Amos 
Woodward, and to this union have been 
born five children — Seneca, LeEoy, Julia, 
Mary and George (the last named now 
deceased). Mr. Oliver Sutton is a member 
of the I. O. O. F., and of the Knights of 



Labor. Politically, he is a democrat. 
Personally, he is renowned for his hospi- 
tality and always extends a hand to wel 
come a new-comer. 



JOHN W. TIPTON, attorney-at-law, 
Minden, Kearney county, is a na- 
tive of Westminster, Md., and was 
born October 11, 1S30. He comes 
of Southern parentage, his father, mother 
and grandparents having been natives also 
of Maryland, but his stock came originalh' 
from Virginia. Ammon Tipton, his father, 
lived always in his native state, d\'ing 
there in 1863, and being buried in the city 
of Baltimore. His mother survived her 
husband some years, died in 1875 at the 
home of her son, the subject of this 
sketch, in Northfield, Ind., and was there 
buried. Only two children survive of this 
union. These are Mrs. Emily J. Knotts, 
a widow of Richmond, Va., and John W., 
the subject of this biographical notice. 

John W. Tipton was I'eared in his na- 
tive place, getting what education he re- 
ceived from his attendance at an old log 
school house near the old home place. He 
began the active pursuits of life as a 
blacksmith's apprentice and followed the 
trade for a number of years after reaching 
maturity. He came West in 1849, located 
in Indiana, and in 1851 married Miss 
Betsy Ann Hickson, daughter of Wesley 
and Marquette Hickson, of Northfield, 
Ind. He lost his estimable wife in 1856, 
she leaving- surviving her three children — 
Melissa (now deceased) ; Edward P., and 
Anna, now wife ofFrank Vance, of Jas- 
per county, 111. He married again in 
1860 — his second wife being Miss Elmira 



KEA RNEY CO UNTY 



567 



Caldwell, of Kokomo, Ind. Eiylit children 
have been born to this union — Ida, Dora, 
John W., Jessie, Henr\', Burt, Roy and 
Claude. 

Judge Tipton came to Nebraska in 1880 
and settled in Kearney count}'. Taking 
a homestead at that date, he began fann- 
ing and was so engaged for some 3'ears. 
Having read law in Indiana and been ad- 
mitted to the bar, he moved into Minden 
after he had proved up on his homestead 
and entered upon the practice of his pro- 
fession. He retains his farming interests, 
still owning the homestead where he set- 
tled, which he now has in a splendid state 
of cultivation. He takes much interest 
in agricultural pursuits, being thoroughly 
in S3'mpathy with every movement looli- 
ing to the improvement of the condition 
of the farmer. He is also identified with 
the best interests of the town of Minden, 
where he lives, entering zealously into 
every enterprise of a public nature, and 
giving liberall}' in ])roportion to his means 
for the encouragement of them all. In 
recent years he has given his time and 
attention mainly to the practice of his 
profession, having built up a large and 
lucrative practice. He is a hard worker, 
and watchful of the interest of his clients. 
As a lawyer,his main forte lies in his strong 
common sense and the practical methods 
he brings to bear in the management of 
his cases. He is a searching examiner of 
witnesses and an effective speaker before 
a jury. Having been born, reared and 
passed the most of his life among the 
great body of the common people, he 
knows their wants thoroughl}' and under- 
stands the motives by which they are 
actuated, being in full sympathy with 
them in all things. As a gentleman he is 



pleasant, genial and alTalde, and has a 
host of friends. The only public position 
of any consequence that he ever held was 
that of postmaster at Northfield, Ind., 
some years before he moved to Nebraska. 
In politics he is a repui)lican, a stanch sup- 
porter of the principles of his party, and 
an able expounder of its principles. 



I 



"^IIOMAS BAYER, one of the 
wealthiest and most enterprising 
farraei's of Kearney county, 
Nebr., was born in Eiger Kries district, 
Bohemia, December 21, 1832, and atfer 
reaching manhood came to America (in 
May, 1867), and for one year and a half 
resided in New York; he then went to 
Du Page county, 111., remained there 
until 1869, and then went to Missoui'i, 
but afterwards returned to Illinois, and 
remaned there until his coming to 
Nebraska. May 20, 1869, he was mar- 
ried in Livingston county. Mo., to Miss 
Frances Schwab, daughter of Elias 
Schwab, a native of France, who came to 
this country when quite an aged man. 
To the union of Mr. antl Mrs. Ba^'er have 
been born seven children, in the following 
order — Frank, Barbara, Maria, Josef, 
Anton, Anna and John. The parents of 
Thomas Bayer are Josef and Barbara 
(Shaver) Bayer. The father was, in his 
early l)usiness life, a dealer in hard tim- 
ber, accumulated quite a fortune, and is 
now enjoying all the comforts of life in 
his native land in Bohemia. There were 
born to them six children, of whom our 
subject is the third, and all are doing well 
— Thomas being the only one of the 
family that has come to America. 



5G8 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



While living in Missonri, Mr. Bayer 
acted as fireman on a railroad locomotive, 
and while in Illinois was agent for a 
brewery. He came from the latter state 
to Nebraska October 19, 1874, and located 
the homestead on which he still lives, it 
being the southeast quarter of section 6, 
township 6, range 14, about a mile north- 
east of Minden. Like all the early 
settlers, he secured a choice piece of land, 
and put up a small board shanty, which 
served him as dwelling for the following 
two years. In 1875 he broke land and 
commenced farming, at which he was 
quite prosperous, and in 1884 was able to 
erect a good, large, comfortable, two- 
story frame house, together with barns, 
sheds, and all necessary buildings for a 
first-class farm. He now owns over seven 
hundred acres, more than two hundred of 
which are under cultivation, in mixed 
crops. The whole farm is fenced in, and 
the uncultivated portion is devoted to 
pasturage and ha}'. Mr. Bayer gives 
much of his attention to live stock, and 
has a large number of horses, cattle and 
hogs, to which he prudently feeds his 
grain, thus reaping, through his fat stock, 
a reward for his labor in the field ; his 
hogs are of choice breed, and of these he 
makes a specialty. Mr. Bayer is a man 
of superior judgment, and as a farmer 
stands foremost among the best in his 
country, and this latter fact is fully 
proved by the statement that he has 
never made a failure in securing a good 
crop since his residence in Nebraska. He 
has reached a high position in the esteem 
of his neighbors, and has been often 
urged to accept offices of trust and honor 
within their gift, but has always declined, 
his ambition not leaning towards political 



preferment; his attlliations, however, are 
with the democratic party. In religion, 
he and his family are consistent in their 
faith — that of the Eoman Catholic 
church. 



SJ. JOHNSON, the subject of this 
sketch, is a native of Sweden, born 
in the year 1850. His father, J. 
P. Johnson, is still living in tlie old coun- 
try at the age of 76 years, but the mother 
of our subject died some years since. 
Three sisters are still living — Eliza, Caro- 
line and Anna ; Matilda is dead. 

At the age of twenty-one our subject 
landed at Castle Garden, New York City, 
and immediately journej'ed to the Hawk 
eye State, landing first at Burlington. 
Here he accepted the first position which 
offered, which happened to be in a saw- 
mill, in that thriving city. This, how- 
ever, proved to be unfortunate for him, 
for he had followed this occupation but 
six weeks, when he met witli the serious 
misfortune of losing one hand in the 
machinery. This resulted in three months 
of enforced idleness ; but, undaunted by 
the adversity which he so soon met with, he 
found employment on a farm near Morn- 
ing Sun, and went braveh' to work to 
earn a livelihood, notwithstanding the fact 
that his father had offered to send him 
money with which to return to the old 
country. He persistently refused to do 
so, believing that for him the new world 
held blighter prospects. We next find 
him in Swedesburg, Iowa, where he 
secured a position in the store of Otto 
Abrahamson, which, by close attention 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



569 



to his duties and faithful (!evoti(jn to 
his employer's interests, he retained till 
failing healtii compelled him to abandon 
the position three years later. During 
the succeeding summer he worked in the 
harvest field, and in 1876 he came to 
Nebraska, locating at Kearney junction, 
Buffalo county. Here he obtained employ- 
ment as a clerk, working variously for 
J. S. Harrington, Hiram Hull and G. 
Cramer. Later he secured a position 
which he was well fitted to fill and 
which required less of manual labor than 
that which he had formerl}' followed, 
namely, acting as advertising agent for 
this section of the country, urging people 
to emigrate to this part of Nebraska. In 
this capacity he did valuable service, and 
manj^ are the substantial citizens of Buf- 
falo and Kearney counties who were 
induced to come hither by his efforts. He 
next obtained a position with Ache}' 
Themanson, and later with Stein & 
Cramer, in the dry goods business, follow- 
ing this line of effort till 1881, when he 
moved to Minden and, having accumu- 
lated, by frugal and industrious habits, a 
little competenc\', he embarked in the 
mercantile business with A. G. Eylander. 
This co-partnersliip continued till April 1, 
1885, when lie purchased the interest of 
his partner. Three years later, on Janu- 
ary first, he sold out the entire concern, 
having been chosen at the previous fall 
election to fill the responsible position of 
county treasurer, having been nominated 
by the republican party. His official 
duties began in 1888, and in 1889 he was 
re-elected, by a largely increased majority, 
to the same position. He has proven a 
faithful and efficient officer, always care- 
ful of the county's interest, and can doubt- 



less have tbe position as long as he cares 
to give it his attention. 

Mr. Johnson was married, in 1879, to 
Miss Matilda Broman, daughter of G. 
Broman, of Axtel, Nebraska. Four chil- 
dren gi'ace the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Johnson — Johm Hugo, Bessie, Anna and 
Harris. Still another, Carl Maritz, died 
at the age of two years and rests in the 
family burying-ground at Minden. 

In politics, as above hinted, Mr. John- 
son is a straight-out republican. He has 
allied himself with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, in whose ranks he holds 
honorable station. 

Mr. Johnson is a good example of what 
may result from honest and persistent 
effort in the face of the most adverse cir- 
cumstances. He is an honored and re- 
spected citizen, and, on the whole, has had 
and will have an honorable part in devel- 
oping the section of Nebraska where he 
has cast in his lot. 



JORR FLEMING, the subject of 
this sketch, a son of Henry G. Flem- 
ing, of Illinois, was born in that 
state on May 23, 1853. There his 
childhood and youth were spent, but in 
March, 1886, becoming persuaded of the 
wisdom of Horace Greeley's well known 
advice to young men, he decided to go 
West and grow up with the country, 
which he accordingly did, in company 
with his brother, Harry C. Fleming. He 
bought a half section of land, which they 
have improved and given the name of 
Grand View Stock Farm. This farm is 
already celebrated for its excellent and 
well bred horses, and is destined to have 



570 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



a constantly L;ro\ving reputation for excel- 
lence in this line. Here is the home of 
the celebrated Helen G., a beautiful bay 
mare with black points, broad limbs, full 
breast — a beauty in every respect — and, 
at the age of six j'eai-s, with a record of 
2 : 28 1-4. Helen G. is a standard bred 
mare under rules 2 and 6 of Wallace's 
trotting register. Here also is the pacing 
stallion EnEoute, a Hambeltonian, sired by 
Ensign, record 2 : 28 1-2, dam by Prince 
Albert. These gentlemen have also on 
their farm three excellent brood mares by 
Battalion (3096), also one brood mare by 
Ensign, record 2 : 28 1-2, a half-sister to 
Helen G. Besides the above named 
horses, they have for sale a large number 
of thoroughbred driving horses of all 
kinds. 

The Grand View Stock Farm consists 
of three hundred and twenty acres of 
land, two hundred and thirty of which 
are under a fine state of cultivation, ninety 
acres being devoted to pasture and hay 
land. The farm is also provided with an 
abundance of stable room, including mod- 
ern and well-fitted box stalls, and an ele- 
gant half-mile track, which has been built 
upon the farm for exhibition purposes. 

Grand View Stock Farm lies three 
miles north and west of Minden, in Kear- 
ney county, Nebr. The enterprising pro- 
prietors propose to make it the leading 
stock farm in the state, and their inten- 
tions will undoubtedly materialize within 
the near future. They pay strict atten- 
tion to correspondence, and any informa- 
tion in reference to their adopted county 
and Nebraska they are always willing and 
glad to give. 

These gentlemen are also interested in 
the livery business in the city of Minden, 



the style of the firm there being Fleming 
& Calder. Their stables are well patron- 
ized, especially by traveling men, who 
have always found the firm accommoda- 
ting and read}^ to furnish -lirst-class out- 
fits. They are constantly making addi- 
tions to their well-stocked stables in Min- 
den, new horses, buggies and carriages 
being constantly added, as the demand 
calls for them. 

In addition to trotting stock thej' also 
breed draft horses, imported Normans 
taking the lead, although other leading 
and excellent breeds will be found there. 

These young men have achieved that 
success which alwa}"s attends honest effort 
in the growing West, and their advice to 
young men is to come to this part of 
Nebraska, which, in their estimation, has 
excellent advantages over the more thickly- 
settled states. 



JENS H. JENSEN, an old resident 
of Kearney county, Nebr., was born 
in Denmark, in 1849, and is a son 
of Thomas and Mern Jensen, who 
came to the United States in 1871. Jens 
H., however, reached this country in 1870, 
landing at Castle Garden, New York City, 
in the month of May. He first went to 
Missouri, but in the fall of 1872 came to 
Nebraska, and for a year worked at rail- 
roading in Omaha. In 1874, he took up a 
homestead in Kearney county, and with 
his brother, Jens L., opened the first store 
south of the sand hills, in what was known 
as Fredericksborg. 

He soon united himself with the repub 
lican party, and in the fall of 1881 was 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



571 



elected county clerk ; in 1883, he was 
re-elected, having in the meantime moved 
to Minden, in January, 1882. In the sum- 
mer of 1883, he invested in Minden real 
estate and has since laid out the Jensen 
addition and the Evans addition to the 
city, which he platted and which have 
been built up with residences, and other- 
wise improved, although he still has a 
number of lots for sale. He has also 
erected a fine hotel, with a frontage of 
eighty-eight feet and four stories in 
height, and supplied with electric call 
bells, water, steam heat, and other mod- 
ern improvements, the lower floor being 
occupied as a drug store, a dry goods store 
and a clothing and gents' furnishing gooils 
store. The Jensen brothers also conduct 
a large farming implement business, and 
are noted for their fair dealing and liberal 
terms to their customers. 

Jens H.Jensen was united in the bonds 
of matrimony in January, 1884, with Miss 
Mary Beisel, daagiiter of Valentine Beisel, 
a native of Germanv. Mrs. Mar}' Jensen, 
however, is a native of Iowa. To the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Jensen have been 
born three children — Valentine, Thomas 
and Goldie. The parents are consistent 
members of the Lutheran church, in the 
charities of which they take great and 
liberal interest. 



R 



OLLIN H. OECUTT is one of 
the rising J'oung men of Kearne\' 
county. lie was born in St. 
Joseph county, Mich., November 15, 1856, 
and is the son of Daniel L. Orcutt, who 
was born May C, 1817, in New York State ; 
is a farmer and merchant by occupation. 



and still living in good health in Branch 
count}^, Mich., but having been one of the 
earliest settlers in St. Joseph county. He 
crossed this section of Nebraska in 1849 
on his waN' to California in search of gold. 
The mother of our subject, Lydia (Lang- 
don) Orcutt, is also a native of New York 
and was born August 12, 1822. She is 
still living in Branch county, Mich. There 
are three children in the paternal family, 
two boys and one girl, as follows — 
Adelbert, Rollin H.and Lillian. 

EoUin H. Orcutt, our subject, resided 
with his })arents in St. Joseph county 
Mich., until eight years old, and then 
moved with them to Branch county, Mich., 
where he resided with them until twenty- 
two years of age, engaged in attending 
school and helpnig his father on the farm. 
He had poor health in early life and came 
West to Kearney county in 1878 to visit a 
cousin, with the hope of improving, his 
condition. His health improved rapidly, 
and he, becoming infatuated with the new 
country, decided to file claim on a quarter 
section and make it his home — a decision 
he has never yet regretted. He accordingly 
filed homestead papers on the northwest 
quarter of section 11, township 7, range 
15. He returned home at once and an- 
nounced his intention of making the West 
his future home, much to the surprise and 
consternation of his relatives and friends, 
who predicted that a few years of Western 
life would suffice for him. He returned to 
his claim the following spring, and hastily 
constructed a sod house, and began life on 
his own account with very small means, 
having onl}'^ one hundred and fifty-five 
dollars with which to purchase his ticket 
on leaving Michigan, and with the bal- 
ance he bought a yoke of oxen, with which 



572 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



he broke the first fifty acres of his hxnd. 
He put out twenty-five acres of corn the 
first year and raised a good crop, having 
not only enough to feed his cattle through 
the year, but some to sell as well. For 
four years he lived alone in his sod house, 
and his nearest neighbors, in the early 
days, lived a distance of two miles. 
Becoming tired of the life of a bachelor, he 
wedded, October 15, 1882, Mary E. Bent, 
which union has been blessed with two 
children, as follows — Earl B., born Octo- 
ber 26, 1883, and Horace, born August 3, 
1889, but died March 13, the following 
spring, of lung fever. 

Mrs. Orcutt was born at North Mon- 
mouth, Maine, March 30, 1865, and is the 
daughter of Isaac A. and Mary (Brown) 
Bent, both of whom are natives of 
Maine ; the former, a farmer by occupa- 
tion, was born in 1839, and the latter in 
1836. They are both now living in Kim- 
ball county, Nebr., having come West 
and entered a homestead claim in the 
Platte valley in 1876. They moved to 
Kimball county, Nebr., four years ago, 
and entered a claim where they now 
reside. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. 
Orcutt abandoned the old sod house 
and erected one of the finest and largest 
frame dwellings in Kearney county. Mr. 
Orcutt now owns four hundred and eighty 
acres of fine land, the most of which is 
well im])roved and stocked, and it may 
be said to his credit that he has made 
this himestly and honorably through the 
untiring industry of himself, and, instead 
of a few years of Western life sufficing for 
him, as his relatives and friends predicted 
in the beginning, he has erected a monu- 
ment to his pluck and industry that will 
remain an example to the young men of 



the future. Mr. and Mrs. Orcutt have 
both joined the Methodist church recently, 
and are trying to rear their family in the 
virtues of that doctrine. Politically, Mr. 
Oi'cutt is a republican and served a term 
in 1887 and 1888 as supervisor, or member 
of the county board from Logan township. 
He is the kind of timber that will make 
for the farmers of Kearney county a good 
representative in the state legislature at 
some future day. 



LUCIUS K. BROWN is one of the 
standard citizens and early settlers 
__^ of Kearne}' county. He was born 
at Auljurn, Pa., July 30, 1839, and is the 
son of Henry and Hannah (Carter) Brown, 
both of whom were natives of Penn- 
sylvania; the former, a farmer by occu- 
pation, was born in the year 1812, and died 
at the ripe old age of three-score years 
and ten ; the latter was born in 1817, and 
is still living in Illinois. 

Lucius P. Brown, the subject of this 
biographical memoir, resided at home on 
his father's farm until sixteen years of age, 
attending school and helping on the farm 
in the meantime. At this age he emi- 
grated West and located at Lyndon, White- 
side county. 111., where he engaged in 
farming until August 6, 1861, when he re- 
sponded to his country's call and enlisted 
in Company C, Eighth Illinois cavalr}', 
and entered the war. He was in the 1st 
brigade and 1st division of cavalry under 
Oen. Pleasanton. in the army of the 
Potomac, and was in the engagements up 
the Rappahannock, the second battle at 
Bull Run, South mountain, Antietam and 



in many skirmishes, too numerous to men- 
tion. He came home on furlough during 
the holidays in 1864, and returned to 
Washington in the spring. He engaged 
in the battle at Frederick city, battle of 
the Wilderness, and in the raid after Mos- 
by, which was almost continuous lighting. 
In the spring of 1865 he did patrol duty 
in Washington and was transferred to the 
Western depjirtment, taken to St. Louis, 
and on July 17, 1865, at Benton Barracks, 
was mustered out. He received injuries 
from being run over bv a wagon, and draws 
a pension of four dollars per month. 
After the war he returned to Prophets- 
town, 111., and was a farmer until 1876, 
when in February of that year he came 
West to Logan township, Kearney county, 
Nebr.,and entered as a homestead the north- 
western quarter of section 26, township 7, 
range 15, on which he now resides. The 
country in his vicinity was new and bar- 
ren at the time of his coming, and there 
was but one house between his place and 
Kearnev, a distance of sixteen miles. 
There were plenty of deer, antelope and 
coyotes in the sand hills to the north and 
along the Platte river. There were a 
good many settlers came in 1878, 1879 
and 1880, and the country surrounding him 
was soon settled up. Mr. Brown now 
owns three hundred and twenty acres of 
tine faim land, well improved with a spa- 
cious fi'ame dwelling, large barn, tame 
grass, one hundred bearing apple trees, and 
two hundred acres under cultivation. He 
has had good average crops every year ex- 
cept the first, when the grasshoppers des- 
troyed them. He was married September 
12, 1865, to Mary Davis, who was born No- 
vember 29, 18il, at Lyndon, 111. Iler 
father, Joseph C. Davis, a farmer b}' oc- 



cupation, was a native of New Jersey, 
born July 14, 1810. Her mother, Sarah 
(Putnam) Davis, was born at Brattle- 
borough, Vt., in 1821, and died at the age 
of fifty-seven years. Her parents were 
both members of the CongrcKational 
church. Her grandparents, Aaron and 
Electa (Lurn) Davis, were born January 
20, 1782, and September 12, 1786, respec- 
tively, and were members of the Presby- 
terian faith. The union of Mr. and Mrs, 
Brown has resulted in the birth of five 
children as follows — Giles W., born 
August 14, 1866 ; Joseph II., born October 
15, 1868; Lillian L, born August 16, 1872; 
Cora L, born September 10, 1876; Mary 
A., born March 21, 1885. Mr. Brown is a 
republican in politics, and is serving bis 
second term as supervisor of Logan town- 
ship. They are both members of the 
Presbyterian church. He is also past 
post commander of the G. A. R. Post in 
Minden. 



A 



LEXANDEB McDONALD is an 
early settler and a highl}' re- 
spected citizen of Kearney county. 
He was born at MuUingrey, Scotland, 
seven miles from Glasgow. His father, 
William McDonald, was a Highlander by 
descent, and born in the year 1794, in 
County Tyrone, Ireland, but lived in Mul- 
lingrey, Scotland. He came to America 
in 1861 and located at Philadelphia, where 
he engaged in shoemaking, and died in 
1877, at the ripe old age of four-score 3'ears 
and one. Margaret (Ilarkness) McDonald, 
the mother of our subject, was a native of 
Ireland, born in 1793. There were eight 
children in the family. 



574 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



Alexander was sixteen years of age 
wiien he came to America. Previous to 
tliat time he had attended school and 
received a somewhat liberal education. 
He located in Philadelphia and engaged 
in a retail grocery and provision business, 
which lie continued for twenty-six j'ears. 
He enlisted in the Ninety-first Pennsyl- 
vania regiment, Compan}'^ H, February 
25, 1864, and was in the 5th corps, 1st 
brigade, and 2d division of the Arraj'^ of 
the Potomac. His first engagements were 
at Bolivar Heights and Harpers Ferry, 
where he was detailed on guard duty. 
After wintering at Warrenton junction, 
he engaged in the battles of the Wilder- 
ness and SpottsN'lvania, at which latter 
place he was wounded in the left leg and 
stampeded by the cavalry. His corps had 
originally three hundred thousand men, 
but at this time had dwindled down to 
fifty-five thousand. They were com- 
manded in person by General Grant, who 
aroused them to their utmost efforts by 
shouting " -Boys, your country and your 
flag." Mr. JIcDonald was given up for 
dead and lay on the battle-field three 
days and nights, but was finally picked 
, up and taken to the hospital at Mt. Ver- 
non, where he lay for several weeks, and 
was transferred to Findlay hospital at 
Washington, and later on to Satterlee 
hospital, Philadelphia. His breast-bone 
was broken and crushed in the stam- 
pede of cavalry, but after many months 
of nursing he was able to be about again. 
So inherent was his love lor his adopted 
country and its flag that, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that he was crippled for life 
and incajjacitated for duty, he announced 
his intention of reentering the service, 
and was accordingly sent to Alexandria, 



where, upon examination of the examin- 
ing board, he was returned to Moore hospi- 
tal, near Philadelphia, and finally, on May 
23, 1865, was discharged. He receives 
$16 per month pension, it having been 
increased gratuitously from $8 to $12, 
and finally to the latter amount. After 
the war he continued in the grocery busi- 
ness until 1877, when, in September of that 
year, he and his son caii|e West and 
entered as a homestead the southeast 
quarter of section 11, township 7, range 
15, on which he still resides. On arriving, 
he and son constructed a ten by twelve 
sod honse and made preparation for the 
famih', who came a few months later. 
The country was very wild at that time, 
and settlers were few and far between, 
there being but one within a radius of two 
miles. Later on he constructed a larger 
sod house, sixteen by thirty-six feet, and 
in the summer of 1884 built the present 
spacious frame dwelling — one of the 
largest and finest in the count}'. 

Mr. McDonald was married, November 
15, 1853, to Mary A. Kirkpatrick, who 
was born April 29, 1832, in County Tyrone, 
Ireland, and is the daughter of Thomas 
and Sarah (Bruce) Kirkpatrick, both of 
whom were natives of Ireland. Her 
father was a very rich farmer. The union 
of Mr. and Mrs. McDonald was blessed 
\\\ih the birth of twelve children, as fol- 
lows — Margaret J., born July 16, 1854; 
Anna F., born September 18, 1855; Sarah 
L. M., born October 14, 1856 ; William T., 
born December 26, 1857 ; Mary L., born 
January 5, 1861 ; Samuel A., born January 
15, 1862; Mary L. A., born January 22, 
1864; Henrietta O., born July 2, 1865; 
Marion O., born November 6, 1866 ; Oscar 
E. A., born March 29, 1S68 ; Laura, i)orn 



KEA RNEV CO UN TV. 



575 



September 2, 1S72, and one that died in 
infancy. 

Mr. and Mrs. McDonald are both mem- 
bers of the United Presbyterian church. 
Politically, he is a republican, having 
voted that ticket for fort}' years. He has 
been postmaster at Harmony for eight 
years, and his son is mail-carrier from 
Minden to Kearne}'. 



ROBEPtT WIER is one of the early 
settlers of Logan township, Kear- 
,. ney county. He was born in 
County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1831. The 
ancestry of this family came originally 
from Scotland during the persecution of 
tliat country. The father of our subject, 
Robert Wier, was a native of Ireland, 
born in tiie year 1796. He was by occu- 
pation a farmer and linen weaver. His 
mother, Nancy (Ferguson) Wier, was also 
a native of Ireland, born in 1799. There 
were seven children in the family. 

Robert Wier resided in Ireland until 
twenty -one years of age, engaged as a linen- 
weaver. At that age he came to America 
and located on a farm near Philadelphia, 
where he I'esided for some time, finally 
moving into the city, where be engaged 
in car[)et-weaving. He resided in Phila- 
delpliia twenty years, during which time 
he continued to follow weaving. Before 
the war. during ]5uchanan's term as presi- 
dent and while free trade was practically 
in vogue, he could make but $1 per day, 
and after the war, when protection was 
in force, he made from $10 to $2U per 
week. 



In January, 1889, Mr. Wier emigrated 
West and located in Kearney county, 
Nebr., entering as a homestead a quarter 
section of land in section 12, township 7, 
range 15. He erected a sod house in 
which he lived seven years. There were 
few settlers in the vicinity where he 
located at that time. There were some 
antelope remaining among the sand hills 
and an occasional deer on the islands of 
the Platte river. He lived on his home- 
stead for four years and had one hundred 
acres broken out when he sold it. In 1883 
he bought the farm on which he now 
resides, and now has one hundred and 
twenty acres broken out and the place 
otherwise well improved. He had a hard 
time to make ends meet in those early 
days, it being almost impossible to get a 
day's work. He had nothing but a team 
of horses to start with, and three months 
after he came one of those sickened and 
died. He finally bought a cow and she 
also died. He afterwards purchased a 
horse from a herd in Kearney, paying 
therefor |24. He still has the horse and 
would not take $100 for him. Taxes were 
very high in the early days and he had to 
pay $9 tax on his team and what little 
lumber he had in the roof on his sod 
house. 

Mr. Wier was married November 15, 
1853, to Sarah Seaton, which union has 
been blessed with nine children, as follows 
—Matilda, Thomas (deceased), Anna, 
Thomas, Robert, John, Elizabeth (de- 
ceased). William, and Samuel (deceased). 
Mr. and Mrs. Wier are both members of 
the Presbyterian church in Minden, being 
charter members of that organisation, 
Politically, he is a republican. 



57G 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



JASON^ F. BLOODGOOD, one of the 
prominent and well-to-do farmers 
of Lowell township, Kearney 
count}', was born in Bradford 
county, Pa., March 4, 1834. His parents 
were Cyrus and Caty A. (Wright) Blood- 
good, both natives of New York State 
and of English-Scotch descent. The 
senior Bloodgood is a farmer and lum- 
berman, and ■ still lives in his native 
state. Jason Bloodgood, upon arriv- 
ing at his majorit}', chose farming as 
his occupation and began work in Brad- 
ford county, Pa. On May 15, 1861, he 
enlisted in the Sixth Pennsylvania re- 
serves. He participated in the battles of 
Drainesville, the second Bull Run, Antie- 
tam and Fredericksburg, where he was 
wounded. His regiment guarded White 
House landing on the peninsula, where 
supplies were received until after McClel- 
lan's campaign. He also participated in 
the battle of Gettysburg. He was, in 
addition, under the fire of the enemy on 
the bank of Broad creek, in October, 
1863, the rebels being on the opposite 
banks dressed in Union clothes. Here he 
was wounded again, and sent to a hospital 
at Alexandria, but soon after was trans- 
ferred to the Prince Street hospital, where 
he remained for several months. He car- 
ries a ball yet in his left shoulder. He 
suffered twice from intermittent fever, as 
well as from exposure on many occasions; 
and, after leaving the hospital, was mus- 
tered out, with his health greatly impaired. 
He moved to Linn county, Iowa, in Sep 
tember, 1865, and continued to reside 
there until April, 1876, when he came 
to Kearney county, Nebr., settling on 
the old Fort Kearney reservation. He 
was one of the first settlers on the military 



reservation, and now owns one of the best 
farms in this famous tract. His home is 
located near where the old California 
trail passed. 

Mr. Bloodgood was married January 1, 
1855, to Mary E. Park, a daughter of 
Thomas and Margaret Park, and born in 
Bradford county, Pa., March 12, 1835. 
Her father died in 1861, but her mother is 
still living at the age of ninety-two years. 
Eight children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Bloodgood, viz. — Margaret Ann, born 
September 6, 1856; Alice, born December 
24, 1858 ; Wilbur J., born September 18, 
1860; Delia, born February 11, 1866; 
Katie, born January 19, 1868 ; Jane, born 
October 5, 1870; Birdie, born September 
7, 1874, and Hattie, born March 13. 1876. 

Mr. Bloodgood is a republican in poli- 
tics, and an influential man among local 
party workers in his party. 



>^r^HOMAS VAN DUZER, one of 
I the representative men of Kear- 
1 ney county, was born in Che- 
mung county, N. Y., April 25, 1841. He 
is the son of Charles and Jane (Andrews) 
Van Duzer, both natives of the State of 
New York, the former having been born 
in 1818, and the latter in 1822. Both are 
now living and zealous members of the 
Methodist church. Thomas Van Duzer 
remained with his parents until the war 
broke out, when he enlisted in the One 
Hundred and Forty-first regiment Penn- 
sylvania volunteer infantry; but he was 
discharged, however, after three months' 
service, on account of chronic rheumatism. 
On October 11, 1865, he wis married to 



Miss Frances Jane Bloodgood, and soon 
afterwards moved to Xew York State 
from Pennsylvania, where he had lived 
for many years. He settled in his native 
county, where he remained eight years, 
during which time he was engaged in the 
milling business at Van Ettenville. The 
only cliild vouchsafed to Mr. and Mrs Van 
Duzer was Victor by name, who was born 
May 25, 1869. Mr. Van Duzer came to 
Kearne}' county, Nebr., in the spring of 
1876, and settled on a homestead on the 
old Military reservation. This tract of 
land, about ten miles square, was opened 
to actual settlement in 1878, by act of 
congress, Mr. Van Duzer being one of 
about sixty who petitioned congress to 
throw the Military reservation open to 
settlement. AYhen he first settled on this 
famous piece of prairie land, it served as a 
great field for thousands of Texas cattle. 
Lowell, then the county seat of Kearney 
county, was situated near by, and at that 
time was already on the decline. The 
county seat in the course of a couple of 
years was moved to Minden, and what 
was once a promising little city, is now 
but a mere village. 

The year of his settlement in the county 
was made famous by the re-appearance of 
the grasshoppers. They were so thick 
that the}' ate the cotton screens in the 
doors and windows, and it was by the 
most persistent efforts tliat he managed to 
save his garden truck. He came here with 
limited means, and, like many others, saw 
hard times. He would often walk ten 
miles to do a day's work in harvest 
time, and his family was actually witliout 
bread of any kind for two weeks. During 
the harvest of 1877, Mr. Van Duzer liad 
five acres of wheat. He was the first to 



harvest, and several of his neighbors bor- 
rowed wheat of him in order to supply 
themselves with flour until thej' could 
thrash. 

The first year of Mr. Van Duzer's resi- 
dence in Kearney county he had no team, 
and he would wade the Platte river (which 
was about half a mile from his house), to 
the little islands, situated in the river, and 
on which grew small box-elder, cotton- 
wood and elm. He would cut them down, 
trim and drag them to the shore, often 
wading to his waist in the water with a 
heavy load of these poles on his shoulder. 
This he would do in the forenoon of each 
day, for several weeks, then in the after- 
noon he would carry them to the house 
and cut them up, where it could become 
seasoned and fit for. fuel. His shoulder 
became so tender carrying such heavy 
loads, that he had Mrs. Van Duzer make 
a sort of a pad or saddle to protect his 
shoulder. 

Until the fall of 1878 the nearest school- 
house was at Lowell, three miles distant. 
Their son, Victor, eight years of age, 
attended school there for one year. In 
the winter season, the days being so short, 
the little fellow would have to leave home 
before it was scarcely light in the morn- 
ing, and it would be nearly dark before 
he would reach home at evening. The 
mother would often become so anxious 
that she would go to meet her boy on his 
return, for it seemed a long, lonesome 
road for one so young to travel alone, and 
it was a glad day for the family when 
there was built a neat and comfortable 
little school house within a mile of their 
home. 

Mr. Van Duzer has served his township 
as supervisor for three terms and has been 



578 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



an efficient and faithful official. He is 
one of the most ardent believers in tem- 
perance in the county, and while he was 
reared a republican, he now votes with 
the prohibitionists. Mrs. Yan Duzer was 
born in Bradford county, Pa., in 1845, 
and is the daughter of Cyrus and Caty 
(Wright) Bloodgood. Her father was a 
minister in the Methodist Episcopal 
church and is a leading citizen in the com- 
munity in which he lives. Mrs. Van 
Duzer met with a shocking accident in 
the summer of 1889. being struck by light- 
ning, during a terrible thunder slorm, on 
the eve of August 6. She, in company 
with a lady friend who was paying a 
visit to the family, were passing from the 
house to a summer kitchen, when both 
were struck and rendered insensible for 
several hours. Both were under the 
watchful care of a physician for several 
weeks before they recovered sufficiently 
to be free from the danger. 

ilr. and Mrs. Yan Duzer are among the 
highly esteemed citizens in the commu- 
nity, and their generous hospitality has 
won them many lasting friends. 



DE. H. T. COOPEE, one of the 
first settlers at Lowell, Kearney 
county, was born in Yenango 
county, Pa., May 22, 1828. His parents 
were John and Nancy (Acorns) Cooper, 
the former a native of New York, and 
the latter of Pennsylvania. His grand- 
father was Samuel Cooper, who was a 
second lieutenant in the War of 1812. 
John Cooper died in 1840, and Nancy 
Cooper in 1874. In 1868, Dr. Cooper 
emigrated to Montgomery county, Iowa, 



where he resided for two \'ears, and then 
came to Lowell, Nebr., in the spring of 
1871. He was a practicing physician, 
having entered upon the profession in 
1856. He pre-empted a piece of land 
near the Platte river and continued the 
practice of his profession, and in 1872 he 
was employed to attend the sick at Fort 
Kearney, which position he held until the 
fort was abandoned. When the Doctor 
first located here, his nearest neighbor 
was twenty miles east of him. Lowell 
was laid out in May. 1871, and flourished 
for a few years — becoming one of the 
principal trading points in the West. 
The town began to decline in 1874, when 
the county seat was changed to Minden. 

Dr. H. T. Cooper was the first probate 
judge of Kearney county, having been 
elected in 1872, and has also held various 
local offices since. He has always been a 
republican in politics, and is a member of 
the Masonic order. 

In his early days in Nebraska, the 
Doctor saw manv herds of buffalo and 
antelope numbering up to the hundreds, 
and has been a member of several noted 
hunting parties. In 1873 he joined the 
surve^'ors and other officials of the St. 
Joe and Republican Railroad in a butfalo 
hunt, and relates many thrilling tales of 
similar expeditions. In 1^76, the Doctor 
married Catherine Cari)enter. Nancy 
Cooper bore the maiden name of Nancy 
Acorns, and was a native of New York. 
On the eve of the blowing up of Fort 
Erie by Gen. Wayne, and the sacking of 
Buffalo, Nancy, with her sister and David 
Kino-, embarked in a canoe at the mouth 
of the French creek, and followed it to 
where it empties into the Alleghany near 
Franklin, the county seat of Yenango 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



579 



county. In that year, 1813, Samuel 
Cooper came with his family across tlie 
Alle^hanies from Westmoreland countv, 
Pa. Nancy Cooper was a school teacher 
atTitusville, which is twelve miles up the 
Alleghany from Oil city. Pa. 

John Cooper was born in 1800 ; Nancy 
Cooper was born in 180.5. 

H. T. Cooper was born in poverty and 
raised in the woods. During the adminis- 
tration of Martin Van Buren, under his 
free trade policy, John Cooper lost all 
his property. John Cooper died in 1841, 
leaving a wife with five helpless children, 
three girls and two boys, II. T. Cooper 
being the oldest, and Fulson the youngest. 

At the death of President W. H. Har- 
rison, who lived one month only after his 
inauguration, our subject and his mother 
started for Ohio, and at Barnesville young 
Cooper found employment and also 
received tlie rudiments of an education. 
The motlier and the otlier members of 
her family in a short time moved to 
Belleville, Ohio, where for two years our 
subject worked for Jesse Morris. Mr. 
Morris still resides in Belleville at the age 
of one hundred and seven 3'ears. From 
this point Mr. Cooper went to Cumber- 
land, Ohio, where he began the study of 
medicine under the preceptorship of Evan 
Cagill; thence he went to A f ton, Iowa, 
thence via St. Louis up the Missouri river 
to Plattsmouth Nebr., in 1868, reaching 
Lincoln in March, 1871. He filed his 
pre-emption claim on the half section 20, 
east of section 24-, Lowell town site. He 
built a house, broke four acres of ground, 
and planted it in corn. When tliis corn 
was soft, the Pawnees came on a hunt. 
and as Mr. Cooper had a well noted for 
its good water, the Indians surrounded it. 



Mr. Cooper was at the time about four 
miles away hunting wood, and in crossing 
the mouth of Whisky run on his way 
home, he caught siglit of his house sur- 
rounded by tlie redskins. He at once took 
in the situation, and started for his farm 
on a full run, but before he had got 
within two miles of his liouse he met the 
Pawnee ciiief, who cried out — " No hurt 
the pretty squaw," thus relieving Mr. 
Cooper's anxiety. 

In the fall of 1871, the Doctor built a 
house on the site of Lowell, where he 
still resides, and wliere he and famil}^ 
enjoy the respect of all who know them, 
and there are very few who do not. That 
winter was the hardest of any the Doctor 
has experienced since coming to the state, 
a constant and severe frost lasting fully 
ten consecutive weeks. It was almost a 
daily occurrence for scouts to bring in 
some man lost while on a hunt and found 
frozen to death. With the exception of 
the grasshopper raids and the drought, 
times since then have been fairly pros- 
perous in Nebraska. 



CHRISTIAN WEBER is one of 
the enterprising young farmers of 
Lowell township, Kearney county. 
He first saw the light of day in Alle- 
gheny county. Pa., March 6, 1852, and is 
the son of Peter and Mary Ann AVeber. 
His father came from Germany when 
about thirty years of age. He was a 
weaver by trade, and died April 29, 1871. 
His mother was born in Pennsylvania, 
and is now living with her ciiildren. 

Christian, when fourteen years of age, 
began doing for himself, working by the 



580 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



month on a farm. He later served an ap- 
prenticeship as a wlieel-right, and worked 
at his trade for about seven years. lie 
came West in the spring of 1876, and 
freighted from Cheyenne to Dead wood 
for a few months previous to his final set- 
tlement in Kearney county, Nel)r. He 
took a homestead in Lowell township, on 
which he iias since continued to reside. 
He was elected county commissioner of 
Kearney county, and served one year. 
He has served as supervisor of Lowell 
township four years, and is one of the 
most popular j'oung men in the township. 
There were six other children in the 
Weber family — Barbara, born July 18, 
184:1 (died November 1,1887) ; John, born 
March 11, 184-t ; Abraham, born January 
7, 18-49; William, born December 21, 
1854 ; Cornelius, born April 5, 1858 (and 
drowned June 12, 1884), and Annie, born 
April 4, 1862. 



HARDEN J. YENSEN was born 
near Steubenville, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 14, 1859. His parents were 
Nicholas and Karen Yensen, both natives 
of Denmark. They came to America in 
1854, and lived in various states, until they 
finally settled in Nebraska, where the 
father died in 1888. Harden came with 
his parents to Nebraska in 1872, and lived 
in Webster county. The country then 
was new, and no settlement had been 
made previous to that time, except by a 
few bachelors along the Little Blue river. 
The Yensens hauled wood from the Little 
Blue to Lowell, and in this way made their 
living during grasshopper time. Mr. Yen- 



sen well remembers when Lowell was a 
flourishing little city, with great possibili- 
ties for the future. The sudden removal 
of the county seat to Minden, however, 
killed the town. He has seen buffalo, an- 
telope and deer as plenty as domestic an i- 
mals are now and "has often met and con- 
versed with the Big Sioux Indians. He 
also visited the Spotted Tail Agency in 
1876, while on his way to the Black Hills. 
He settled on a farm near Lowell in 1881, 
where he now resides. 

Mr. Yensen was married June 9, 1884, 
to Miss Ida Frances Gibson. She was 
born in Mecosta county, Mich., September 
22, 1864, and is the daughter of William 
and Lottie (Taylor) Gibson, both natives 
of Pennsylvania. They came to Custer 
county, Nebr., in 1881, where they now 
reside. Mr. and Mrs. Yensen have two 
children, viz. — Llarden J., born April 3, 
1887, and Lottie Mabel, born November 
25, 1888. Mr. Yensen has served as jus- 
tice of the peace and filled other local 
offices of trust. He has one hundred and 
fortj'-eight acres of land, and makes a 
specialty of broom corn, marketing all of 
twenty tons a year. 



PETER C. BOASEN, a successful 
farmer and stock-raiser of Kear- 
ney county, was born in Denmark, 
November 4, 18-42. His parents, Christen 
and Sicilia Boasen, were also natives of 
Denmark. His father was a tailor by 
trade and a noted musician. He was 
born in 1802 and bis wife in 1804. They 
were married early in life and lived to- 
gether almost sixty years. Thev had 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



581 



seven children, tliree boys and four girls, 
of whom two boys and two girls came to 
America. Peter Boasen worked out from 
the time he was fourteen years old till 
he was twenty-two, and the liighest 
pay he received was $25 per year. He 
was industrious and economical and 
saved enough money to pay his way to 
America in 1866. He landed at Castle 
Garden, New York Cit}'', and immediately 
proceeded West as far as DeKalb county; 
111., where he secured employment at 
$17 per month. He worked steadily for 
seven months and saved every cent of his 
earnings. He came to Omaha in Novem- 
ber, 1866, and engaged with a transfer 
comjjany at $25 per month. Proving to 
be a trusty and faithful employee, his 
salary was increased to $80 at the end of 
three months and to $35 at the end of 
five months. He remained in the employ 
of this companjf three years, and then 
entered the service of Mr. Herman 
Kountce. president of the Fii'st National 
Bank of Omaha. His term of service 
here covered a period of three and one- 
half years. In the spring of 1873, Mr. 
Boasen visited his native country, being 
absent about six months. Previous to 
this time, however, he took a timber claim 
and })urchased a quarter-section of rail- 
road land in May township, Kearney 
county, Nebr. He had also secured a 
pre-emption in Saumiers county. 

Upon his retni'u from Denmark he 
worked for the firm of Slieely Brothers, of 
Omaha, in whose em])lo3' he remained for 
two year's. In 1876 he was appointed to the 
responsible position of gardener and chief 
engineer for the State Deaf and Dumb Asy- 
lum located near Omaha. In 1879 Mr. Boa- 
sen sold his farm in Saunders county, receiv- 



ing $1,600 for it. He invested a portion of 
this sum in real estate in the suburbs of 
Omaha, and concluded to go into the gar- 
dening business, and, with tliat purpose 
in view, he purchased ten acres, for which 
he paid $60 per acre. He continued in 
this business for about seven years, when 
he sold this tract for the magnificent sum of 
$1,0U0 per acre. In 1882 he moved his 
family on his farm in Kearne_y county, 
where he has since resided. He now has 
seven hundred and twenty acres of splen- 
did land, the greater portion of which is 
well improved. 

Mr. Boasen was married. May 7, 1879, to 
Miss Maggie Corbid, a native of Ohio and 
of English descent. This union has been 
blessed with six children, namely — Char- 
ley C, Fanny, May, Irene, Frank and Her- 
man. Mr. Boasen is an extensive raiser 
of stock and now has more than one hun- 
dred head of cattle. He is a breeder of 
thorough-bred Short-horn cattle and takes 
great pride in exliibiting his fine speci- 
mens. 

In politics, Mr. Boasen is independent. 
He believes it to be his duty to honor 
God and to respect man, and he also be- 
lieves that fair dealing makes long friend- 
ship. 



GEORGE P. KINGSLEY, Jr., 
president of the Bank of Nor- 
man, Norman, Kearney county, 
Nebr., was born at Freeport, 111., Novem- 
ber 11, 1864. His.father, George Kings- 
ley, is a native of Northampton, Mass., 
while his mother, whose maiden name was 
Harriet Swift, is a native of Geneva, N. Y. 



582 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



His parents emigrated West in 1853, 
locating at Freeport, where the senior 
Kingsley has practiced his profession as a 
dentist up to witiiin the past few years. 

George P. Kingsley, Jr., availed himself 
of the common-school privileges afforded 
at Freeport, and in addition spent two 
years in Hobart College, at Geneva, N. Y. 
He also spent two years at Cornell Uni- 
versity, where he could more successfully 
prosecute his studies in the higher 
branches. After he had completed his 
collegiate education, he secured a position 
in the Lincoln K^ational Bank, at Lincoln, 
Nebr. He filled a responsible position in 
this establishment for two years, when he 
resigned and came to Minden, Nebr., 
where he remained a short time previous 
to his locating at the thriving little city 
of Norman. He went to Norman, then a 
village about one year old, and determined 
to start a bank there, and accordingly, on 
the eleventh day of August, 18S8, he or- 
ganized the bank of Norman with a capi- 
tal stock of $10,000. Mr. Kingsley is a 
young man of fine presence and splendid 
business capabilities. He is shrewd and 
energetic and already' enjoys a business 
surpassing his most sanguine expectations. 
He enjoj's the esteem and entire confi- 
dence of the communit}', and is on the 
broad road to success. 



AUGUST SW ANSON was born in 
/ \ Sweden, September 14, 184-t, and 
J_ \. has been dependent upon his own 
resources ever since he was fifteen. He 
reached America in 1871, and coming as 
far West as St. Paul he found employ- 
ment on a railroad for about one year, and 



next followed the same vocation in Michi- 
gan for a short time. He worked in the 
iron mines in northern Michigan for about 
four years, and came to Nebraska in the 
s|)ring of 1876. He took a homestead in 
May township, Kearney county, on which 
he has since resided. Being a hardwork- 
ing, industrious man, he now has one of 
the best improved farms in tliat section of 
the country. He lived the life of a bache- 
lor for awhile and saw some pretty hard 
times during his early days in the country 
He was married May 30, 1881, to Miss 
Hilda Oberg, a native of Sweden, born 
March 21, 1863, who came to America 
with her parents when four years old. 
They have two children, namely — Albin, 
born February 20, 1883, and Arthur, born 
January 2, 1885. He and his wife are 
both members of the Lutheran church. 
Mr. Swanson has been deacon in the 
church and is a republican in politics. 



MRS. MAPtY A. WHITLOCK, one 
of the pluck}' pioneer women of 
Kearney county, Nebr., was born 
in Clinton county, N. Y., March 28, 1833, 
and is the daughter of John Van Horn 
and Lucinda (Tubbs) Vandervort. 

Her father was born on the Mohawk 
river in New York, while her mother was 
a native of Vermont. The former died in 
1856, and the latter in 1867. Both were 
devoted members of the United Brethren 
church. The subject of this brief memoir 
was married to Hiram P. Whitlock, Janu- 
ary 1, 1851. He was a native of the Green 
Mountain Stale, having been born in Rut- 
land, May 10, 1827. He was a son of 
James and Elmira (Eaton) Whitlock, both 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



583 



of whom were natives of Vermont. 
His parents immigi-ated to New York 
soon after marriage, and suljsequentiy to 
Illinois, where they died. Mr. Whitlock 
came with his ])arents to Illinois in 1845, 
and upon arriving at the age of maturity, 
began farming, which vocation he has 
since followed. To this union were born 
four ciiildren, namely — John C, born 
August 11, 1852 (deceased); Cornelius L., 
born November 29, 1855 (deceased) ; 
Lucinda E., born April 24, 1858, and 
David L., born April 25, 1863. Mrs. 
Whitlock came to Kearney county, 
October 5, 1877. The country was n&xf 
and thinly settled, but she was delighted 
with it and determined to make her 
home here. She accordingly took a home- 
stead in May township and began to 
improve the same at once. She caused a 
substantial frame dwelling to be erected, 
and planted several acres of timber, which 
has since grown to a considerable height. 
Settlers were few and far between and 
buffalo and antelope roamed almost at 
will. She now owns 240 acres of as fine 
land as can be found an3'where in the 
state, and the improvements are of the 
best. She is a woman of more than ordi- 
nary intelligence and possessed of an 
indomitable will. 



JUDGE A. II. HAELAND, one of 
the first settlers of Kearney county, 
was, born in Butler county, Ohio, 
November 24, 1822. Pie is the son 
of John and Frances (Hoffman) Harland, 
the former being a native of Virginia and 
the latter of Pennsylvania. Both were 
reared in Kentucky, where they were 



married, and soon after removed to Ohio, 
and subsequently to Indiana. John Har- 
land was a minister in the Christian 
church. 

The subject of tiiis sketch learned the 
wagon-maker's trade when a young man, 
which vocation lie followed for sev- 
eral years. He subsecpiently found 
farming more profitable and followed 
it for a few years in Montgomery 
county, Ind. He moved to Douglas 
county, 111., in the fall of 1859, and 
continued farming for several years. 
In the spring of 1874, became to Kearney 
county, Nebr., bringing considerable stock 
and farming utensils witli him, and took a 
homestead in May township and began at 
once to break prairie for a spring crop. 
The country was new and settlers were 
few and far between ; wild game, such as 
buffalo, antelope and deer, was plenty on 
every hand. He was poorely rewarded 
for his toil the first year, for the grass- 
hoppers came when his crop looked most 
promising, and remained long enough to 
destroy all. The strange appearance of 
the pesky little things was a great mys- 
tery to the early settlers, and their disap- 
pearance two or three years later was 
equally as mysterious. The Judge declares 
in all candor that he has seen the 'hoppers 
so thick that they fairly darkened the 
light of tiie sun as they flew over. Many 
settlers were not prepared for the 
famine caused by the grasshoppers, and 
in consequence there was great suffering 
among many. Mr. Harland was married, 
in 1846, to Miss Margaret Bailey. To 
this union were born seven children, 
namely— John M., Martha P., William 
M., Ashley R., Arthur B., Mary M., and 
James J. 



584 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



Mr. Ilarland was elected judge of 
Kearney county in 1876 and was re-elected 
ao-ain in 1878. He has also filled various 
local offices. He has been a member of 
the Masonic order for forty years and 
both he and Mrs. Harland were members 
of the Christian church, the latter leaving 
the church below to join the church above 
in 1871. The homestead comprises one 
hundred and sixty acres of choice land 
adapted to raising almost any crop. Mr. 
Harland has always taken great interest 
in the planting of trees, and previous to 
its destruction by fire had one of the finest 
eroves of timber in the countv. 



A 



H. HOLMES is one of the rising 
young business men of Norman, 
Kearney county, Nebr. He was 
born in Canada June 6, 18C3, and is a son 
of Henry and Harriet (Elliott) Holmes, 
both natives of Ireland. The parents emi- 
grated to Canada in 185-1, and there the 
father followed the peaceful vocation of a 
farmer for several years. In 1862 the 
Holmes family located in Jefferson county, 
N. Y., where the father died in 1868. 

The mother and two children, A. H. and 
Maggie, accompanied by the maternal 
grandparents, emigrated to Harlan county, 
Nebr., in November, 1874. They took 
homesteads and built the first house in 
Antelope township, now the wealthiest in 
the county. The country was exceedingly 
wild at that time, and antelope and buffalo 
could be seen in great numbers almost any 
time. Here this pioneer family lived, en- 
during all the trials and hardships incident 
to frontier life, moulding the raw unbroken 



prairie into well cultivated farms. The 
mother died in 1888, and the only daughter, 
Maggie, became the wife of N. G. Stevens, 
January 22, 1890. . 

A. H. Holmes, whose name heads this 
sketch, is now the only living representa- 
tive of the family name, as far as he 
knows. Being left alone, and being a 
young man of keen perception, he con- 
cluded to become a druggist. He accord- 
ingly obtained a situation in a drug 
store at Wilcox, Nebr. He subsequentlj' 
became proprietor of the only store in 
town, but sold out in a short time and 
went into business as a partner of Dr. 
English, at Bird City, Kans. lie continued 
there for a short time onh', then came to 
Norman, and established a drug store, 
July 24, 1889, and has since been doing a 
most successful business. 

Mr. Holmes is a young man of splendid 
business capabilities, and enjoys the high 
esteem of all who know him. He owns 
two excellent farms near "Wilcox, Harlan 
county, and has considerable means in- 
vested in his business at Norman. He is 
full of push and enterprise, and never fails 
to make a success of whatever he under- 
takes. 



WILLIAM P. ACKEKMAN, an 
enterprising 5"oung hardware 
merchant of Norman, Kear- 
nej' county, is a native of Wisconsin and 
first saw the light September 29, 1857. 
His parents, William 11. and Alzina L. 
(Amous) Ackerman, were natives of Jef- 
ferson county, N. Y., and emigrated to 
Adams county, Wis., in 1856, but returned 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



585 



to JS'ew York in 1863. They, however, 
conchided to try the West once more, and 
in 1880 moved to Nebraska, setthng in 
Adams county, where they now reside. 
The senior Ackerman became a sailor on 
tiie great hdies when a young man, but 
subsequently followed farming. He served 
in the war nearly a year, rendering honor- 
able service in the One Hundred and 
Eigiity-first New York volunteers. He 
and his wife are both members of the 
Methodist church. 

W. P. Ackerman, our subject, was the 
elder of two children. He had no educa- 
tional advantages other than those ob- 
tained from the district school which he 
attended when a youth. Being a young 
man of temperate habits and of an indus- 
trious disposition, he has managed to 
acquire a splendid knowledge of business. 
He came to Nebraska with his parents, 
with whom he remained for a year or so 
after coming to the state, and then pur- 
chased a farm in May township, Kearney 
county, and followed farming for a few 
years. In 1886 he purchased a half-inter- 
est in a hai'dware store at Juniata, Adams 
county, and in 1887 completed the first 
business building in the thriving town of 
Norman, Kearney county. 

On April 7, 1880, Mr. Ackerman was 
married to Miss Harriet L. Luther. She 
is a native of Jefferson county, N. Y., 
born November 7, 1858, and is the daugh- 
ter of Aldrich S. and Amanda (Thumb) 
Luther, both of whom are natives of the 
Empire State. Her father is a farmer and 
was a soldier all through the late war. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman have two chil- 
dren, viz. — Paul A., born July 11, 1883, 
and Mason A., born January 6, 1885. 
Mr. Ackerman has 120 acres of good land 



near Ncjrman and conducts a successful 
hardware business in the town. 

He was appointed to take the census of 
May and Grant townships in 1885 and has 
held various townshi|) offices with credit 
to himself and constituents. He is an 
ardent temperance man and in politics 
generally votes with the prohibition part^^ 



GEORGE W.WASHBURNwasborn 
at Beloit, A\' is., January 17, 1844, 
and is the son of L'a F. and Jane 
E. (Pratt) Washburn, both of whom are 
natives of New York. His parents emi- 
o-rated to Wisconsin in 1839 and were 
among the first settlers in the section of 
the county in which they settled. After 
spending a few years in Illinois the family 
came to Nebraska in 1876 and settled in 
Kearney county. The senior Washburn 
was a farmer by occupation. He died 
October 31, 1889, anil iiis wife died in 
1877. Both wei'e members of the Baptist 
church. George W. Washburn remained 
at home until he was sixteen years old, 
when he went to Chicago and worked in 
a sash and door factory for a few 3'ears. 
He enlisted August 28, 1861, in the 
Thirty-ninth, Illinois regiment and served 
two years in the war. He Avas in the 
second battle of Winchester, was a partici- 
pant in the storming of Ft. Wagner ;ind 
several short skirmishes, and was dis- 
charged August 5, 1863. for disability. He 
returned to Chicago and engaged in car- 
penter work, which vocation he has con- 
tinued to follow more oi' less of the time 
since. In 1869 he went to Arkansas, 
where he spent a few years in the vast 



586 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



timber regions of tiiat state. lie came to 
Kearney count}', Nebr., in 1875, and was 
among the first settlers in this new coun- 
try. He took a homestead, which he at 
once put under cultivation and which he 
now owns, it being among the best im- 
proved farms in the township. "When he 
first settled here the countr}' was full of 
wild game, such as antelope, deer, etc. He 
was a victim of the grasshopper raid and 
witnessed a great deal of suffering among 
the early settlers. Many of the settlers 
of those days have gone and their places 
filled with new-comers. During the grass- 
hopper raid he has seen eighty acres of 
land exchanged for a common cook stove, 
an incident which well illustrates the small 
value placed upon land b}' tiie settlers, 
after they had had their grasshopper ex- 
perience. 



JOHN BINGHAM, a limb from the 
branch of the noted Bingham family, 
was born in Harrison county, Ohio, 
February 17, 1826. His father, 
Joseph Bingham, was born on Cape May, 
in 1797, and his mother was a native of 
Chester county, Pa. Both died in Ohio, 
about 1875. 

John was the eldest of twelve children 
and started out for himself at the age of 
eighteen. He learned to be a wagon- 
maker of an uncle, and followed his trade 
in Morgan county, Ohio, from 1844 to 1873. 
From Ohio he came to Nebraska in 1878, 
settling in Kearney county, and took a 
homestead in May township, where he has 
since resided. His pioneer residence con- 
sisted of a dug-out, which was superceded 



by a comfortable sod house. He came to 
Hartwell in 1884, when that town was 
first started, conducted the first hotel, and 
did a successful business while the town 
was booming. He was also interested 
in a store, which was stocked with a gen- 
eral line of merchandise. He was married, 
December 26, 1853, to Minnie Mitchner, 
who was born in Chester county. Pa., on 
March 10, 1824. She is the daughter of 
John and Mary (Good) Mitchner, both of 
whom belonged to a noted Quaker family. 

The Bingham family ctjnsists of six 
children, namely — Foneta, born October 
15, 1855 (deceased); Laurena, born June 
22, 1857; Francis, born July 21, 1859; 
Mary A., born May 4, 1861 ; Alice, born 
March 5, 1863, and Joseph J., born Septem- 
ber 20, 1864 (deceased). 

In 1863, while a resident of Morgan 
county, Ohio, Mr. Bingham joined the 
state militia in an effort to capture John 
Morgan, who was then raiding the south- 
ern part of the state. He is perfectly fa- 
miliar with every detail concerning the fa- 
mous pursuit and final capture of that noted 
Southern rebel. He firmly believes John 
Morgan was assisted in his escape from the 
Ohio penitentiary b}' persons holding high 
official positions in the state. Mr. Bing 
ham has been justice of the peace of May 
township, and is recognized as one of the 
best informed men in the town. Several 
of the daughters are school teachers and 
their ability to successfully conduct a dis- 
trict school is not confined within the 
boundary lines of their own township. 

Mr. Bingham and his estimable wife are 
zealous members of the Christian church, 
and both take great interest in Sunday- 
school work. In politics, Mr. Bingham is 
a republican. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



587 



JOSIAH A. MATHERS, one of the 
honored pioneers of Kearney county, 
is a native of Indiana, born in Wash- 
ington county, July 30, 1831. His 
jiarents, Lyman and Fannie (Bonard) 
Mathers, came from the New England 
States and were among the early settlers 
in Indiana; the former died in 1852, and 
the latter in 1853. 

"Joe," as he is familiarly known, early 
chose farming as his occupation in life, 
and has followed it since with no small 
degree of success. He came West, settling 
in Iowa, but was not satisfied there and so 
crossed over into Missouri, in 1853, where 
he remains for ten j'^ears. During the 
war it became necessary for every loyal 
man in Missouri to shoulder a musket, 
and in the earl}' days of that gi'eat strug- 
gle we find Joe Mathers a volunteer on 
the side of the Union. He enlisted in 
June, 1862, in the Twenty seventh Mis- 
souri regiment, and saw tiie liardest kind 
of fighting at Vicksburg, Lookout moun- 
tain, Eesaca and Atlanta, and marched 
with Sherman to Charlottesville. He 
was wounded at the battle of Resaca, but 
was laid up for only two weeks. He was 
mustered out June 13, 1865, after three 
years of most honorable service. After 
the war he went to La Porte county, Ind., 
where he farmed for about ten years. In 
1SG9 he immigrated to Cass county, Nebr., 
and in 1871 came to Kearney county, and 
is now perhaps the oldest settler in the 
county south of the sand hills along the 
Platte. He pre-empted a claiin in Eaton 
township when there was not a famih' liv- 
ing in sight — and one could see a long way 
then. He brought with him about one 
luindred head of cattle from Missoui'i, but 
losl them all in the great Easter storm 



of 1873. When he first came to this sec- 
tion of the county he procured a cotton- 
wood pole about fifteen feet long and 
planted it near his sod house, and on this 
he hung a buffalo hide to serve as a guide 
to him, when miles away from home. 
This section of the country was settled 
mainly in 1874-5 and 6, but manj' left 
during the famous grasshopper famine. 
Mr. Mathers came here well supplied 
with means and was exceedingly generous 
towards many of the unfortunate settlers. 
In 1854 he was married to Malinda 
Cowgill, who bore him seven children. 
His wife died in December, 1873, and Mr. 
Mathers was married September 4, 1875, 
to Mary Jane Conyers, by whom he also 
had seven children — Fannie, Riley, 
George, Elizabeth, Jane, Lydia and Mag- 
gie. Mr. Mathers has been justice of the 
peace, is a member of the G. A. R. and 
is one of the most respected citizens in 
the county. 



WT. THORN. This well known 
gentleman is one of the oldest 
settlers of Kearney county, as 
he has been one of the most successful 
business men of its thriving count3'-seat 
town, Minden. He is a native of Hills- 
dale count}', Mich., and was born April 
11, 1840. He was reared in his native 
county, and from there, at the age of 
twenty-one, entered the Union army, 
enlisting in Companv G, Eleventh Michi- 
gan infantry. He immediately went to 
the front, and during the term of his ser- 
vice participated in the following engage- 
ments: Gallatin, Tenn., August 13, 1862; 
Fort Riley, Tenn., September 1, 1862; 



588 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



Stone river, Tenn., December 29 to 31, 
18t')2, and January 2 and 3, 1863; Elk 
river, Tenn., July 1, 1863 ; Davis' cross- 
roads, Tenn., September 11, 1863; Chick- 
amauga, Ga., September 19, and 20, 1863 ; 
Mission ridge, Tenn., November 25, 1863; 
Buzzard's Roost, Ga., May 10, 1864; Resaca, 
Ga., May 14, 1864; Kenesaw, 6a., June 
22 to 27, 1864 ; New Hope church. May 
27, 1864; Rough's station, Ga., July 3 
and 4, 1864; Peachtree creek, Ga., June 
20, 1864; siege of Atlanta, July 21 and 
22, 1864. His term of enlistment expired 
l)rior to the taking of Atlanta, but, 
])rompted by a soldierl^^ ambition, he con- 
tinued in the service till Atlanta was cap- 
tured. His military career is remarkable. 
He never missed a day from service and 
was never sick a day from the time of his 
enlistment ; he never missed a battle in 
which his company was engaged, and was 
never wounded or captured. He served 
as a common private, bearing from the 
field no titles or honors, save the proud 
consciousness of duty well done. 

In 1873 Mr. Thorn came to Nebraska 
and settled in Kearney county, taking the 
first homestead tliat was filed on in town 
6, that county. Most of the country now 
comprised within the geographical limits 
of Kearney county was then one vast 
prairie. There were but two houses on 
"the divide," and these were next to the 
sand iiills. Mr. Thorn continued on his 
farm for some years, successfully engaged 
in farming and stock-i'aising. He was the 
first merchant in the town of Minden, 
opening a store there, in fact, before the 
town was started. He was the first post- 
master at Minden, and he has been actively 
identified with all the material interests 
of the place since the town was founded, 



being now the oldest, as he has been the 
most prominent and successful, of all of 
Minden's business men. His career has 
been that of a man of private affairs 
strictly, he never having aspired to any 
public position. He possesses sound intel- 
ligence and discriminating judgment, and 
when in business his conduct was marked 
for his thorough-going business ways. He 
has been very successful, having accumu- 
lated a competence, and has retired to 
enjoy it in comfort and ease. 

He married, March 3, 1867, Miss Sarah 
A. Dutton, daughter of John and Evaline 
Dutton, of Hillsdale county, Mich. Jan- 
uary 26, 1871, he lost his wife. He 
married again, April 22, 1879 — the lady 
whom he selected for his companion being- 
Miss Ida L. Schmidt, a daughter of Andrew 
Schmidt, then of Kearney county, but a 
native of Germany. To this union have 
been born four children — Eva S., Wray, 
Clara and Edward L. Mr. Thorn has 
been a member of the Masonic fraternity 
for some years, and is a man of generous 
impulses and kindly disposition. Having 
been successful in the accumulation of this 
world's goods, he uses them with wisdoni 
and discretion, applying them to the com- 
fort and social improvement of himself 
and family, and giving liberally to all 
charitable purposes looking to the good 
and improvement of others. 



GEO. II. HARTSOUGH, county 
clerk of Kearney county, was 
born in Ontario county, N. Y., 
May 23, 1852. He was reared mainly in 
his native place, received an ordinary 
common-school education in the district 



KEARNEY COUNTY 



589 



schools of Ontario county, finishing with 
an academic course in the Canandaigua 
Academy of Canandaigua, N. Y. He be- 
gan his career as a school teacher, going 
South about the time he reached his ma- 
jority, and taking a school in South Caro- 
lina. He remained South only long enough 
to reach one term ; when he returned to 
New York and engaged with D. M. Os- 
born & Co., manufacturers of reapers and 
mowers at Auburn, that state. While in 
the employ of this firm he took up the 
study of telegraphy, and, discovering in 
himself a growing taste for it, he quit Os- 
born & Co. after two years and went to 
Akron, Ohio, to perfect himself in his 
chosen study. In the spring of 1873 he 
came to Nebraslva in search of work as a 
telegraph operator, iiaving mastered his 
craft and acquainted himself with the 
forms and business branches which usually 
go with a knowledge of telegraph}'. He 
beffan work for the Burlington & Missouri 
River Railroad Company at Harvard, this 
state, and worked for it at several ]ilaces 
until December, 1883, when he was placed 
in charge of the station at Minden, Kear- 
ney county. He located there at that 
date and looked after the B. & M.'s inter- 
ests for six years, or until December, 1889. 
He was elected clerk of Kearney county 
at the November election, 1889, and re- 
signed his position as station agent of the 
B. & M. to accept this office. Mr. Hart- 
sough's rise in life has not been very rapid, 
but it has been well deserved, including 
his recent election as clerk of Kearney 
county. He is a thorough business man 
and a man of intelligence. He owes his 
position and his success in general to his 
own efforts, having begun his cai'eer alone, 
and he has come up solely by dint of hard 



work and faithful attention to business. 
He is systematic in his habits and his work, 
careful and painstaking, a rapid penman, 
competent accountant, and possesses a 
talent for the details of business. He is 
polite and accommodating, genial and 
companionable. His personal popularity 
is well attested by the fact that he was 
elected to his present position in a county 
largely republican in politics, while he is a 
democrat. He was elected solely on ac- 
count of his well-known ability and fitness 
for the place, and has not disappointed his 
friends and those who stood by him. He 
has taken to the discharge of his public 
duties the same industry and application, 
the same thoughtful attention and marked 
solicitude for the public interests, that he 
displayed in the prosecution of his own af- 
fairs, and as he grows in public knowledge 
he also grows in pulilic favor. 

Mr. Hartsough married, in 1ST9, Miss 
Delia Babcock,of Dundee, Mich., the lady 
whom he selected for a companion being 
one in every way worthy of him and emi- 
nently fitted to bear him the companion- 
ship which he sought with her hand. 

Mr. Hartsough is a member of a num- 
ber of the benevolent orders and has held 
several positions of prominence in them. 
He is a man of broad views and charitable 
impulses, and he finds the best field for 
his endeavors in behalf of his fellow-men 
in the avenues opened through these fra- 
ternities. 



LEWIS W. HAGUE, attorney at-law, 
member of the Kearney county 
_^ bar, was born in Fayette county. 
Pa., January 9, 1853. His parents were 
natives of the same county and descendants 



oOO 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



of Scotch and Irish ancestry. His father, 
Albert G. Hague, after following the 
business of an iron-worker and merchant 
for some years in his native state, moved 
West, and settled in Jefferson county, 
Iowa, where he took up agricultural pur- 
suits, which he has steadily followed since. 
In 1861 his father enlisted in tiie Union 
army and served until the close of the 
war. Mr. Hague's mother, who bore the 
maitlen name of Martha Antram, died in 
1860, in her thirty-first year. Four chil- 
dren survived this union, only two of whom, 
however, are now living. These are — 
Lewis W., the subject of this notice, and 
Loretta B., now wife of J. S. Dedrth, of 
Grand Ridge, 111. 

Lewis W. Hague attended the public 
schools of his native county, but being 
thrown on his resources early in life, after 
working on a farm for some time, in 
order to complete his education, he alter- 
nateh' taught school and went to Waynes- 
burg College, Waynesburg, Pa., the State 
University of Iowa, and finished his edu- 
cation at Knox College, Galesburg, 111., 
graduating in the spring of 1880. He 
read law with Blanchard & .Blanchard, 
attorneys, at Ottawa, 111., and was admitted 
to the bar in 1883. He came to Nebraska 
in February, 1885, and located at Minden, 
at which place he has since been engaged 
in the practice of his profession. He has 
held the position of city attorney of Min- 
den two years. In politics he has always 
been an active republican. In 1887 he 
married Miss Clara M. Chisler, a native 
of Wisconsin, a lady of culture and refine- 
ment, being a graduate of the University 
of Wisconsin, and one who is eminently 
fitted to bear him companionship through 
life. Mr. Hague is a zealous member of 



the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
and a prominent communicant of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian church. 



LEWIS A. KENT. In writing of the 
early settlers of Kearney count}', 
_^ there comes to mind at once the 
name of Lewis A. Kent, now a prominent 
business man of the town of Minden. Not 
only is Mr. Kent an old settler of Kearnej'^ 
count}', but he has been actively identified 
with all its interests, its settlement, 
growth and development, having assisted 
in its organization and having held a num- 
ber of responsible offices, and is therefore 
deserving of special mention in connection 
with its history. 

Lewis A. Kent is one of a family of seven 
children born to David and Hester (Guynn) 
Kent, there being besides himself three 
brothers and three sisters — William Alex- 
ander, Benjamin Franklin, Aaron Lytle 
Maggie E., Emma and Anna. The sub 
ject of this notice is a native of Richland 
county, 111., and was born October 29,18-17. 
He was reared in his native county on his 
father's farm, receiving an ordinary com- 
mon-school training. His first pursuits 
were those of agriculture. Marrying in 
1870, he came to Nebraska a year later 
and settled in Kearney county, taking a 
homestead four miles east of the town of 
Lowell, and there began his career in the 
West. He began in an humble way. In 
fact, he drove through from Illinois with 
a team, and after two years' fanning he 
moved into Lowell and began clerking in 
a store. In the fail of 1873 he was elected 
county clerk of Kearney county, having 
assisted in the organization of the countv 




LEWIS A. KENT. 



KEAR.WEY COUNTY. 



593 



in June, 1872, and held the office of clerk 
by successive re-elections for five terms. 
The county seat was then at Lowell 
After it was moved to Minden, Mr. Kent 
moved there, and after he finished out his 
term of office as county clerk he bet^an 
the banking business, opening a private 
bank at that date in partnership with Rush 
H. Palmer, which bank was re-organized 
as the First National Bank of Minden, in 
18S3. Mr. Kent became president and 
has been the active and efficient chief 
executive of the First National since. He 
has given his time almost exclusively for 
the piist ten years to his private interests ; 
l)ut, as stated at the outset of this sketch, 
he has held a number of public offices at 
one time and another in Kearney county. 
After assisting in organizing the county, 
he was elected superintendent of public 
instruction ; he was then elected county 
clerk, serving five terms ; he served then 
in the legislature ; in the senate, from 
Harlan, Kearney and Phelps counties, and 
he has been a member of the State 
IJoard of Agriculture for fifteen years, 
having been manager of the board for 
five years and treasurer five. He was the 
first mayor of Minden, and has at all 
times been actively identified with the 
best interests of his adopted town and 
county. 

Mr. Kent married in 1870, prior to mov- 
ing West — the lady whom he selected to 
share his fortunes with him being Miss 
Leona M. Barney, then of Woodford 
county. 111., a daughter of Hiram Barney, 
now of Kearne}', Buffalo count}^ Nebr. 
Mr. and Mrs. Kent have a pleasant home 
in Minden. They are members of the 
Methodist church and liberal contributors 
to all charitable purposes. 



ED. L. ADAMS, judge of the Kear- 
ney county court, is a native of 
Monroe county, Ind., was born 
May 24, 1861, and is the fourth of a family 
of seven children born to Joseph and 
Minerva (Whisenand) Adams. On his 
father's side he comes of one of the his- 
torical families of America, being a great- 
grandson of Captain Samuel Adams of 
Revolutionary fame. Judge Adams' father 
was born near Charleston, S. C, Septem- 
ber, 1823, and was brought when a lad to 
Indiana by his parents, where he was 
reared and where he now resides, being a 
resident of Monroe county. He has been 
a life-long farmer, a man of plain tastes 
and industrious habits, and is a good rep- 
resentative of his calling. 

The subject of this sketch was reared in 
his native county and received an ordi- 
nary common-school education. Perhaps 
to get a correct idea of the sort of educa- 
tion Judge Adams obtained, it will be nec- 
essary for the reader to lay emphasis on 
the word ordinary, for his school training, 
even with the best advantages his parents 
could give him, was of a very ordinary 
kind. Yet what he got was sufficient to 
arouse in him a thirst for knowledge, and 
he made up his mind while j'et a lad that 
he would have an education. He sat 
about studying in private, and having ac- 
quired considerable knowledge in this way 
he started out at the age of sixteen as a' 
teacher of country schools, beginning his 
career as thousands of other ambitious 
boys have done who have had to carve 
out their fortunes in the world. It was 
never his intention to make a professional 
teacher of himself. His school-room work 
was only to affoi-d him the best attainable 
means to a higher end, He taught during 



594 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



the winter months in different localities in 
his native county, and worked during the 
summer months at &ny sort of manual 
labor he could find, reading and studying 
and perfecting himself as best he could, 
continuing at this for a period of nine 
years. In the meantime, in 1881, he mar- 
ried — the lady on whom his choice fell 
for a life companion being Miss Alta 
Strean, a native of Monroe county, Ind. 
Having determined in the meantime, also, 
to devote himself to one of the liberal pro- 
fessions, he selected law and begart read- 
ing with Fulk & Mulky, of Bloomington, 
Ind. His law studies were pursued under 
some difficulties, but he kept them up as 
closelj^ as possible, and never lost sight of 
his purpose to fit himself for a calling of 
usefulness and one, as he believed, of con- 
geniality, in that of the law. In March, 
18S5, he moved to Nebraska and settled 
in Kearney county. He rented a farm in 
Sherman township and devoted himself 
for a time to agriculture, but in the fall of 
that year he was appointed to the position 
of assistant principal in the public schools 
at Minden, when he moved into town and 
assumed the role of teacher. In the fall 
of 1887 he was solicited to make the race 
for judge of the county court, a flattering 
recognition of his ability, but a step which 
he hesitated about taking. He knew that 
Kearney county had a large republican 
majority, and being a man of strong dem- 
ocratic principles he naturally considered 
his chances for an election as by no means 
promising. He yielded, however, to the 
importunities of his friends and made the 
race, and was elected by a majority of 
three hundred and sixty-three. Taking 
the office in January, 1888, he served the 
people of Kearney county for two years, 



at the end of which time he was re-elected 
and is now serving his second term. The 
best evidence of the satisfaction he has 
given is to be found in the fact of his en- 
dorsement with another term at the last 
election. Had he failed to give this satis- 
faction the people of Kearney count}' 
would have been quick to emphasize the 
fact at the polls, while self-sacrificing citi- 
zens would not have been lacking to have 
taken up the work he could not do. But 
Judge Adams has steadily grown in pub- 
lic favor. He came into notice rather 
suddenly, but he has met public expecta- 
tion, and it may safely be said that he has 
passed the probationary period in his pub- 
lic career. He has won the esteem and 
res]iect of all citizens, even of those who 
differ from him widely in political faith, 
and has done this in the only way such 
things can be done, and that is by a con- 
scientious discharge of his public duties, 
using his office as a public trust. He is a 
man of intelligence, and therefore pos- 
sesses one of the first requisites of a public 
official, whatever the capacity he may be 
chosen to fill. He has a good knowledge of 
the law, without which he could not be a 
good judge; he possesses a taste and apti- 
tude for the duties of his office, without 
which he could .not give satisfaction, 
whatever his intelligence or special train- 
ing in the law might be ; and above all is 
he a polite and accomodating, genial and 
affable gentleman, which qualities, while 
they adorn the man, whatever his position, 
set with special grace upon him who has 
been elevated to a position of trust and 
and honor by his fellow-citizens. Judge 
Adams is universally and deservedly pop- 
ular, and, being yet a young man, has a 
bright future before him. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



595 



LEVI M. COPELAND, the pioneer 
druggist of Minden, Kearney coun- 
_^ tj', is a native of Henry county, 
Ind., and was born December 26, 1842. 
lie is tlie oldest of nine children born to 
Natlian and Amelia (Clanton) Copeland, 
and is tlie only representative of his family 
in this state, most of his brothers and sis- 
ters residing where they were born and 
reared in Henry county, Ind., where also 
live the parents, now well advanced in 
years. 

The subject of this notice was reared on 
his father's farm in Henry county, Ind., 
and received an ordinary common- school 
training, working as a farm hand through 
the summer months and attending the 
district schools in the winter. He entered 
the Union army in July, 1862, then just 
turned into his nineteenth year, enlisting 
in Company I, Sixty-ninth Indiana in- 
fantry. He served till the close of the 
war, participating in all the campaigns 
and engagements that his regiment served 
in till the surrender. 

This simple narrative of Mr. Copeland's 
military career will probably excite no 
special interest in the mind of the general 
reader, as it is the oft-told stor^', true of 
tiiousands of old soldiers, but it will, 
nevertheless, be of absorbing interest in 
years to come to his descendants who will 
treasure the meagre facts thus preserved 
of his army life as the miser treasures his 
gold. Tho\' will look upon those 3'ears as 
the eventful ones of his life as well as of 
this nation — those years when patriotism 
flushed through the land like an electric 
thrill; when the canker of gold and the 
dust of cotton drop|>ed from the manhood 
of the nation, and men went forth to 
battle for their countrv ; when thev sur- 



rendered the search for wealth, dropped 
the plow in its furrow, the hammer at 
the forge, the pen at the desk and marched 
cheerily to wounds and to death. 

The war over, Mr. Copeland returned 
to his home in Henry county, Ind., and 
again went to farming. March 6, 1867, 
he married Miss Sarah E. Ilarrold, of his 
native county and a lady whom he had 
known from childhood. He resided in 
Henry county, engaged in farming, till 
1876, when he moved to Henry county, 
Iowa, thence in 1878 to Cowley county, 
Kans., thence in 1879 to Harlan county, 
Nebr., and in December of the same year 
to Minden, Kearney county, where he has 
since resided. On locating in Minden he 
bought of George W. Espey a drug-store 
and began the drug and book business. 
In addition to this he has been identified 
in a general way with the best interests, 
material and social, of his adopted town 
and county, and there is hardly a more 
liberal-minded oi' public-spirited citizen to 
be found in this community than himself. 
He has never aspired to public office, pre- 
ferring the peaceful paths of pi-ivate life 
and the pleasure that comes from a con- 
sciousness of duty well done as a humble 
citizen to the turmoil, disappointments 
and heart-burnings incident to the life of 
the office-seeker. He takes an active in- 
terest in the Grand Army of the Kei)ublic, 
having been commander of Strong Post, 
No. 91, at Minden, and adjutant of the 
post for three years, and a liberal contrib- 
utor to all purposes looking to the better- 
ment of the condition of his old comrades. 
He is also a zealous member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, having 
joined them over twenty-two years ago. 
He has passed all the chairs in this frater- 



596 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



nity and has represented his lodge on two 
occasions in the grand lodge. 

Mr. and Mrs. Copeland have a pleasant 
home and are justly popular with the best 
jieople where they live. They have two 
daugliters — Cecil C. and Anna B., both 
grown and around whom now naturally 
chisters the chief interest of their lives, 
and in the unfolding and development of 
whose characters they find their keenest 
pleasures. 



JAMES A. MARTIN, A. B., M. D., a 
prominent physician of Minden, 
Kearney county, is a native of Scot- 
land and was born November 8, 
1853. He is a son of William and Ellen 
(Young) Martin, both natives also of 
Scotland and descendants of Scotch stock 
fi'om time immemorial. His father was a 
pliysician, a graduate of the best schools 
of his native countr}'. He came to 
America in 1859, and after a short resi- 
dence in St. Louis settled in Madison 
county, 111., where he practiced his pro- 
fession till his death, which occurred March 
22, 1883. The subject of this notice, 
accompanying his mother, came to the 
United States in 1867, joining the husband 
and father at that date. Young Martin 
Avas educated at Lincoln, 111., receiving 
both his preliminary and collegiate course 
there, graduating from the Lincoln Uni- 
versity in 1878. He read medicine with 
his father and graduated from the Ameri- 
can Medical College at St. Louis, Febru- 
ary 28, 1884. The following April he 
came to Nebraska and located at Minden, 
where lie at once entered upon the 



practice of his profession. February 16, 
1887, he married Miss Joe Heal}', of 
Richmond, Va., a lady who by her birth 
and training is eminently fitted to bear 
him the companionship he sought with 
her hand. 

Dr. Martin is a trained physician, a 
ripe scholar for his years, and a pleasant 
gentleman. He devotes himself exclu- 
sively to the practice of medicine, believ- 
ing inthehomeh' old saying that " What- 
ever is worth doing at all is worth doing 
well " 



FINDLEY DUNN, boot and shoe 
merchant of Minden, Kearney 
county, is a native of Erie county, 
Pa., and was born September 15, 1841. 
He is one of a family of thirteen children 
born to Oliver and Elizabeth (Du Mars) 
Dunn. He was reared in his native 
county, attending the district schools dur- 
ing the winter months and working on 
his father's farm in summer. On August 
11, 1862, he entered the Union army, en- 
listing in Company B, One Hundred and 
Forty-fifth Pennsylvania infantry. His 
regiment enjoys the distinction of having 
been one of the '-three hundred fighting 
regiments" of the Union army in the late 
war. It was recruited mainly in Erie 
county, and left the state September 12, 
1862, arriving five days later on the field 
at Antietam. While at Harper's Ferry it 
was assigned to Caldwell's brigade, Han- 
cock's division, 2d corps. At Freder- 
icksburgh it took eight companies into 
action, two companies having been de- 



KEARNEY COUyTY. 



59': 



tailed on the skirmish line. The eight 
companies lost thii'ty-four killtHl, one hun- 
dred and fifty-two woiuuled, and forty- 
three missing, a total of two hundred and 
twenty nine out of five hundred and five 
in action. The missing ones were wounded 
or killed. Nine of the officers lost their 
lives in this blood}' assault, and the com- 
mander of the regiment, Col. Hiram L. 
Brown, received a serious wound. The 
regiment fouglit at ChancellorsviJle and 
Gettysburg, taking part in tlie latter en- 
gagement in the famous contest in the 
wheat field, where, with about two hun- 
dred men in line, its casualties amounted 
to ten killed, sixt\'-six wounded, and eight 
missing. During the winter of 1863-4 
the One Hundred and Fortj'-fifth pccupied 
a well-built camp, which combined a 
neat, tasteful appearance, with substantial 
warmth and comfort, and took the field 
in May, 1864, in efficient condition. A 
large number of the men were captured at 
Petersburg in June, 1864, which, with 
previous losses, left but few in line at the 
subsequent actions in which the division 
was engaged. The regiment took into the 
service one thousand four hundred and 
fifty-six men. It lost in killed and wounded 
six hundred and fifty-one. It was in four- 
teen of the principal battles fought in Vir- 
ginia and Penns3'lvania and was present 
also at eleven others. In the engagement at 
Fredericksburgh Mr. Dunn was wounded, 
December 13th, by a gun-shot in the left 
knee. He lay on the battle-field after he 
was shot until he contracted a cold, which 
brought on congestion of the lungs. Re- 
tiring from the service on account of his 
wounds and the diseased condition of his 
lungs, he returned home, where he went 
on crutches for more than a year. As 



soon as he recovered sufficiently he began 
teaching school; then kept books for 
different firms in Erie City, and then, on 
the bursting out of theoil fever in western 
Pennsylvania, he went into the oil 
regions, where he began operations, and 
there continued during the "flush times" 
of that famous period. He made mone}', 
but like hundreds of others he was caught 
in the panic of 1873-4, and lost all he had 
made. He then went to Wayne, Erie 
count}'. Pa., where he engaged in mer- 
cantile business and remained there for 
a period of seven years, making some 
money during that time. In 1881, he 
came to Nebraska and settled in Thayer 
county, where he began farming and 
stock-raising. In 1883, he moved to 
Minden, Kearney county, where, after a 
year, during which time he was engaged 
in clerking and book-keeping, he in part- 
nership with W. E. Nichol, opened a store 
and embarked in general mercantile busi- 
ness. Selling out his interest after the 
expiration of a year, he began handling 
real estate, in which he was engaged up 
to March, 1888. He then bought of 
Meek Brothers the boot and shoe business, 
in which he in now engaged. 

Mr. Dunn is strictly a man of business, 
and has never aspired to any public posi- 
tion. Of quiet tastes and studious habits, 
he finds more pleasure in the peaceful 
pursuit of his own affairs than in chasing 
the phantom of public office. 

January 6, 1887, he married Miss Flora 
Kibble, of Page county, Iowa, a lady emi- 
nently fitted to bear him companionship 
throughout life. 

Mr. Dunn is a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, a stanch adherent 
of the republican party, and is now and 



odS 



KEARXEi' COryTF 



has been for years a zealoas member of 
I he Uniietl Presbvterian church. 

MrSv Dunn was bom Januarj- li, lSot>. 
is a native of Page county. Iowa, and is 
the eldest of a family of ten children bom 
to D. C. and X. J. (Martini Kibble, was 
eilucateil in the high school of Clarinda. 
besan teachine in the fall of IS 72, and 
followed that profession successfully for 
eight years in Page county, and was prin- 
cipal of the gradeil schools at Burlington 
Junction. Mo., two years. She caaie to 
Nebraska in IS^l, and taught steadUy in 
the common schools of the s:ate for seven 
years — three years in Pawnee county and 
four years in Adams and Kearney coun- 
ties, and settled in Minden in 1SS6. and was 
married to Findlev Dunn. Janoarv 6. ISS". 



JOHN HAMMEP^TROM. saddle 
and harness merchant of Minden. 
Kearney county, is a native of 
Sweden and was bom April 6, 1S54^. 
He came to the United States in 1S69, 
and after a short slop in Xew York city 
went to Cook county. Minn., where he 
began work as a laborer on the railroad. 
Continuing there till 1S7S, he came at 
that date to Kearney county, Xebr.. and 
took a homestead and settled down to 
forming. He followed farming till ISS 7. 
then moved into 2)rmdeii. and opened a 
saddle and harness store, continuing at 
this since. Mr. Hammerstrom's life has 
not been an eventful one. bat it has been 
one marked by great industry and crowned 
with success f&r beyond that of the avei^ 
ase man. When be landed in America 



he had only fifteen dollars; and this was 
soon consumeil while looking for some- 
thing to do. He literally began life in 
the new world on the bottom round of 
the ladder. His rise was slow, but steady. 
He worker! harvl and faithfully savetl up 
all he earned. He applied himself indus- 
triously to the task of mastering the 
English language and the American ways 
of doing things. His first few years, 
although spent in unremitting toil and 
not without much hardship, brought him. 
nevertheless, much experience, which he 
has since turned to good account. He is 
not only an industrious, economical man. 
but he possesses good intelligence and 
thorough-going business ways. He is 
hit^hlv esteemed in the coramunitv where 
he lives, and is pointed out by his admir- 
ing fellow-citiiens as a splendid example 
of what one with sound head and strong 
heart, coupled with industry and frugality. 
mav accomplish in this land o' peace and 
plenty. 



CHARLES W. SPE^XE. senior 
editor, publisher and proprietor 
of the £'€tirnet/ Couiity Democrat. 
is a native of Fulton county. IlL. and was 
bom April 6, 1865. He is the fifth of 
eight children bom to William and Caro- 
line (Ruble) Spence, now of Fulton 
oonnty. He is a newspaper man by 
choice and long years of training. He 
left home at the age of ten. and went to 
Peoria, IlL. where he learned the "art 
preservative" on the Tran^ript of that 
|dace, and then, at the age of fifteen, he 
started on the road as a journeyman 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



599 



printer. He traveled for some years, work- 
ing in different localities and gathering a 
knowledge of his business and of the 
world, pulling up in 1881 at Lincoln, this 
state, where he held a place as composi- 
tor for some time on the State Journal. 
Leaving there, he went to Alma. Harlan 
county, where he published the Alma 
Times for about six months. Returning 
to Lincoln, he was again engaged on the 
journal for six months longer, going 
thence in January, 1856, to Minden, Kear- 
ney county, where he, in company with 
H. H. Dunkle, bought the Kearney C'/unty 
Democrat, continuing its publication under 
the firm name of Spence «k Dunkle, till 
the summer of 1889. At that date H. 
W. Mackey bought Mr. Dunkle's interest, 
and the firm became Spence «fc Mackey. 
and has continued so since. The Demo- 
crat is a six-column quarto weekly, demo- 
cratic in politics, and is devoted to the 
interests of Minden, Kearney county, and 
the great southwest of Xebraska. It is a 
live, progressive, newsy sheet, the cham- 
pion of the right, and the uncompromis- 
ing enemy of the wrong: free, fearless 
and without favor in dealing with public 
questions. It is the exponent of the best 
thought of the times, and the leader in all 
public enterprises in the community where 
it is published. It has a large and con- 
stantly increasing circulation, and is pop 
ular with the citizens of Kearney county, 
even among those who differ tvidelv with 
it in political faith, and even on some 
matters of public policy. Messrs. Spence 
<fe Mackey, in addition to their oewspaper 
interest, have built up a large job depart- 
ment, turning out constantiv an immense 
amount of job work of a superior quality. 
Their paper is the official organ of the 



county and they do all the public printing 
for the county. Few have ever visited 
the town of Minden who have not heard 
of the Dernrjcrat. Many have heard of it 
who never saw the town. The citizens in 
the commnnitj where it is published have 
every reason to be proud of it. 



CHARLES G. BROMAX. The sub- 
ject of this sketch is a splendid 
example of that enterprising class 
of citizens, the Swedish Americans, by 
whom a large part of Kearney county is 
settled and whose industry and thrift 
have made it one of the best counties in 
central or southwestern ^s^ebraska. He 
was bom in 1851 and is the fourth of a 
familv of eight children bom to Andrew 
G. and Christina (Dahlstrom) Broman, 
natives of Sweden. His father was bom 
in 1814. and died in ISSl : his mother was 
bom in 1S18. and is stiU living; these 
parents were married in 184Ci and came 
to the United States in 1877. Their chil- 
dren were Alfred. Oscar. Mary. Charles G., 
August. Frank. Tilda and one that died in 
infancy. 

The fourth of these and the subject of 
this sketch was reared in his native coon- 
try to the age of twenty, coming thence 
in 1871 to America, stopping first in 
Henry county IlL, and afterwards in Hen- 
derson countv. Iowa, and finallv movng in 
1876 to Nebraska and settling in Kear- 
ney connty, where he has since resided. 
He took a homestead on locating in the 
county, and he has been steadily engaged 
in fanning since. He had but little 
means with which to b^'n, but he had an 



600 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



abundance of energ}' and believed in the 
future of the country, and he worked 
away from year to year, gradually accu- 
mulating property and building up his 
place, until now he is one of the best 
farmers in the communit}' where he 
resides, and has one of the best improved 
and most desirable places. 

Mr. Broman has been twice married 
and is for a second time a widower. He 
is the father of five children, one by his 
first marriage and four by his last. He is 
a consistent member of the Lutheran 
church, as were also his parents and both 
his wives. 



FEANKLIN SHOFF, M. D. This 
gentleman, a graduate of Belle- 
vue Hospital Medical College, 
New York, holds high rank in his profes- 
sion. He is a son of Daniel and Jane 
Shoff. His father was a native of On- 
tario, Canada, and was born in 1 817 ; 
his mother bore the maiden name of 
Jane Summers, and was born in Eng- 
land in 1821, came to America in 1830, 
and settled in Ontario where she was mar- 
ried to Daniel Shoff in 1815. These are 
the parents of eight children as follows — 
Oscar, Amanda, Elgin, Sarah, Fred, 
Franklin, Ernest and Harry. 

Franklin Shoff, the subject of this notice, 
is a native of Canada and was born in On- 
tario in 1859. He remained in his native 
place till 1883, and while there took a 
course in the collegiate institutes at St. 
Catherines and Toronto, and was engaged 
in teaching for five years. Coming to the 
States in 1883 he located in Kansas and re- 



mained there one year. From there he 
went to New York and entered the Belle- 
vue Hospital Medical College, from which 
he graduated in 1886. That year he came 
to Nebraska, locating in Axtell, Kearney 
count}^ where he began the practice of 
his profession. He has been a resident of 
the place since and has a large and lucra- 
tive practice. 

Dr. Shoff married in 1889, taking for a 
life companion Miss Millicent M. Hudson, 
a native of England. She is an intelli- 
gent lady and well fittetl to bear the com- 
panionship he sought with her hand. 

Dr. Shoff is an energetic and public- 
spirited citizen, and is interested in all 
movements contributing to the advance- 
ment of his town and count}-. 

Politicallj', he is an upholder of repub- 
lican principles. The doctor and his esti- 
mable wife are highl}' esteemed in their 
community. 



JOHN M. HOUSEHOLDER is a 
prosperous farmer in the Platte val- 
ley and a leading and representative 
citizen of Kearney county. He was 
born in Philadelphia, Pa., November 27, 
1834, and is tiie son of Adam and Mar\' 
(Moss) Householder, both of whom were 
natives of Pennsylvania, the former hav- 
ing been born in the year 1799, and the 
latter in 1795. John M. was the sixth 
child in a famil}' of seven children — six 
boys and one girl — and resided with his 
parents in Philadel])hia until fourteen 
years of age, during which time he at- 
tended the public schools, and then, in 
company with his brother, went to Del- 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



601 



aware City, Del. There he resided ten 
years, serving an apprenticesliip of five 
years at the carpenter's trade, wliich he 
continued to follow while there. In 1858 
he removed to Wilmington, Uel., where 
he resided six years and was engaged in 
Hollingsworth's ship3'ard at shipjoining. 
November 2G, 1862, he responded to his 
country's call and enlisted in Company F, 
Fifth regiment Delaware infantry, and 
was under Capt. John K. Holt. lie was 
on skirmish duty during Lee's raid through 
Virginia and Maryland, and afterwards 
ordered to join an escort of prisoners to 
Fort Delaware, where he guarded these 
and others three months, at which time 
his enlistment expired and he was dis- 
charged at Wilmington, Del., August 10, 
1863. In June, 1864, he entered the con- 
struction department of the army, and for 
eight months was engaged in erecting bar- 
racks and storehouses for Sherman's array 
at Jacksonville and Nashville, Tenn. He 
next returned to Wilmington, Del., and 
remained three months, removing to 
Ciiester, Pa., where he resided until the 
spring of 1879, and was engaged as con- 
tractor and builder. He was a member 
of the state militia and during the Pitts- 
burgh riots of July, 1877, commanded, as 
captain. Company K, Eleventh regiment, 
10th division. lie was first commissioned 
second lieutenant, then first lieutenant, 
and finally captain. His division was the 
only one provided with battery and artil- 
lery. Its members were supplied with 
ammunition at Malvern, Pa., where the}' 
were joined by the governor and took the 
train for Pittsburgh, and after much dif- 
ficulty succeeded in reaching that point 
and dispersing the mob and taking pos- 
session of the burnt district. His com- 



pany was noted for its fearlessness and 
was the first to escort stock trains from 
the city. They remained in Pittsburgh 
until August 8, when, the trouble being 
over, they returned home. So well did 
the company of which Mr. Householder 
was commander deport itself, that it re- 
ceived honorable mention in Adjutant 
James W. Latta's state report. 

In February, 1878, Mr. Householder 
emigrated West and entered his present 
claim of one hundred and sixty acres on 
the east side of section 22, Newark town- 
ship, Kearney county, Nebr., on what was 
originally the old' Fort Kearney reserva- 
tion. The countr\' was new and sparsely 
settled at that time, and deer and ante- 
lope roamed over the valley, filled the 
sand hills to the south and thronged the 
neighboring islands of the Platte river. 
Mr. Householder constructed a frame 
shanty sixteen by twenty, a sod barn and 
cave, and began farm life after the manner 
of pioneers. The first few years were ac- 
companied with many vexations on account 
of cattlemen driving their cattle over farms 
and destro\'ing crops, etc. There were a 
few Omaha and Pawnee Indians who used 
to come down tlie Platte river and trap 
beaver and mink, but never molested the 
settlers beyond an occasional scare. The 
cow-bovs were a source of great annoyance 
to the settlers, and when one would re- 
monstrate at having his crops run over and 
ruined, the\' would pull a revolver from 
their belts, point it at him and tell him to 
shut his mouth. In the fall of 1879 a 
prairie fire swept down the valley, de- 
stroying many homes and much property, 
and was supposed to have been started 
one hundred and fifty miles up the river 
by the Indians for the purpose of depriving 



602 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



the cow-boys of winter feed for llieir 
cattle, so much were they hated by tlie 
Indians. Mr. Householder fought the fire 
until his whiskers and eyebrows were burnt 
ofT, and finally succeeded in saving his 
home from the flames. 

Mr. Householder was instrumental in 
establishing the first school in his neigh- 
borhood in 1880. He has had good success 
at farming, having raised good crops every 
year except 1887, when they were nearly 
totally destroyed by hail. He now has 
seventy acres broken on his farm, a fine 
growing orchard, aud thirteen hundred 
forest trees of thriftv growth. 

Mr. Householder was married, July 11, 
1856, to Margaret Allen, by whom he had 
six children, two of whom are still liv- 
ing. He lost his wife and was mai'ried the 
second time, January 7, 1871, to Fannie 
E. Brown, widow of James E. Brown, 
and whose maiden name was Grindle. 
This union has been blessed with the 
birth of five children, four boys and one 
girl, as follows^Earnest B., born October 
11, 1871 ; Bennie G., born March 9, 1873; 
Christie, born November 16, 1874; Frank 
M., born July 26, 1878 ; Thomas D., born 
November 7, 1880, the last named having 
died at the age of sixteen months. Mrs. 
Householder was born April 24, 1842, at 
Penobscot, Me., and is the daughter of 
Addison B. and Mary (Grey) Grindle, 
both of whom were natives of Maine, the 
former having been born November 18, 
1816, and the latter December 28, 1820. 
In their family were five children — all 
girls. Mr. Grindle was by occupation a 
sea captain. 

Mr. Householder is a republican in poli- 
tics, having been one of the prime movers 
in the organization of that party in the 



State of Delaware. He has held the ofEce 
of town clerk several terms, and is now 
prominently mentioned as a candidate for 
the office of representative to the state 
legislature in the interests of the farmers 
of Kearney county, and it might be cas- 
ually remarked that no better choice 
could be made. 



A 



J. LINDBECK is one of the oldest 

settlers of Kearney county and 

an honored and respected citizen 

He was born in Sweden 



1 

of Newark. 
August 22, 1830, and is the son of Jonas 
and Margaret (Strong) Lindbeck, both of 
whom were natives of Sweden. The 
former, a farmer by occupation, was born 
in the year 1793, and the latter in 1799. 
He is one of a family of nine children- 
seven boys and two girls. He resided with 
his father in Sweden until fifteen years of 
age, during which time he attended school 
and served an apprenticeship at the tail- 
or's trade. About this time a new relig- 
ious sect, called Johnsonites, was organ- 
ized in opposition to the State religion, 
and he became convinced of its good prin- 
ciples and joined it. There was great 
opposition to the new religion, and its fol- 
lowers were stoned and beaten about by 
the followers of the old church, until they 
were finally compelled to seek refuge in 
fairer fields and •' pastures new." They 
accordingly, in 1845, embarked in five 
ships for America. Four of the ships ar- 
rived in Brooklyn March 5, 1846, after a 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



603 



tedious voyage of ten months, and the 
otiier was never heard from. There were 
originallv 1,150 in the colony, but it is 
supp(jsed that 350 of them found a watery 
grave. The remaining 800 were compelled 
to seek quarters in Brooklyn for two 
months until the canals were opened for 
traffic. They took lodging in vacant 
houses, and after two months of weary 
waiting, embarked on the canal boats for 
Buffalo, and thence to Chicago by way of 
Lake Michigan. Mr. Lindbeck remained 
in Chicago two weeks, and roomed in the 
first brick house ever built in that city, 
and afterwards joined the colony in Henry 
county, Illinois. That section of Illinois 
at that time was anew and barren country 
and anything but inviting to anew-comer. 
He pre-empted land and remained there 
until 1847, when he moved to Princeville, 
111., and engaged in the tailor busi- 
ness. He lived there and at Chillicothe 
and Peoria until 1852. He left Princeville 
April 12, 1852, for the far West and Sep- 
tember 8th, of the same year, landed in 
California, having walked the entire dis- 
tance. He engaged in raining at first, 
and later in the hotel and grocery busi- 
ness in San Francisco. He was taken 
with an attack of rheumatism in 1869 and 
went on a trip to the Sandwich Islands. 
In the spring of 1870 he returned to 
Henry county, 111., and for six years 
worked at the carpenter trade, which he 
had learned while in California. In April, 
1877, he again emigrated West and located 
in Kearney county, Nebr., where he 
entered as a homestead a quarter section 
in section 24, township 8, range 15, on 
which the town of Newark now stands. 
In the fall of the same year he took a 
timber claim of one hundred and fifteen 



acres, on which he has since set out one 
hundred and five thousand trees and cut- 
tings, with a view of some day erecting 
there a home for destitute children. 
Although his financial ventures have not 
proved as successful as he at one time an- 
ticipated, he still has hopes of accom- 
plishing his desired end. Kearney county 
was new and barren when Mr. Lindbeck 
first came, and deer and antelope were 
quite plentiful among the sand hills and 
along: the Platte river. He bifilt a store 
and blacksmith shop and wagon works, 
and started the town of Newark ; he also 
donated eighty acres of land to the Bur- 
lington &c Missouri River R. R. Companj', 
to get them to place a station and elevator 
there, and after the town was fairly started 
he bought and had published a newspaper 
called the Newark Herald. He had two 
objects in starting the newspaper, one to 
advertise the town and the other to burst 
an obnoxious political ring in the county, 
which latter thing he accomplished. 
When he started the town of Newark he 
had numerous propositions from men who 
desired to open saloons, but refused to 
allow any such establishments to open 
within the corporate limits, saying that 
he would rather fail in his project of 
establishing a town without saloons than 
to succeed with them. He has remained 
in this belief, and it is to his credit that 
Newark has never had a saloon. Politi- 
cally, Mr. Lindbeck is a green backer. He 
served as postmaster of Newark for six 
years and is at present supervisor of New- 
ark township. lie has never married, 
and although a member of no particular 
church, he has lived a life consistent with 
religious principles and has within him 
the hope of a better world beyond. 



604 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



SAMUEL G. DICKMAN is one of 
the oldest settlers in Kearney 
county, now living on the old Fort 
Kearne}' reservation. He was born May 
4, 1833, in Cambridge, Mass. His father, 
Joseph S. G. Dickman, a rope-maker by 
occupation, and also a native of Massa- 
chusetts, was born November 30, 1793. 
He served in the War of 1812 in Isaac 
Story's company of light infantry in de- 
fense of Marblehead. He was a resident 
of Cambridge, Mass., for fifty-five years 
and a member of the Masonic ordei'. ilt. 
Lebanon Lodge, No. 5815. He died May 
29, 1878, at the ripe old age of eighty-six 
years. The motiier of our subject, Mary 
(Deacons) Dickman, was a native of Mar- 
blehead, Mass., born in the year 1788, and 
died August 17, 1871. There were six 
children in the famil}" — three boys and 
three girls, of whom the eldest son and 
brother of our subject served in the War 
of the Rebellion. The paternal grand- 
father, Joseph Dickman, was of English 
descent, but it is not known to a certainty 
whether he was born in this country or in 
England. He was a jeweler by occupa- 
tion. 

Samuel G. Dickman, our subject, resided 
at home with his father until his mar- 
riatre at the age of twentv-seven vears. 
In the meantime he attended the Cam- 
bridge public schools and at the age of 
thirteen years began work in the rope 
factory. He afterwards drove stage on 
the line from Boston to Cambridge and 
still later filled the capacit}' of street car 
driver. This he followed until the spring 
of 1866, when he emigrated West and 
located in Eureka, Woodford count}'. 111., 
where he resided ten years, and was en- 
gaged in farming. He again emigrated 



West, and June 15, 1876, landed in Kear- 
ne\' county, Nebr., and located on his 
present site. The reservation, consisting 
of ten miles square, had not at that time 
been surve\'ed and opened to settlement. 
The country was new and wild, and ante- 
lope and deer were roaming about in 
herds. There was an occasional settler, or 
squatter, as they were termed in those 
days, but they were few and far between. 
He at once began the construction of a 
sod house and soon had his family in 
comfortable quarters. He broke out eight 
acres of raw prairie that season and 
attemped to raise some buckwheat and a 
few potatoes. His meager cro[)S flour- 
ished for a time, but the grasshoppers, 
which thronged the country in great 
abundance that year, totally destroyed 
them. As a result he saw hard times the 
following winter and was compelled for 
the most part to live on corn meal. He 
worked one winter for fifty cents a day and 
board, while his wife and son built a sod 
barn. The heavy driving rains of that 
period, unlike the gentle showers of to-day, 
played havoc with the sod house, and fre- 
quently after a heavy rain storm there 
would be from three to four inches of 
mud on the ground floor. On a cold, 
blustery winter's night in 1877 the snow 
drifted through the cracks in the sod 
shanty until everything was covered, and 
they were compelled to hold the umbrella 
over their faces in bed. When Mr. Dick- 
man landed on the reservation he had but 
one team and fiftVTnine dollars in money, 
but he has labored assiduously and now 
has one of the best improved farms in 
Newark township. 

He married, September 17, 1860, 
Ellen S. March, who was born at Bangor, 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



605 



Me., August 3, 1841, and is the adopted 
daugliter of James and Mary March, her 
real parents having died with cholera 
when she was but four years old. This 
happy union has resulted in the birth of 
seven children, two only of whom are 
living, as follows — Joseph S., born Octo- 
ber 29, 1861 ; Charles E., born August 28, 
1865 and deceased September 27, 1865 ; 
Mary E., born March 6, 1868; Edith W., 
born July 23, 1869, deceased August 31, 
1869; Bertie L., born July 8, 1870, died 
August 6, 1870 ; Lena B., born May 12, 
1874, died September 12, 1784; AVillie F., 
born April 21, 1878, died July 10, 1878. 
Joseph, the oldest son, served in the 
capacit}' of deputy county clerk for three 
years, and in 1885 was elected clerk, 
which office he has held for fdur years. 
He is also a member of the Masonic order 
at Minden. Mr. and Mrs. Dickman are 
consistent christians and members of the 
Baptist church ; politically, Mr. Dickman 
is a republican. 



WH. LEASUEE, the subject 
of this biogra])hical notice, is 
a native of Ohio, and was 
born 1847. His father, Jesse Leasure, 
was a native of Virginia, and was born in 
1810. AVhen a young man, he moved to 
Jefferson county, Ohio, and died there in 
1888. He was a consistent christian, and 
was deacon in the Baptist church for a 
number of years. 

His mother bore the maiden name of 
Sarah Rine, and was born in Maryland in 
1804. When three vears of age she 



moved with her parents to Ohio, where 
she died in 1886, the mother of eight chil- 
dren. 

"W. H. Leasure, the subject of this 
sketch, lived in his native state until thirty 
years of age. Coming in 1877 to Ne- 
braska, he settled near Walker's Ranch, 
and located a homestead on section 27, 
township 5, range 16 west. After a resi- 
dence there of six years, he moved to 
Keene and engaged in mercantile pursuits 
for a period of three years. In 1886 he 
came to Wilcox, where he again embarked 
in mercantile pursuits, at which he has 
since continued. 

Mr. Leasure started out to make his 
way in the world in 1876. When he 
reached Nebraska, he had only five cents 
left, but by perseverance and industry he 
now has a stock which will invoice $6,000, 
and also owns a quarter section of good 
land. 

Mr. Leasure married in July, 1876, tak- 
ing for a life companion Miss Orpha Jor- 
dan, a native of Ohio. This union has 
been blessed with one child — George, 
born November 3, 1880. 

When Mr. Leasure came to Wilcox 
there were only two families in the town. 
He was the first merchant in the place, 
and without interruption has continued 
to the present time, his trade increasing 
steadily with the growth of the place of 
his adoption. Although constantly em- 
ployed in the details necessar}' to the 
success of a large and flourishing business 
he has also held a number of local 
offices, having been justice of the peace 
and town treasui-er for a number of j'^ears. 
As one of the tlioroughgoing business 
men, enterprising and public-spiriteil 
citizen of Wilcox, Mr. Leasure takes high 



606 



KEARNEY COUNIY. 



rank, and in an eminent degree holds the 
respect and confidence of its citizens. 

In politics, he is a hearty supporter of 
the republican part^^ Mr. and Mrs. Lea- 
sure both hold membership in the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church, antl take an active 
interest in all church work. 



GAEKIEL D. COUTANT was 
born in the State of New York in 
the year 1844. He is the only son 
amongst four children — two sisters older 
and one younger— born to Lewis and Jane 
(DuBois) Coutant, both natives also of 
New York, the father liaving been born 
there in the year 1800 and the mother in 
1802. The father, a farmer by occupa- 
tion, died in the noon-day of his career, 
having lived a sober, industrious life. The 
mother is still living. 

The subject of this notice, bereft of the 
guardianship of his father at the tender 
age of three, grew up under the maternal 
grand fathei"'s roof and under the fostering 
care of an affectionate mother and re- 
ceived such training as she was able to 
procure for him. He was reared on the 
farm and trained to the habits of industry 
and usefulness to common farm life. Be- 
ing of a mechanical turn of mind he also 
learned the carpenter's trade in his youth, 
and he alternately followed the ]rarsuits 
of farming and working at the carpenter's 
trade. In 1866 he married Miss Cornelia 
M. Noxon, a native of New York, born in 
1843. He came to Nebraska in 1877 and 
settled in Kearney county, taking a home- 
stead in section 31, township 5, range 16 
west, where he located, and where, and in 



that vicinity, he has since resided. He 
has been steadily engaged in farming and 
carpentering, and has been successful both 
as a farmer and mechanic. He owns a 
place near the town of Wilcox, which he 
has in a good state of cultivation and well 
furnished with neat and commodious 
buildings for man and beast. He also 
owns a half interest in " Coutant's addi- 
tion " to the town of Wilcox, and is inter- 
ested in other ways in the community 
where he resides. He has filled a number 
of local offices since settling in Kearney 
county, the duties of which he has dis- 
charged with credit to himself and satis- 
faction to the people whom he served. He 
is at present postmaster at Wilcox. 

He and his wife are both members of 
the Congregational church and take much 
interest in church work and charitable 
movements in their community. 

Mr. and Mrs. Coutant are the parents 
of four children, around whom naturally 
clusters much of their interest in this life 
and for whom they now chiefl\' live, these 
being John F., born in 1869 ; May K., born 
in 1878; Lewis H., born in 1882, and 
Grace, born in 1886. 



1^ P. HOLLISTER. Tliis well-known 
/ \ and highly esteemed gentleman, 
J_ \_is a native of Ohio, and was born 
in Clermont county. He is a son of Jesse 
and Elizabeth (Jordan) Hollister. His 
father was a native of Vermont and was 
born in 1792. From Vermont he moved 
to Kentucky and from there to Clermont 
county, Ohio, where he died. 

The mothei' of our subject was born in 



'KEARNEY COUNTY. 



607 



Kentucky in 1790, and married in 1820. 
These were the parents of nine children, 
as follows — William, Richard, James (de- 
ceased), Margaret, Mark, Joseph, Alvah, 
and two that died in infancy unnamed. 
The subject of this brief sketch was 
reared in his native state, and remained 
there till 1872, engaged in teaching seven 
years, and also working at the carpenter's 
trade, and farming for some time. In 1872 
he moved to Iowa, settling in Andrew, Jack- 
son county, where he remained two years, 
engaged in the drug business. Coming in 
1874 to Nebraska, he settled in Kearney 
county and located a homestead on section 
34, township 5, range 16 west. He has 
been a resident of Kearney county since, 
and during: all the intervening years since 
the date of his locating there he has been 
identified with the best interests of his 
adopted county. Being a man of intelli- 
gence and industry, he has contributed in 
no small degree to the growth and devel- 
opment of his community'. 



/% MOS R. LEWIS is a native of New 
/ \ Jersey, having been born in Jer- 
2_ \. sey City in 1854. He is the only 
child of Capt. Edwin and Sarah (Wilson) 
Lewis, the former a native of New Jersey 
and the latter a native of New York. His 
father was born in 1827, and was lost at 
sea between San Francisco,Cal., and China, 
being then captain of a sailing vessel, 
named " The Waldo." He came of sea- 
faring stock and followed the high seas all 
his life. He was one of eight brothers, 
all of whom were seamen and whose lives 



were marked by many nautical adventures 
and thrilling episodes. 

Mr. Lewis' mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Atkinson, was a widow when she 
was married to Capt. Lewis. She had but 
one child by her second marriage, that is 
the subject of this sketch, but she had two 
daughters by her former marriage, the 
older of whom is now Mrs. Anna Shave, 
of New York City, and the younger Mrs. 
Rebecca Butler, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. 
Lewis' mother was born in 1827 and now 
resides with her elder daughter in New 
York City. 

The subject of this notice was reared 
mainly in New York City. When a lad 
he was apprenticed to the trade of nickel- 
plating and brass-finishing, which he fol- 
lowed for some. years in the city of New 
York. He came to Nebraska in 1878, and 
settled in Kearney county, taking a home- 
stead at that date, filing on a quarter m 
section 34, township 5, range 16 west. He 
began life in the West in the usual primi- 
tive way by erecting a sod-house and 
breaking out all the prairie he could, pre- 
paratory to seeding. In 1880, his first 
crop year, he raised nothing. In 1881, he 
had fifty acres in wheat and raised one 
hundred bushels. The following year he 
had the same number of acres in, but har- 
vested nine hundred and thirty-three 
bushels. Since then his affairs have gradu- 
ally prospered and he is now one of the 
most substantial farmers of his locality. 
He has a good farm, well improved, and 
it produces an abundance of Nebraska's 
sovereign products — corn and wheat. 

Mr. Lewis has filled a number of local 
offices and discharged the duties of them 
with credit to himself and satisfaction to 
his neighbors. In politics, he affiliates 



608 



KEA RNEY CO IJNTY.. 



with the republicans and is a stanch sup- 
porter of the principles of his party and an 
efBcient worker at the polls. 

Mr. Lewis has a family, having married 
in 1878, the lady on whom his choice fell 
for a life partner being Miss Clara V. 
Tice, a native of New York City. This 
union has been blessed with five children 
— John, Edwin, Sarah, Laura and Christie. 



PAEKS I. KENNEDY, one of the 
pioneers of the prosperous little 
town of Wilcox, Kearney county, 
Nebr., is a native of Iowa, but has spent 
the greater part of his life in Nebraska, 
and is in every essential a Nebraskan 
worthy of the name. He is one of a family 
of four children born to Roswell A. and 
Melissa A. Kennedy, the others being 
a sister and two brothers — Guy L., Cora 
E., and Ralph J., all living, and, like iiim- 
self, having begun the solution of the 
problem of life for themselves. His 
father was a native of Ohio, born in 1826, 
married in 1849, and died in 1886, a far- 
mer in early life, a merchant later, and 
successful at both. He moved from Ohio 
to Iowa in 185-1 and from that state to 
Nebi'aska in 1873, settled at Fairbury, 
where he died thirteen years afterwards. 
He was an industrious, economical, shrewd 
and intelligent business man, and one who 
took much interest in the welfare of his 
kind. He was a zealous member of a 
number of beneficial oi'ders, among them 
being the Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights 
of Pythias, and Independent Order of 
Good Tem|)lars. Mr. Kennedy's motiier 
was born in 18oI, aiul is still living. 



The subject of this notice was born in 
18.'56, and reared in his native state of 
Iowa, coming to Nebraska in 1873 witii 
his parents. He grew up on the farm and 
received a good common-scliool education, 
completing it bj' a commercial course at 
the Commercial College, at Keokuk, Iowa. 
For seven years he w'as in the emplo}' of 
C. F. Steele, at Fairbury, Nebr., in the 
furniture business. Quitting this position, 
he secured employment with Eldridge 
Bros., hardware merchants, at Chester, 
this state, with whom he remained until 
1885, and engaged in the meantime on his 
own account in tlie handling of sewing 
machines and wind-mills, up to 1886, 
when he moved to Wilcox, where he 
has since resided. He was one of the 
first men to cast his lot with the town of 
Wilcox, settling there about the time the 
town was surveyed, and erected one of the 
first buildings that was put up in the 
place. He has been variously engaged 
since locating there, and has been actively 
identified with the best interests of his 
adopted home. He has prospered in busi- 
ness and has been fortunate in his invest- 
ments, and from the means so secured he 
has acquired a competence. 

In 1880 Mr. Kennedy married Miss 
Ellen Culver, of Fairbury, who, like him- 
self, is a native of Iowa — having been born 
in 1857 — and was reared mainly in her 
native state. To this union have been 
born five children, namely — Lyda May, 
Cora Lee, Edna Fay, Iluby Hazel and 
Glenwood Parks. Like all happily-mated 
husbands and wives, Mr. and Mi's. Kennedy 
have rendered each other the active and 
efficient aid so necessary to their mutual 
prosperity and happiness. Mrs. Kennedy 
was the second ladv who settled in Wilcox, 




HENRY WILCOX. 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



611 



and she has been ever zealous in the 
clmrcli and cliai'itable work of that coni- 
inunit}', being an active member of the 
Christian church. 



HENRY WILCOX. One of the 
self-made men of Kearney coun- 
ty, who has hewn out his own 
fortune and made for himself a name and 
place in the community, is the gentleman 
whose name appears at the head of this 
sketch. He is a fine example of what can 
be done by any 3'oung man of ordinary 
intelligence, industrj^ and good habits. 
He is the son of Martin V. Wilcox, whose 
sketch appears in this work. His mother 
bore the maiden name of Eliza Osborn, 
and was born in New York in 1830. Her 
father, W. H. Osborn, was a native of 
New York, and was a Congregational 
minister of consideraljle note. 

Henry Wilcox, the subject of this bio 
graphical notice, is a native of Miciiigan, 
born in 1858. In 1861, his father (who was 
a farmer at that time) enlisted in the Thir- 
teenth infantr}'. and went South to help 
put down the rebellion, and was with the 
Army of the Cumberland the most of the 
time during his service of five j'ears. He 
enlisted as a private, but after about three 
years' hard service (he was in the bat- 
tles of Stone river. Mission ridge. Lookout 
mountain and various other hard-fought 
battles), he was commissioned second lieu- 
tenant (aftei'ward promoted to first) in 
tiie Fifteenth ct)lored infantry. Shortly 
after receiving his commission, he was 
joined in camp by his wife and his son 
Henry, who remained with the army until 
1866, during which period Mrs. Wilcox 
taught the colored soldiers to read and 



write, while Henry spent his time play- 
ing with the pickaninnies in the "contra- 
band camp." 

In 1866, at the close of the war, Mr. 
Wilcox, with his family, went to Iowa 
Falls, Iowa, where Henry attended the 
public school until he was fifteen years 
old. In the spring of 1874-, the family, 
consisting of father, mother and son 
Henry (aged fifteen), and infant son 
Frank (aged two years), boarded a "prai- 
rie schooner" and moved to Harlan 
county, Nebr., where they settled on a raw 
half section of "Uncle Sam's" land, and 
went to work to make a home in the wil- 
derness. They lived four years, with 
their nearest neighbor four miles away; 
Kearnev, their nearest market and rail- 
road point, thirt^'-five miles away, and 
water so deep in the earth that they were 
not able to pay for boring a well, and had 
to haul all the water they used seven 
miles from Turkey creek ; when a well 
was finally sunk on the place, they had to 
go two hundred and thirty-four feet 
through the earth to get water. 

In the meantime, Henry, in December, 
1876, was married to Miss Mary Elkins, 
at the early age of eighteen — in fact, 
lacked three days of being eighteen on 
his wedding day — and his girl-wife was 
but a few days over seventeen. Miss El- 
kins' parents resided on Turke}' creek, a 
few miles from the Wilcox homestead, 
and were really earlier settlers than the 
Wilcox family, as they settled there in 
1873. Both familjes were very poor and 
went through all the " grasshopper years," 
and received rations from the government, 
which rations were issued to the "grass- 
hopper sufferers " in 187-1-75 to keep the 
settlers from starving. 



612 



KEARNEY COUNTY 



Both families of the young people were 
somewhat opposed to tlie marriage, owing 
to the youth .of the parties and the fact 
that it was ahiiost impossible to make a 
living for a family in the "Great Ameri- 
can Desert" at that time. But the young 
folk seemed determined to mate first and 
see about getting something to eat after- 
wards; and an increase in his father's pen- 
sion about that time enabled him (his 
fatlier) to help him to get a team, and as 
soon as married he became the " head of a 
family," thus becoming, under the home- 
stead laws, competent to enter govern- 
ment land, and, being competent, he en- 
tered a ''homestead " and " timber claim " 
adjoining his father's. Then came the 
" tug of war " to provide for his young 
family. Two sons were born to Mr. and 
Mrs. "Wilcox before either of them was 
twenty-one years of age. Tiieir eldest 
son, Louie, died at the age of five years; 
their second son, Earl, is still living, a 
brigiit boy of eleven years. After six 
years of hard woik, manv privations, 
some sorrow and considerable happiness, 
they concluded to sell their farm and 
move to town. During the six years on 
the homestead, Mr. Wilcox had farmed 
what lie could, had worked on the construc- 
tion work of the Republican railroad, 
broke prairie for his neighbors and did his 
best to accumulate propert}' and provide 
for his famil}', but it was a hard struggle; 
he succeeded as well as most of his neigh- 
bors, and probably enjoyed life better than 
most, as his married life was a continual 
" hone3'-moon," and his family's health 
was perfect (except the illness of his 
deceased son, Louie)— §20 would cover all 
his doctor's bills during that time. But 
he did not like farming, and in 1882 he 



sold his farm of three hundred and twenty 
acres for $1,500 (worth now, 1890, $5,000). 
It took $600 of this to pay his debts, and 
with his wife, boy and $900 in money, he 
moved to Alma, the county seat of Harlan 
count\', loaned his money at three per 
cent, to four per cent, a month, the cur- 
rent rate at that time, and, living on the 
income of that, he entered the law office 
of John Dawson and studied law for two 
years, and was admitted to practice in 
1884. During this time, however, he had 
invested some money for Eastern parties 
and made a little money for himself, and 
about this time he formed a partnership 
with an old school-mate from Iowa Falls, 
Iowa, named Richard Wilde, under the 
firm name of Wilcox d: Wilde. Mr. Wilde 
had considerable means, and the new firm 
went into the loaning business quite exten- 
sively — Mr. Wilcox also practicing law to 
a limited extent. But his natural apti- 
tude seemed to run lo banking and nione\' 
loaning more than to law, antl before long 
his loaning business took all his time and 
attention. He built a brick residence in 
Alma, and was interested in its first brick 
business block. In 18S6, the firm of Wil- 
cox ife Wilde dissolved by mutual consent, 
and Mr. Wilcox immediately formed a 
partnership with W. R. Sapp, of Falls 
City, Nebr., under the firm name of 
"Bank of Wilcox," and bought the town 
site of two hundred and forty acres, on 
which his name sake, the village of Wil- 
cox, Kearney county, Nebr., now stands. 
The bank of Wilcox, the first building in 
the new town, was opened with a capital 
of $10,000, in June, 1SS6. The firm 
deeded a half interest in their town site to 
the Lincoln Land Company, and the B. & 
M. R. R. built their depot on their line 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



613 



from Blue Hill to Holdrege, in the centre 
of their two-hundred-and-forty-acre tract, 
which was platted about the same time. 
The town built up rapidly, and with their 
banking and town-site business, Messrs. 
Sapp & Wilcox, of course, made money 
rapidly. In 1888, the bank of Wilcox 
was incorporated, with a capital of $50,000, 
wiiich was increased to $75,000 in 1889. 
Sapp& Wilcox sold their remaining inter- 
est in the town site to the new bank for 
$15,000, taking stock in the bank with the 
proceeds. 

Mr. Wilcox was chosen cashier of the 
new bank, which position he still holds, 
with his faithful wife as his assistant. She 
has been a helper in bis office almost con- 
stantly since they left the farm, and merits 
lier full share of praise for her valuable 
assistance, advice and counsel. She has 
been his " riglit hand " on the farm, in the 
office and bank. They are rapidly acquir- 
ing a fortune now, and before age streaks 
their heads with gray they will probabl}' 
be living at ease on an income from a 
fortune made in sight of their old " sod 
house on the claim." 



EUGENE L. LINDSAY was Ijorn 
January 27, 1859, in Frederick 
county, Maryland. He is a splen- 
did example of that much-abused indi- 
vidual, the "self-made man." Deprived 
of the guardianship and tender care of his 
parents at an early age, he grew up under 
the roof of his paternal grandparents and 
received onl3' such attention as could be 
bestowed upon him as a member of a large 
household. At the age of fourteen he 



was hired out to learn the milling trade, 
to make his own way in the world. His 
term of service covered four' years, and he 
received $6.00 a month for the first three 
years and $10.00 per month for the last 
year. He had the privilege of attending 
the district schools during the winter 
months, and in tliis way secured the rudi- 
ments of a common English education. 
In 1877 he started West in pursuit of his 
fortune, and made his first stop in 
McDonough county. 111. But he had only 
been there about two yeai's when he was 
forced to leave that locality on account of 
its unhealthfulness. Returning to Mary- 
land he remained there a short time, and 
then, going back to McDonough county, 
111., in 1882, he married a lady whom he 
had previously met there, Miss Mary Wil- 
cox, and that same year moved to 
Nebraska, settling in Harlan count3^ A 
3'ear and a half later he moved to Kear- 
ney county, purchasing a farm in the south- 
west part of the county, where he settled 
and has since resided. His beginning, in 
accordance with his means, was modest. 
He started with the proverbial sod-house, 
and the first few years witnessed some- 
thing of a struggle; but for this Mr. 
Lindsay was prepared, bis whole life hav- 
ing been more or less a struggle and he 
having been inured to hardships and 
privations from childhood up. He has 
begun to reap the reward of his patient 
toil and self-sacrifice. He has become 
one of the most prosperous and highly 
esteemed citizens of the locality where he 
lives, and is in a fair way to carve his 
fortunes in after life with greater ease and 
more marked success than have attended 
his efforts heretofore. He has filled such 
offices of a local nature as have been as- 



6X4 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



signed to him and he has discharo'ed their 
duties with zeal and fidelity. He affiliates 
with the democratic party, but is not a 
politician even in the mildest sense of the 
word. Ilis own personal affairs absorb 
his time and attention, and around his 
own fireside cling hischief hopes and ambi- 
tions. In that home abidesfor him a well- 
pringof joy in the person of an affectionate 
wife and two promising little daughters, 
Jessie Lee and Mabel E., aged respectively 
seven and three. 



GEORGE INGLIS, M. D.. physi 
cian and surgeon, of Wilcox, Kear- 
ney county, isa native of that.his- 
toric isle which has furnished to the world 
some of its most learned historians, pro- 
foundest philosophers, most charming 
novelists and sweetest poets, not to men- 
tion other sons, distinguished for valor in 
war, statesmanship in peace and forgenius 
in both — Scotland, the cementing mem- 
ber of that invincible and inimitable trian- 
gular territorial coalition, the British King, 
dom. He comes of Scotch stock from 
time immemorial. His father, Robert 
Inglis, was born in Scotland in 1S25, and 
at the age of twenty -five married a neigh- 
bor girl. Jane Porter, and nine vears after 
immigrated to America and settled in 
Jones county, Iowa, where he still resides. 
He and his excellent wife have been life- 
long members of the Presbyterian church, 
having led quiet, industrious, useful lives 
and reared to maturity' a number of chil- 
dren, most of whom are now married and 
are themselves heads of families. They 
have been the parents of ten children, as 



follows — John, George, James, Daniel, 
William, Robert, Alexander, Margeret, 
Jennett and David, 

The second of these and the subject of 
this sketch, George Inglis, was born in 
1856. He was only three years old when 
his parents immigrated to America. He 
was therefore mainly reared in Jones 
county, Iowa, being brought up on the 
farm. He received a good common and 
high school education and began teaching 
at the age of twenty-one. having deter- 
mined to perfect himself in the books and 
adopt one of the liberal professions. By 
energetic application and hard school- 
room work he was enabled in a year or 
two to enter the Eastern Iowa Xormal 
School at Grand View, Iowa, from which he 
graduated in ISSl. He had already be- 
gun to read medicine, and in the fall of 
1SS2 he entered Rush Medical College at 
Chicago, 111., from which he graduated 
two years later. He came at once to 
Nebraska and located for the practice of 
his profession at Walker's Ranch, in 
Kearney county, from whicii he moved 
after the expiration of two years to Wil- 
cox, in Kearney county, where he has since 
resided. In 18S7 Dr, Inglis married Miss 
Minnie Light, then of Franklin county, 
Nebr., Mrs. Inglis being a native of Mich- 
igan, born in ISG'J and reaied mainlv in 
Nebraska, havingcome to Franklin county 
with her parents in 1875. 

Dr. Inglis is devoted exclusivelv to the 
practice of medicine, having set out on his 
professional career with the determination 
of making of himself a physician worthy 
of the name. He is a hard student, a 
painstaking investigator and a close ob- 
server. He is strictlv attentive to the 
needs of his patients and he studies their 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



(il5 



cases with that thoughtful solicitude be- 
coming the responsibility of his position. 
He is a clever, genial gentleman, and a 
welcome guest in the sick-room, prescrib- 
ing liberally of the " physic of mirth " 
along with the countless remedies of 
materia medica. He is actively identified 
with the best interests of his coTnmunity, 
material, social and religious, he and his 
excellent wife both being members of the 
Congregational church anil active workers 
in all churcli matters as well as liberal 
contributors to all charitable purposes. 



W 



ILLIAM LAYTON w^^s born 
in England in 1840. He is 
one of six children born to 
John and Ann (Helemsley) Layton, both 
natives also of England. His father was 
l)orn in 1815 and died in 1887, and his 
mother was born in 1813. They were 
married in 1835, and have had the follow- 
ing children — Thomas, William, Ann, 
Margaret, John and Hannah. 

The subject of this notice was reared in 
his native place, receiving an ordinary 
common school training. At the age of 
fifteen he was apprenticed to the black- 
smith's trade and brought up to that 
trade in accordance with the Eng- 
lish idea of bringing children up to 
callings of usefulness. He worked at his 
trade in his native jilace till 1872 when, 
having married some j'ears previous and 
seeing a family of children coming up 
around him, for whom he was desirous of 
providing, he decided to try his fortunes 
in America, and accordingly came to this 
countrv at that date. He made bis first 



stop at Copper Hai'bor, Mich., residing 
there and across the line in Canada till 
1874, when he came to Xebraska and 
settled in Kearney countv, near the south- 
west corner of the count}', taking a home- 
stead in section 28, township 5, range 16 
west. He began in a humble way at 
that date to make a home on the prairie, 
having but $150 in money and but little 
property with which to begin the unequal 
contest. He underwent the hardships and 

* privations common to the lot of the 
pioneer, passing through the grasshopper 
season, the dry vears, the hail and all the 
hard times which these brouorht, and 
though his courage was often sorely tried 
he never weakened in his determination 
to remain by the home of his choice and 
build out of the rude and inhospitable 
elements of the West a place where he 
might ultimate!}' enjoy peace and plenty, 
and leave to his little ones somethino- with 
which to begin the race of life more ad- 
vantageoush' than he did. He continues 
to reside on his old home place, and from 
the raw prairie covered, when he first saw 
it, with waving grass and tenanted by 
howling wolves and roaming bands of 
antelope, have come well tilled fields that 
produce an abundance of the fruit of civ- 
ilization, while his rude and somber sod- 
house has given way to a handsome frame 
dwelling, surrounded by all needful out- 
buildings. He has a pleasant home and has 
growing up around him a family of chil- 
dren who engage much of his thought and 

attention, loving his home and his family 
as only an Englishman cradled in that isle 

and trained in the domestic virtues of the 

fireside can love these. Mr. Layton mar- 
ried in his native place in 1865, the lailv 
whom he selected to share his life's for- 



616 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



tunes being Miss Eleanor Henderson, who 
was born in Durham county, England, in 
iS-il. This union has been blessed with 
eight children, only three of whom are 
now living — Florence, Mar\' and Carrie. 

In politics Mr. Layton is independent, 
as he is in all other things, reserving the 
right to pass on all questions according to 
their merits. 



RM. COPE. The subject of this 
sketch is a native of Canada, but 
comes of American ancestry. His 
father, David Cope, was born in Canada 
in 1803 and still lives there, being a resi- 
dent of the village of St. George, Brant 
count}', Ont. He owns a farm in the 
vicinit3% which has been in the famil}' for 
sixtj'-tive \'ears. He is now well advanced 
in years, but well preserved in mind and 
body, having led an active, industrious, 
and useful life, and is highly esteemed as 
a citizen in the community where he 
resides. He served as magistrate for up- 
wards of thirty years and has been a 
member of the Methodist church for over 
half a centur}', serving as steward and 
class leader the greater part of the time. 
Mr. Cope's mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Amanda Patrick, was born in 
Massachusetts, in 1805. She was reared, 
however, in Canada, having been taken 
there by her parents when a child. 

Mr. Cope's paternal grandfather,Thomas 
Cope, was a native of New Jersey, and 
served in the war of 1812, his father hav- 
ing moved to Canada shortl}' after the 
close of the Revolution. There were five 
sons, one of whom was killed in the War 



of 1812, the others being proverbially 
long-lived — all attaining to about ninety 
years of age. The maternal grandmother, 
whose maiden name was Fannie Culp, 
was also a native of New Jersey. 

David Cope and Amanda Patrick were 
married in 1826, and had born to them 
six children, as follows — Malinda, Francis, 
Charlotte, R. M., Jonas and Lewis. The 
subject of this notice was born in Ontario, 
Canada, in 1829. He was reared in his 
native place and in accordance with the 
custom of the place and times, received 
the rudiments of an ordinary English edu- 
cation. He remained on his father's farm 
till he reached the age of sixteen, at which 
time he began the race of life for himself. 
He learned the blacksmith's trade in his 
youth and followed it for some years after 
I'eaching his majorit}'. He came to the 
States in 1859, making his first stop in St. 
Lawrence county, N. Y. There he en- 
gaged at his trade till 1864. That year 
he enlisted in the Union arm}', going into 
company F, First New York light artil- 
lery. His command was mostly on gar- 
rison dut}' about AVashington. He served 
till after the surrender, being discharged 
on the fifteenth day of June, 1865, at 
Elmira, N. Y. Returning thence to St. 
Lawrence county, he lived there till 1876, 
when he went back to his old home in 
Canada. He remained in Canada only 
two years, coming again to the United 
States and settling, in 1878, in Kear- 
ney county, Nebr., taking a homestead in 
section 10, township 5, range 16 west. 
That was an early date for that part of 
the state, and Mr. Cope was one of the 
first settlers of that locality. There were 
only three houses in sight of his home- 
stead and he underwent all the hardships 



and privation incident to the opening of 
the country. With the appearance of 
good crops bis affairs assumed a prosper- 
ous condition and they have steadily im- 
proved from year to year. Mr. Cope is 
comparatively well fixed. In addition to 
liis farming interests he owns considerable 
stock. 

R. M. Cope and Isabell Mclntyre were 
married in Paris, Canada, in 1850, Mrs. 
Cope being a native of Scotland, born in 
1829, and brought in 1834 to Canada by 
her parents. To this union have been 
born five children — Charlotte, now wife of 
Georye W. demons, residing- in Canada; 
Mary, wife of Alexander Cummings, resid- 
ing in Dakota; Bessie, still with her par- 
ents; John, who died in 1862, at the age 
of five, and a daughter, who died in 
infanc}'. 



JB. PETERSON, the subject of this 
sketch, is a native of Sweden, and 
was I)orn in 1846. He is a son of 
Peter and Ingborg (Isacks) John- 
son, natives of Sweden. His father was 
born in 1798. and spent all his life in the 
place of his birtli and gave his entire at- 
tention to farming. He was a man of 
fine business princii)les, a member of the 
Lutiieran churcii, and was honored by all 
who knew him for his uprightness of 
character and strict adherence to his con- 
victions of right. He died in 1859. 

His mother was born in 1813, was a 
member of the Lutheran church, and a 
conscientious christian woman. Siie died 
in 189U. These were tlie pai-ents of eight 
children, four giils and four boys, as fol- 



lows — Carrie, Louisa, Sophie, Mary, 
Isaac (deceased), John (deceased), Peter 
(deceased) and J. B. 

J. B. Peterson, our subject, remained in 
his native country until twenty-one years 
of age; coming then to America,, he 
located in Jefferson county, Iowa, and 
remained there two years engaged in 
farming. From Iowa he went to Henry 
count}'. 111., where he was engaged in 
agricultural pursuits for five years, wiien 
he moved to Kearney, Nebr., and was in 
the livery business two 3'ears. In 1879 
he settled in Kearney county, Nebr., and 
located a homestead on section 35, town- 
ship 5, range 16. When he came to the 
state he had $1,000 in money. By 
economy and careful management he now 
has one of the best farms in the countv, 
well improved and well stocked, and has 
three hundred and twenty acres under 
cultivation. His success is due to his 
steady industry, his sterling honesty and 
uprightness, which gained for him the 
confidence of those with whom he was 
brought in contact. To day he is one of 
the best known and highly respected citi- 
zens of the county. He has borne his 
full share in building up the county and 
causing the wilderness to " blossom as the 
rose," and he has his reward in bein<r 
well-to-do and in possessing the esteem of 
all who know him. 

In 1881 Mr. Peterson was united in 
marriage with Miss Sophie Carlson, a 
native of Sweden, who immigrated to 
America in 1880. She was born in 1859. 

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have iiad born 
to them five children, three girls and two 
boys, as follows — Carrie, Stella, Til«l:i, 
Eleanor and Andrew. Mr. and Mrs. Peter- 
son are both members of the Lutheran 



618 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



church, in which they are highly esteemed 
for their earnestness ami active participa- 
tion in all church work. 

In politics, Mr. Peterson is a stanch 
and true republican, and takes an active 
interest in tlie party. 



WF. TRAVIS is one of the 
twin sons of John and Eliza 
Travis, and was born in 
Maple Grove, then Lodi, Kane county, 
111., April 9, 1856. His father, John Tra- 
vis, was born in the State of New York in 
1820. At the age of twenty-two he 
moved to Illinois and remained there 
fort}^ years, coming in 1S82 to Kearney 
county, Nebr., and settling on section 26, 
township 5, range 15. He is a prosperous 
farmer, and an active member of the 
Baptist church. 

The mother of our subject bore the 
maiden name of Eliza Haines. She is a 
native of New York and was born in 
1818. These are the pai'ents of eight 
children, as follows — Anna Eliza (de- 
ceased), James E., enlisted in Company E, 
One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois in- 
fantry, in 1862, and died of lung fever at 
Franklin, Tennessee, in 1863; Charles M. 
(deceased); Ella B., now Mrs. Whitesel, is 
a graduate of the Decatur High school, 
also took a course in the Illinois State 
Normal, and taught for about twelve years 
and was very successful ; Samuel H. is a 
farmer in Franklin county, Nebr.; Willis 
F. (deceased); George T. (deceased). 

W. F. Travis, the subject of this brief 
biographical sketch, moved with his 
parents to Christian county, II!., when 



only four years of age, and remained there 
seventeen years. When sixteen years of 
ao'e he attended the Illinois State Normal, 
after which time he was engaged in teach- 
ins:. In 1877 he moved to Iowa and 
taught there till 1880, when he returned 
to his native state. In 1882 he went to 
Kearney county, Nebr., taugiit there two 
years, when he returned to Iowa and read 
law with Fremont Benjamin two years 
and served as deputy county clerk of 
Pottawattamie countv, at Avoca, and 
town recorder of the village of Avoca for 
some time. He opened a law office in 
Oakland, Iowa, in 1886 and there re- 
mained till the fall of the same year. lie 
then attended the State University at Iowa 
City, graduating in June, 1887. That 
year he moved to AVilco.x, Nebr., and be-' 
gan the practice of his profession. He 
has continued there since and has met 
with a fair degree of success. 

In 1884 he married, taking for a life 
partner Miss Eva Pardee, a native of Iowa. 
She was born in 1861. Mrs. Travis is a 
lady of education and refinement, and she 
has given much of her time to educational 
and newspaper work. She v.'as engaged 
in teaching for five years before her mar- 
riao-eand she is now the editor of the Wil- 
cox Beacon, one of the potent factors in 
developing the town of Wilcox and vicin- 
ity. The Beacon was established in 1 886 
and has done a prosperous business since. 

Mr. and Mrs. Travis are the parents of 
three children — E. Vera G., born April 
27, 1885 ; J. Clyde P., born June 15, 1887, 
and an infant daughter, born August 15, 
1889. 

In politics Mr. Travis is a repul)lican. He 
is a stanch supjiorter of the principles of 
his party, and, when occasion demands. 



KEARNEY COUNTY 



619 



tlieir able champion on the stuuip. He is 
thoroughly in sympathy with the great- 
hearted West and enters actively into all 
measures for the good of his locality. 

On July 25, 1S90, the final issue of the 
Jieiicon was made and the plant removed 
t<j Avoca, Iowa, and on August 29, the 
first issue of the Pottawattamie Chief was 
issueil by its former proprietors. The 
change of location was made on account 
of Mrs. Travis' health, and the family are 
now hap]n' in the beautiful city of Avoca, 
in the famous Nishnelotene valley, where 
health and prosperity attend them. 



JAMESI R. SECKMAN is one of the 
best known and most highly re- 
spected farmers of Kearney county, 
Nebr. He was born in Scott 
count}', 111., Januarj' 14, 1842. His 
father, Jonathan Seckman, was born April 
14, 1812, while his parents were moving 
from Pennsylvania to Ohio. His mother 
having died when he was but four years 
old, he was reared by his maternal grand- 
father, Wright, in Perry count}'', Ohio. 
In August, 1828, he emigrated to Illinois, 
locating in Scott county. In March, 1841, 
he was united in marriage to Nancy P. 
Taylor, sister of Judge W. L. Taylor, to 
which union were given seven children, 
viz. — James R., our subject ; Kate J., 
Charles, John F., George D., Josejihusand 
Archibald. He was one of the pioneer 
settlers of Scott county, and a man much 
beloved by all who knew him. He died 
August 8, 1884. Nancy (Taylor) Seck- 
man, mother of our subject, was born in 



Kentucky in the year 1813, and is still 
living. The paternal grandfather, William 
Seckman, was a native of Pennsylvania, a 
United Brethren preacher, and lived to the 
ripe age of four-score and four years. He 
was noted for his extreme vigor in his un- 
usually old age, and is said to have walked 
fifty miles the week before he died. Of 
the paternal grandmother, Susan (AVright) 
Seckman, little is known, she having died 
in 1816, while in the prime of life. The 
maternal grandfather, James Taylor, was 
a native of Kentucky, born September 7, 
1791. He was' a farmer b\' occupation, 
and emigrated in 1833 to Illinois, locating 
on a farm in Scott county three miles 
southwest of Bethel, were he resided until 
his death, December 2, 1880. He was one 
of the early pioneers of Scott county, and 
during his long residence there was a nse- 
ful and exemplarv citizen. 

James R. Seckman, the subject proper of 
this memoir, attended the neighboring 
school and helped his father on the farm 
until he reached maturity, when he began 
farming on his own account in Brown 
county. 111., having moved thithei'with his 
parents when two years old. During his 
residence there he was elected to the of- 
fices of tax collector, constable, and school 
trustee of his township and school district. 
In the spring of 1863, he acccnnpanied a 
train across the Western plains; coming 
via Omaha and following the Platte river 
westward, he passed through this section 
of Nebraska, where the face of a white man 
was rarely seen, and the broad plains, 
which have since yielded so bountifully to 
the un wear\'ng tiller, served only to satisfy 
the hunger of the teeming bufl'alo. His 
journey took him b\' the way of Salt Lake 
Oity and Virginia City, Nev., at which lat- 



ter place he left the train and engaged em- 
ployment at fifty dollars per month. He 
continued working there until August, 
1864, when he returned, reaching home 
September 22. He emigrated West in 
March, 1879, and entered a homestead of 
eighty acres in section 18, township 5, 
range 15, on which he still resides. He built 
a sod house twenty by thirty-six feet, 
and was soon quartered after the fashion 
of early pioneers. There were few set- 
tlers in his immediate neighborhood at 
the time of his arrival, although the 
country was rapidly settled soon there- 
after. Antelope and smaller wild game 
common to this region were abundant, but 
soon disap})eared with the continued ap- 
pearance of the settlers. He had but little 
to start with, but has since succeeded ad- 
mirably, and in place of the old sod house 
of the pioneer period, there now stands a 
neat frame dwelling. Mr. Seckman was 
married March 5, 1865, to Sarah L. Davis, 
who was born in Brown county, 111., Sep- 
tion besides a quarter section in Thomas 
tember 14, 1843. Their union has been 
blessed with the birth of six children, 
viz. — Laura B., Mary C. (deceased), Damie 
E., William E. (deceased), Kancy E., and 
Willis J. R. 

Mr. Seckman, like all his ancestors, ad- 
heres to the Democratic party. He has 
held the office of school trustee in his dis. 
trict ever since the school was organized. 
In 1SS2 he served as county commissioner. 
He has served six years as supervisor of his 
township, and has been and is at present, 
chairman of the county board of super- 
visors. In 1886 he ran for county repre- 
sentative in the State legislature, and 
although his party was in a minority of 
some four hundred votes, he was defeated 



by only thirty two votes. He likewise 
was nominated in 1887 for county treas- 
urer, and again defeated by the large 
majority on the republican side. 



CHRISTIAN LYDEN, the subject 
of this biographical sketch, is one 
of the' oldest settlers now living 
in Sherman township, Kearney county, 
Nebr. He was born in Denmark, Novem- 
ber 10, 1855, and is the son of Clausand 
Christena L3'den, both of whom were na- 
tives of Denmark ; the former, a farmer 
by occupation, was born in the year 1806 ; 
the latter in 1808; of the grandparents 
of Mr. Lyden little or nothing is known. 
Christian Lyden, our subject, spent the 
early part of his life in Denmark, his na- 
tive country, attending school, helping his 
father about the farm, and serving an ap- 
prenticeship at the coo])er's trade. In 
1876, when twent3'-one 3'ears of age, he 
decided to seek his fortune in the western 
world, and, accordingly, in the fall of that 
year, embarked for America. Landing in 
New York city, he soon found employ- 
ment in a brick yard at remunerative 
wages. He continued at this work for 
four months, and, having accumulated a 
considerable sum of money and desiring 
to see more of the continent, he came west 
to Chicago, where, after a stay of several 
weeks, he engaged work at an emplo\'- 
ment agenc\', on the Union Pacific rail- 
road, which was then being constructed 
through Wyoming. He was fui'nished 
with a railway pass to Dessilad, where he 
began woi'k on the grade. The mountain 
country in that region teemed with In- 



KEA RNE Y CO UNTY. 



621 



dians and wild animals, and every man 
employed on the road was furnished with 
a rifle, which he kept close by his side as a 
means of protection, and "guards were on 
duty duringthe night patrolling the camp, 
for it was not known at what moment the 
Indians might swoop down upon them- 
In this manner he continued working on 
tlie grade section and stone quarries 
through Wyoming for nearly three years, 
after which he returned tb Omaha and 
lay sick for nearly six montiis. He then 
went to St. Paul, and worked during the 
summer on the Northern Pacific through 
Minnesota and Dakota. In the fall of 
that year he took passage on a steam- 
boat down the Mississippi river, spending 
a few weeks at St. Louis and finally 
reaching Memphis. He engaged work 
on the Mempliis & Little Rock rail- 
r road, at which he continued for several 
montiis, and then went on down to New 
Orleans. Reaching the latter place, he 
engaged work on the levee, at whicii he 
continued for two months. He after- 
ward worked on plantations, at sugar 
making, for tiiree months. In April of 
1871, on account of the 3'ellow fever, he 
came North and for four years, was en- 
gaged at the cooper trade, working for T. 
E. I'oyds, the first packing establishment 
in Omaha. 

In April, 1875, he came to Kearney 
county and settled on a quarter section 
in section 8, township 5, range 15, on 
which he had filed claim under the home- 
stead laws of the year pi'evious. There 
were at that time but three settlers within 
many miles of his claim. The country 
teemed with antelope and other wild 
game common to that period. An occa- 
sional deer would stray across his claim, but 



they were seldom seen that far from the 
river. He hastily constructed a small 
frame dwelling and broke twenty acres of 
raw prairie, on which he raised a scanty 
crop. He used to haul lii'ewood, a distance 
of thirty miles, from along the Republi- 
can river and Spring creek. For the first 
year he had to haul water from 
tliree to six miles. In 1870 he put out a 
crop of corn and oats, but had all of the 
latter and part of the former destroyed 
by grasshoppers, which were so numerous 
that year. He bought eighty acres of 
railroad land, across from his claim, in 
1S74:, and afterwards took a timber claim, 
making in all four hundred acres of as 
fine land as can be found in Sherman 
township — all of which is finely improved 
with thrifty growing trees, spacious barns, 
and a fine new palatial residence. 

Mr. Lyden was married September 25, 
1878, to Anna M. Hanson, who was born 
in Denmark, March 28, 1857, and came to 
America May 10, 1878. Tlieir union has 
been blessed with five children, viz. — Car- 
rie, Albert, Maggie, Mary and Martie. 
Mr. and Mrs. Lyden are both membei's of 
the Free Lutheran church at Keene. In 
politics he is a republican. 



MICHAEL DRISCOLL is one of 
the rising 3'oung men of Sher- 
man township. He was born 
in Canada, November 13, 1854, and is the 
son of John and Anna (McCullough) Dris- 
coll, both of whom were natives of Ire- 
land. The former was born in County 
Coi'k, was a tanner by occui)ation, and 
died at the age of sixty years ; the latter 



623 



KEARNEY COUXTY. 



was bo I'll ill County Armaugli. ami liiecl 
aged forty-five years. 

Both parents came to Canada when 
quite young and were married tliere- 
There were seven cliildren born to tliem. 
They were active and efficient members of 
the Catholic church. 

Michael Driscoll, our subject, resided 
in Canada until eighteen years of age, 
attending school and receiving a some- 
what liberal education and serving an ap- 
prenticeship in a carriage manufactory. 
In 1872 he came to the United Slates, 
locating at Albion, N. Y., and engaging 
employment in the carriage shops of that 
place. He continued working there for 
three years and then went to Rochester, 
where he worked at the same business for 
about eighteen months. He afterward 
worked at his trade in Batavia, Leroy, 
Clarkson Corners and Dunkirk. He emi- 
grated West in the spring of 1878, and 
entered a homestead of one hundred and 
sixty acres in section S, township 5, I'ange 
15, on which he still resides. At the time 
of his coming there were comparatively 
few settlers in that section of the countj% 
although it was rapidly settled up that 
same year. There were plenty of antelope 
in the country when he came, but they 
soon disappeared with the appearance of 
the settlers. He constructed a sod house, 
16 by 20 feet, in which he lived alone for 
four years. He broke out fifty acres of 
land the first year and raised a fair crop 
of broom corn. He earned considerable 
money during the first few years at his 
trade and used to draw work from fif- 
teen to twenty miles south of his claim. 
The second year, he raised a fine crop of 
wheat, but the third year proved a total 
failure on account of extreme drought, 



and was quite a set-back to him. He had 
to do all his marketing at Kearney, a dis- 
tance of thirty miles, for the first few 
years. In 1884, he built his present neat 
frame dwelling, and he has his farm other- 
wise well improved. He was married 
July 5, 1882, to Mary Collins, daughter of 
Lewis B. and Christena (McVay) Collins, 
who are both old settlers of Kearney 
count3\ The former, a farmer by occu- 
pation, was born in Washington county, 
Ind., June 13, 1818, and the latter in 
Fayette county, Ohio, August 21, 1833. 
Her paternal grandfather, John Collins, a 
farmer, was born in Bath county, Va., in 
1791. Her paternal grandmother, Chris- 
tena (Soleday) Collins, was a native of 
Kentuck}', born in 1792. Her great-grand- 
father, John C'oUins, was born and lived 
and died in Virginia. 

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Driscoll, re- • 
suited in the birth of four children, as 
follows— Arthur, born May 18, 1883; 
Agnes, born October 30, 1884; Emma, 
born September 17, 1888 ; John, born 
February 27, 1890. 

Politcally, Mr. Driscoll is a democrat, 
and is well versed in the history of his party 
as well as other current topics of the day. 



EDWAED WALLEAN (deceased) 
was one of the most honest, indu. 
trious and intelligent citizens of 
Sherman township, a man noted for his 
exemplary habits and much loved by all 
who knew him. He was born in Sweden, 
June 22, 181:0. In his early life he attend- 
ed the neighboring school, and obtained 
a good practical education. He resided 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



623 



in Sweden until thirty-two years of age 
and was engaged in tiie bakery business. 
In the spring of 1872 he embarked for 
America, and, after spending some time 
in traveling about, located at Ish])eming, 
Mich., and found employment in the iron 
mines of that region. He followed mining 
there for seven 3'ears, during which time 
he had, through his industrious habits, 
and the practice of the most rigid economy, 
accumulated a considerable sura of money. 
He finally determined to seek his fortune 
in the far West, and accordingly, in the 
spring of 1879, he moved his family to 
Sherman township, Kearney county, 
where he purchased the southeast quarter 
of section 21 of the Union Pacific Eailroad 
Com]mny. He constructed, upon arrival, 
a small frame dwelling and broke 
thirty-six acres of land, which he put in 
corn. His crop was entirely clestro3'ed 
that year by hail. The following year he 
I'eiloubled his efforts and put out a large 
amount of acreage in crops, but to no 
avail ; the drought of that season destro^'ed 
everj'thing, and so straitened were his 
circumstances that fall, that he was com- 
pelled to go to the mountains, leaving 
his family on the farm, and work 
in the mines to provide a living. In the 
meantime, the family lived on the scanti- 
est kind of food and burned corn-stalks 
and twisted hay and straw for fuel. 
Times finally changed and an era of ]iros- 
perity dawned upon the tiestitute settlers, 
during which he was able to develop his 
farm, build a fine frame dwelling and barn, 
and otherwise improve his farm, until it is 
at present one of the best in the count^^ 
He was mai'ried September 21, 1809, 
to Christena Jacobson, who was born in 
Sweden, December 18, 18i9, and came to 



America in 1874, her husband having pre- 
ceded her two years liefore. Their union 
has been blessed with seven children, as 
follows— Oscar T., born October 22, 1870; 
Newton P., born March 14, 1872 ; Tacklo, 
born January 5, 1875 ; Bennie, born 
November 19, 1878; Earnest, born Decem- 
ber 19, 1880 ; Frederick, born April 16, 
1885 ; Emela, born December 1, 1887. 

Mr. Wallean was taken sick in the fall 
of 1 889 with droi)sy, and ; after an illness of 
some months, tiled in November. Politi- 
call}', he was a republican. 



GEORGE WITTEPtS, a frugal and 
industrious fai'mer in Sherman 
township, was born in Blair 
county, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1845. 
His father, Samuel Wittei'S, a tailor by 
occupation, was born in Blair county, 
Pennsylvania, in the year 1816, and died 
in 1857. His mother, Sophia (Glass) 
"Witters, was a native of Pennsylvania. 
There were six children in the family. 
The paternal grandfather, John Witters, 
also a native of Pennsylvania, was a miller 
by occupation and lived to be eighty years 
old. His grandmother died when quite 
young, and of her little is known beyond 
the fact that she was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania. His maternal grandfather. George 
Glass, a school-teacher b\' profession, was 
born in 1770, and lived to be eighty-four 
years old. His grandmother Glass was a 
native of Maryland and lived to be eighty- 
two years old. Both great-grandfathers 
served in the Pevolutionary war and were 
farmers by occupation. Beyond this fact 
nothing is known. 



624 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



George Witters, our subject, attended 
school and helped his father on the farm 
in his boyhood days. He enlisted Sep- 
tember 14, 180)4, for one year, in Company 
11, Two Hundred and Eighth Pennsylvania 
volunteer infantry, 3d division, 9th army 
corps, took part in tliree battles, and was 
discharged June 3, 1865. He resided in 
Penns3'lvania until something over twenty 
years old, and then came West, locating in 
Whiteside county. 111., where he worked 
at masonry and farmed a place of seventy 
acres which he had bought. He resided 
there until the spring of 1878, when he 
again emigrated West and entered as a 
homestead in northwest quarter of section 
28, township 5, range 15, Kearney county, 
Nebr., on which he still resides. There 
were but two houses within a radius of 
three miles of his place when he came. 
He built a sod house twelve by twenty 
feet, in which he resided nine years and 
then replaced it with the present fine 
frame dwelhng. He had but little to start 
with when he came — having only three 
horses and but few implements. The first 
3'ear he planted forty acres of sod corn, 
but got little in return for his labor. The 
second year his crops were destroyed by 
hail, and thus one evil followed another 
until he was I'educed to such straightened 
circumstances that it was, indeed, difficult 
to provide a living for his family. He 
was compelled to burn buffalo chips and 
corn stalks, and when he had any wood 
he was obliged to haul it from Center 
creek and the Republican river — a dis- 
tance of eighteen miles. He had to 
market his produce at Kearney — a dis- 
tance of thirty miles — and to go »o Juniata 
to mill — about the same distance. In 
18S0 he lived tlu'ee months on seven dol- 



lars and had nothing to eat but " cotton 
wood " grav}' and bread. He now has 
his farm under a high state of cultivation 
and his buildings rank among the best in 
the township. He was married, in 1864, to 
Susan A. McPhern, and has been blessed 
with the birth of six children, as follows 
— Laura J., born September 28, 1866 ; 
Sanford W., born April 4, 1868; Rolla 
J., born April 11, 1870 ; Bert, born 
January 25, 1874 ; Frederick, born 
August 21, 1875, and Dora M., born 
August 21, 1877. Both he and Mrs. Wit- 
ters are members of the " Garden Plain " 
United Brethren church, he having been 
one of the prime movers in its organiza- 
tion and instrumental in having the old 
sod church built in 1879, which was 
replaced in 1887 by the present neat frame 
structure. Politically he is a republican 
and has held the office of justice of the 
peace ever since the organization of the 
township. 



CHRISTIAN JENSEN, the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Den- 
mark September 13, 1836, and is 
the son of Jens and Anna (Rasmusdotter) 
Hanson, both of whom were also natives 
of Denmark. Christian, our subject, lived 
in Denmark until thirty-one yeai's of age. 
During the first fourteen years of his life 
he attended school some, and afterwards 
hired out to a farmer, for whom he worked 
until twentj'-two years of age. He then 
entered the regular army, with which lie 
continued for six years. He was engaged 
in active service during 1863 and 1864 in 
the war with Prussia and Austria. He 



KEA liNEY CO UNTY. 



625 



came to America in 1866, first locating in 
Illinois, where for a short time he found 
employment as a farm laborer. Going 
thence to Chicago, he remained there a 
short time variously engaged. His next 
move was to Nebraska, coming to tliis 
state in 1867, and making his first stop at 
Omaha. lie followed different pursuits, 
but was mainly employed by the Union 
Pacific Railroad Company, with which he 
remained up to 1874. In the spring of 
that year he took a timber claim in Phelps 
county. At that time there were no 
actual settlers within many miles of his 
claim, and antelope, rattlesnakes and 
prairie wolves were his companions. The 
first year he spent most of his time in 
Kearney. He broke out fourteen acres 
and put it in crops, which w^ere totally de- 
stroyed by the grasshoppers. He had 
about $500, one cow and a team to start 
with when he came. He erected a twelve 
by fourteen frame house, in which he 
lived. The following year he broke out 
twenty acres more land and put it in crops, 
most of which were destroyed again by 
the grasshoppers. So hard were the times, 
and so. difficult was it to get money, that 
he had to take his team and wagon and 
drive over the prairie and pick up old 
buffalo bones, which he marketed at Kear- 
ney for $5 per ton. He had to haul wood 
from Center creek, the Little Blue and Re- 
publican rivei's, a distance of twenty-five 
miles. The nearest flouring mills was 
distant thirty-six miles, and it took several 
days to make the journey to and from. 
After the grasshopper raids of 1871r-6 he 
raised good crops and flourished in a man- 
ner beyond his expectations. He now 
owns considerable property in Minden, 
and has liis farm nicely and convenientl}' 



improved. Mr. Jensen was married, No- 
vember 15, ISfiO, to Trena Hanson, who 
was born in Denmark September 13, 1837, 
and came to America in 1869. Six chil- 
dren have been born as a result of their 
union, all of whom are dead. Politically, 
Mr. Jensen is democratic. 



NELS OLINE, the subject of this 
biographical sketch, is an early 
settler of Kearney county, and 
the owner of one of the best improved 
farms in Sherman township. He was born 
in Sweden, near Christianstad, October 
19, 1846. His father, Olof Oline, was a 
farmer by occupation and born in Sweden 
in the year 1818. He came to America in 
1880 and died in 1886. His mother, Susie 
Oline, was likewise a native of Sweden, 
born in 1812. The paternal family was a 
large one and consisted of eleven children, 
(seven boys and four girls) eight of whom 
are now living. 

Nels lived in his native country until 
twenty-two years of age. He attended 
the district school until fifteen years of 
age and received a good common-school 
education, after which his time was occu- 
pied on the farm. In 1869, he, in company 
with a sister, came to America, locating 
first in Henry county. 111., where for five 
years he worked as a common laborer on 
a farm and for two years thereafter 
farmed on his own account. He spent the 
summer of 1871 working on the Chicago, 
Dubuque & Minnesota railway. In the 
spring of -1876 he came to Kearney county, 
Nebr., and settled on an eighty-acre home- 
stead claim, on which he had filed August 



626 



EEARXEY COUNTY. 



2, 1875. At that earl}' date the country 
was new and barren, there being no set- 
tlement between his claim and the sand 
hills except James' _Ranch. The country 
teemed with antelope, and deer was plen- 
tiful along the Platte river. He built a 
sixteen b\^ sixteen dwelling, and having 
brought out a car load of stock and farm- 
ing implements he was soon busily en- 
gaged at breaking up his land. lie broke 
out fifty acres and planted corn, wheat 
and oats. His cro]is flourished and gave 
evidence of an abundant j'ield, but Au- 
gust lOtli the grasshoppers came and 
totall}' destroyed his corn. The hoppers 
were so thick on the ground that a team 
could not go on account of them fl\'ing in 
their faces. They sat on his board fence 
and ate holes into boards an inch thick. 
The failure of crops the first year was dis- 
couraging indeed, and most of the settlers 
that had come that year left. Mr. Oline, 
although somewhat discouraged, redoubled 
his efforts and the following year raised 
and harvested an abundant crop. Pros- 
perity has attended his sturdy industry 
and he is to-day the owner of by far the 
finest and best improved farm, consisting 
of four hundred and eighty acres in Sher- 
man township, anil one that will compare 
favorable with any in Kearney county. 
He built his large barn in 1SS2 and last 
year completed his magnificent residence. 
Mr. Oline married January 20, 1875, 
taking for a life companion Miss Nellie 
Ciauson. This union has been blessed with 
seven children, six of whom are living — 
Oscar, Edward, Victor, Ethel, Arthur and 
Emma. Mr. and Mrs. Oline are both mem- 
bers of the Lutheran church at Fredericks- 
borg. In politics Mr. Oline is a republican 
and a strong believer in the principles of 



his party. He was township treasurer for 
five years and school director for a num- 
ber of years, being one of the first chosen 
at the organization of the district, lie 
has also acted in the capacity of adminis- 
trator in the settlement of two estates. 



SAMUEL E. GLENN was born in 
Johnson county, Ind., June 5, 1826. 
His father, Henry Glenn, was a 
native of Kentucky, born in 1789, and was 
afarmer by occupation. He moved to Ind- 
iana in 1822 where he resided until 1828, 
and then moved to Vermilion county, 111. 
In 1831 he moved to Schuyler county. 111., 
where he died in 1832. He was a soldier 
in the War of 1812, participating in the 
battle of the Thames as a volunteer in a 
Kentucky regiment. The paternal grand- 
father, llobert Glenn, a farmer by occupa- 
tion and a native of Pennsylvania, was 
born near Philadelphia. He after wai-ds 
moved to Kentucky, where he died. The 
paternal great-great-grandfather was also 
named Robert and was a native of Ire- 
land. He immigrated to America and 
settled in Philadelphia in the j-ear 1702, 
being by occupation a linen dra])er. The 
mother of our subject, Ruth (Rhodes) 
Glenn, was a native of Kentucky, born in 
1791. She was the mother of nine chil- 
dren — five boys and four girls, namely — 
Robert A. (deceased), was born in 1810 
and served in the Black Hawk war; 
Fielding T., born in 1812, a farmer now 
living in Brown county 111., was a soldier 
in the Black Hawk war and in the war 
of the Rebellion, being promoted to first 
lieutenant in the lattei' ; Matilda, a native 



KEA RNEY CO Uli TY. 



627 



of Kentucky, born in 1814, was married to 
Simon P. O. Neal, and in 1874 departed 
tiiis life; Amanda, born in Kentucky in 
1816, and married, in 1835, to W. C. 
Hardin ; .Archibaki A., a native of Ken- 
tucky, born in 1819 and married to La- 
vinia Cooper; he held the office of lieu- 
tenant-governor of Illinois in 1874 and 
lilied nearly every other state office of 
importance at intervals ; he now lives at 
Wichita, Kans.; Elizabeth, born in Ken- 
tucky in 1821, married to "William Taylor, 
who resides in Brown county. 111., died in 
December 1872; William H., born in 
Indiana in 1824, and still living in Brown 
county. 111.; Samuel R. (subject); Sarah 
Jane, born in Indiana, in 1828, married 
Clark Lindsay, lived in Brown county, 
111., and died in March, 1884. 

When Samuel R. Glenn was two years 
old, bis parents moved to a farm near 
Danville, III., and remained there three 
years, and, in 1831, moved to Schuyler 
county. 111. Young Glenn attended 
school in one of the old log honses, in the 
early days when schools were conducted 
by popular subscription and the teacher 
" boarded 'round."' He had to travel a 
tlistance of five miles to the school-house. 
He resided at home until 1840, when he 
left home on account of an unpleasantness 
which arose between himself and a step- 
father, on account of his attending log- 
ciibin celebrations during the Harrison 
campaign. He went toRiple}', 111., where 
he worked and attended school for two 
years, receiving a good education. He 
served an apprenticeship to the cooper's 
trade and followed that as a business, with 
the exception of the two years' service in 
the Mexican war, until 1854. In May, 
1846, he enlisted in Company D, Fifth 



Illinois infantry, and served two years as 
a private in the Mexican war. While in 
the service he crossed the continent and 
was in California when gold was first dis- 
covered. He was mustered out at Alton, 
111., October 23, 1848. He followed the 
cooper's trade until 1854, when he em- 
barked in the general merchandising busi- 
ness, which, with the exception of the 
time spent in the War of the Rebellion, he 
followed until 1874. At the breaking out 
of the Rebellion, he entered the service, 
Aggust 30, 1861. He recruited a company, 
which subsequently became Company H, 
Fiftieth Illinois infantr\', and was unani- 
mously elected its captain. He was in 
command at the battles of Fort Henry, 
Donelson, Shiloh and siege of Corinth, 
during which his company' was under fire 
forty-five days. At the battle of Corinth, 
which was fought October 3 and 4, 1862, 
he was wounded by a piece of shell strik- 
ing him on the left breast and breaking 
three ribs. Following the advice of the 
surgeon, he resigned October 9, 1862. He 
returned home and continued merchandis- 
ing until 1874, when he disposed of his 
interests, and, after settling up his busi- 
ness, in 1878, came to Kearney county, 
Nebr. He took, as a claim, two eighty- 
acre tracts in section 30, township 5, range 
15 west, and erected a sod house fourteen 
by twenty-eight feet in dimensions. The 
countr3' was sparsely settled at that time, 
and, at the first election, only one hundred 
and seventy-five votes were cast. His 
nearest trading point was at Kearnej', 
twenty-five miles distant, and he had to 
go to Riverton, thirty miles, to have his 
milling done, and to the Platte river for 
fire-wood. His school district was eighteen 
miles long and six miles wide. 



fi-28 



KEARNEY COUNTY. 



Mr. Glenn was married, January 11, 
1849, to Elizabeth J. Daiton,\vho was born 
February 15, 1831, in Madison county, 
Ky. This happy union has resulted in 
the birth of twelve children, seven of 
whom are now living, viz. — John H., born 
in 1849 ; Chas. O., born in 1855 ; Mary A., 
born in 1857; Nina J., born in 1860 ; Ruth 
A., born in 1867 ; Omie M., born in 1869 ; 
Chester D., born in 1873. Mrs. Glenn 
departed this life January 7, 1890. She 
was a kind, christian woman and to know 



her was to love lier. Her funeral was 
largely attended, Elder Truman preaching 
the funeral sermon. 

In politics, Mr. Glenn is a strong repub- 
lican. He was nominated fof county 
treasurer in 1881, but was defeated by a 
small majority. He has held various 
minor offices in his townsliip, and was 
postmaster at Ripley, 111., for nearly 
twenty years, serving under the adminis- 
trations of Presidents Pierce, Buchanan, 
Lincoln, Johnson and Grant. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



JOHN P. SWANSON, one of the 
largest and most successful farmers 
of Center township, came to Nebraska 
in the spring of 1883 and two years 
later located a homestead on the south- 
west quarter of section 10, township 7, 
range 18, Phelps county. His first care 
was to find shelter for liimself, to which 
end he built a sod house and soon after 
built the frame house in which he now re- 
sides. Of his farm he has one hundred 
and thirty acres under cultivation, raising 
mixed crops, and has his farm also well 
supplied with line grades of live stock. For 
five years his average wheat crop has been 
fifteen bushels, but has had some 3' ears as 
high as twenty-two bushels per acre, and 
has invariably had good crops which, 
having been judiciously managed, have 
placed him in very comfortable circum- 
stances. When he came to the state he 
had $200, and what he now has he has 
made since. 

Mr. Swanson was born in Sweden, 
November 4, 1863, raised on a farm, and 
received the usual education common to 
the children of his native country. After 
leaving the common school he entered the 
high school, where he had instilled into his 
youthful mind principles which, besides 
giving him a good education, have enabled 
him to fight the battles of life. At the 
age of eleven he left home and went to 



sea, shipping as a sailor, and served on the 
ocean for five years ; then came to Amer- 
ica, landing at New Orleans. He secured 
a position on a steam-boat and followed 
the Mississippi for two years; then spent 
six months with a United States surveying 
party in Mississippi, and then came to 
Nebraska, as above stated. 

His father, S. P. Gustason, of Sweden, 
a shoemaker by trade, was also a farmer 
and horse-trader. In 1880 he emigrated 
and settled in Nebraska, locating a farm 
in Phelps county, but has since moved to 
Loomis and is engaged in the butcher bus- 
iness. He married Miss Matilda Build- 
ings, also of Sweden, and by this mai'riage 
became the father of three children, all of 
whom are now living in this country'. The 
father and mother of our subject are still 
living and are in good health, although 
past the meridian of life. 

In March, 1889, Mr. Swanson married 
Miss Agnes Mary Elizabeth Olson, a 
<Iaughter of Olaus Olson, a native of 
Sweden, who came to America in 1877, 
and three years later located in Nebraslca 
and is now residing in this county. Dur- 
ing his younger da^'s Mr. Olson followed 
the sea, but left it and is now engaged in 
farming. To Mr. and Mrs. Swanson has 
been born one child — John OttoSwanson. 

As a man, Mr. Swanson is industrious 
and enterprising and is ever ready to do 



631 



632 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



anvthing for the bettering- of his com- 
munity. Politiciilly, lie is Independent 
and is a member of tlie Farmers' Alliance. 
Besides cultivaiin<j tlie one iiundred and 
thirty acres of his own farm, Mr. Swan- 
son rents land and does farming on a large 
scale; he also runs a thresher, is something 
of a trader and is full of business. 



OLOF M. riOOG, an enterprising 
and successful farmer of Phelps 
county, is a native of Sweden, 
and was horn December 27, 1854. He is 
the fifth of a family of six children born 
to l\rons and Karin Oleson, natives also of 
Sweden. His jiarents never came to this 
counliy but died in the place of their 
birth, the father passing away in 1875, at 
the age of sixty-six, and the mother in 
1807, at the age of forty-three. 

The subject of this notice was born 
near Karlstad, Sweden, and reared on his 
father's farm, receiving a good common- 
school education and being trained to the 
habits of usefulness and intlustry common 
to farm life. He came to America in 
April, 1876, and made his first stop at 
Red Wing, Minn., and found his first em- 
ployment in this country as a farm hand. 
He came to Nebraska the following year 
and settled in Phelps county, where, after 
working one year as a farm hand, he 
took a homestead, filing on the north- 
east quarter of section 3i, township 7, 
range IS west, and began farming for 
himself. He started in with very limited 
means, liaving only $29 wlien he came to 
the state, and, being unmarried, bis first 
years were spent in " baching " and 
were marked by their great intlustry and 
hardships. He had the usual bad luck of 



the early settlers, losing his crops the 
first four seasons by the droughts, hail 
and other elements, but since that time 
has had reasonably fair success. He has 
most of his farm under cultivation ami 
has it well supplied with all needfid 
buildings, stock and implements. "What 
he has, represents the fruit of his own 
industry and good management. 

In February, 1886, he married Miss 
Louisa Packman, a daughter of S. P. 
Packman, she and her parents both being 
natives of Sweden. To this union have 
been born two children — Elsie Christina 
and Laura Alma. 

Mr. Iloog is now serving his second 
term as assessor of his township. He is 
a member of the Farmers' Alliance, a stock- 
holder in the Farmers' Elevator Company 
and otherwise ])rominentl3' identified with 
the agricultural interests of his commu- 
nity. In politics he is a republican, being 
a zealous supporter of the teachings of 
his party. 



JOHN E. SWANSON was born near 
Hudikswall, Sweden, in December, 
181:7. He is the second of a family 
of five children born to Swan antl 
wife. His mother was a native of Sweden, 
a woman of great industry, and possessed 
many of the virtues belonging to her sex. 
She died in 1885, aged sixty-six years. 
His father is now a resident of Phelps 
county, Nebr., where he located a home- 
stead about thirteen years ago. He is 
now in his seventy-fifth year. 

John E. Swanson, our subject, was 
reared in his native place, and received an 
ordinarv common-school training. Lie 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



633 



came to America with his parents in 18(57, 
being then about twenty years of age. 
He made his first stop in Minnesota, and 
remained there ten 3'ears. Coming to 
Nebraska in the fall of 1877, he settled in 
Phelps county, and located a homestead 
on the southwest quarter of section 3-1, 
township 7, range 18, Center township. 
He began life in the West in the usual 
way, by building a sod house, and the first 
few years witnessed something of a strug- 
gle, tlie hail anil drouth playing havoc 
with his cro|)S. Although he was dis- 
couraged he never gave up, hut determined 
to remain h\ the liDUie of his choice. lie 
worked hard and managed wjll, and has 
begun to reap the reward of his ])atient 
toil and self-sacrifice. 

Mr. Swanson married, taking to share 
his life's fortune Miss Cristina Swanson, a 
daughter of Swan Swanson, a native of 
Sweden, but now a resident of Furnas 
county, Nebr. After his marriage he be- 
gan the struggle of life in earnest, and by 
perseverance, good judgment antl industry 
he has won a marked success. He has ac- 
cumulated considerable property, and is 
recognized as one of Phelps county's 
prominent farmers. He now owns one of 
the best farms in the county, having 
eighty-five acres under cultivation, raises 
mixed crops, and has given much time 
and attention to stock. His sod house has 
given way to a comfortable fi'ame, sur- 
rounded by all necessary outbuildings. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Swanson have been 
born two children, as follows — Albert T. 
and Hester T. In politics Mr. Swanson is 
a republican, and takes an active interest 
in his party. He has been school treasurer 
of his disti'ict, and is highly esteemed by 
the people of his township and county. 



A 



SA LEWELLING, the clerk of 
the district court of Phelps 
J_ V county, is a native of Henry 
county, Iowa, and was born February 3, 
18-15. His father, William Lewelling, is a 
native of Pennsylvania, and was married 
\n Indiana to Cyrena Wilson, a native of 
Virginia. In 1838 they removed to Henry 
county, Iowa, being among the first set- 
tlers in that section of the state. The 
senior Lewelling was a minister of the 
Quaker faith, with strong antislaveiy 
views, and preached for several years in 
Indiana and Iowa, and was an able and 
useful man. 

Asa Lewelling was reared on a farm 
and attended the common disti'ict school 
when opportunity afforded. When he 
was thirteen years old he started out to 
do for himself, obtaining emplo3'ment on 
a farm in Henry county. He worked 
steadil}' until the war broke out, when he 
enlisted in the Seventh Missouri infantrj^, 
and served two years. He was captured 
at the battle of Mark's Mills and taken to 
Camp Ford, Tyler, Tex., whence he es- 
caped, however, but was recaptured and 
held for several months. After he 
returned from the service he attended 
Howe's High School at Mt. Pleasant, 
Iowa, for one year, and in 1874 secured a 
position as teacher in the Illinois State 
Reform School, continued in this capacity 
for five years, and proved himself to be 
a most satisfactory instructor in every 
respect. 

Mr. Lewelling was married, April 1, 
1SG8, to Amanda Y. Hord, who was born 
in Van Ouren county, Iowa, May 11, 1850. 
Her father, Frank Hord, was a native of 
Kentucky, and was a wagon-maker liy 
trade. lie was one of the California 



634 



9 HELP 8 COUNTY. 



gold hunters in 1S52, crossing the phiins 
in that year. He died in 1856. The 
union of Mr. and Mrs. LeweUing has re- 
sulted in the birth of four children, viz. — 
Etta, born April 13, 1869, wife of O. C. 
Frank; Claude, born January 23, 1875; 
Gu}', born September 8, 1882; Fredrica, 
born February 25, 1884. 

Mr. Lewelling came to Phelps county, 
Nebr., in the spring of 1879, took a home- 
stead in Cottonwood township and was 
among the first to settle in that locality. 
He was elected a member of the county 
board of supervisors and was chairman 
four 3'ears, and was elected clerk of the dis- 
trict court of Phelps county on the rej)ulj- 
lican ticket in the fall of 1887. He has 
been a member of the Masonic fraternity 
since 1S6S, and is also a member of the A. 
O. U. W., Grange and Alliance. 



WILLIAM IL FRANK, Sr., 
was born m Knox county, 
Ohio, December 20, 1817. 
His father, John Frank, was a native of 
Petersburgh, Va., and served under Gen. 
W. II. Harrison in the War of 1812. He 
was a participant in the famous battle of 
Tippecanoe, and rendered honorable ser- 
vice throughout the entire war. He set- 
tled at Mount Vernon, Ohio, in an early 
day, where he took to wife Miss Sarah 
Hickman, a native of Pennsylvania. She 
was a modest, unassuming christian 
woman, and lived to the ripe old age of 
eight V -nine years. John Frank died in 
1824, at the age of thirty-three years. 
The paternal family were left poor and 
almost helpless after the death of the 
father. There were four children, of 



whom the subject of this sketch was the 
eldest. The mother was a seamstress, 
and an industrious, cheerful-hearted 
woman. When William H. Frank, Sr., 
was only seven j^ears old, he exhibited 
signs of industry. He would secure odd 
jobs of piling wood from such men as the 
Hozomerses and Curtisses, famous in their 
day in Ohio. At the age of nine years 
he secured employment of good old Philip 
Plummer, who kept a hotel at Mount 
Vernon. Here young Frank did chores, 
waited on the table, and blacked the 
travelers' boots, receiving sometimes a 
sixpence or a few cop)3ers. At the age of 
ten he sought and obtained of Dr. John 
P. Brookins a position in a drug store at 
Mount Vernon. Here he continued his 
remarkable habits of industry by stud\'- 
ing chemistry and learning to prepare 
extracts. In the course of a year. Dr. 
Brookins disposed of the drug store, and, 
together with Philip Plummer, laid out 
the town of Richmond, in Union county, 
Ohio. They were accompanied to this 
place by young Frank, who carried the 
chain while the survey was being made. 
He also helped Dr. Brookins build the 
first house in this place, which is now one 
of the most prosperous and wealthy little 
cities in Ohio. In the spring of 1833, 
this industrious youth was apprenticed 
to a cabinet maker at Marysville, the 
county seat of Union county. Llis ap- 
prenticeship extended over a period of 
three years and eight months, during 
which time he would often get up at 
three and four o'clock in the morning and 
work in order that he might earn a little 
extra money. 

In 1836 he was sent by his employer 
to Missouri to aid in the completion of a 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



635 



large order of furniture for the female 
department of Marion College. He 
spent six months in Missouri during the 
most exciting times of the anti slavery 
agitation. While there he walked seven 
miles one Sunday to hear Dr. Nelson, 
president of Marion College, preach 
against slaver}'^, in consequence of which 
there were present a great concourse of 
people to hear hiin. It was a well known 
fact that the professors of Marion Col- 
lege were bitter opponents of slavery, 
and were recognized leaders of the anti- 
slavery movement. There were also pres- 
ent, on this occasion, a large number 
of prominent slaveholders, who were 
determined to prevent Dr. Nelson 
from preaching on the anti-slavery 
question. The Doctor, however, ju- 
diciously refrained from even alluding 
to the subject in his excellent sermon that 
day. At the close of the services. Col. 
Muldrow, president of the female depart 
ment of Marion College, arose to call the 
attention of the people to a petition 
which related to the anti-slavery niove- 
ment, and was interrupted by Dr. Bosley, 
a prominent slaveholder, who drew his 
cudgel and was about to strike Col. Mul- 
drow, when the latter drew his knife and 
stabbed him. The affair created the 
wildest excitement throughout the state 
on account of the prominence of both 
]iarties, and resulted in driving tiie anti- 
slavery advocates from Marion College. 
Mention is made of this incident merely 
to show the deep interest manifested on 
the great questions of the day by the 
young cabinet-maker. Deprived of school 
privileges during his early life, he dug 
his knowledge from such books as he 
could obtain with his limited means. 



Mr. Frank was married, April 17, 18.]7, 
to Miss Eachael Wolford, who is still his 
faithful and loving companion. She is a 
native of Ohio, and was born April 13, 
1817. This union has been blessed by the 
birth of eight children, as follows — John 
E., born in Union countv, Ohio, January 
8, 1836; Joseph W., born in Union 
county, Ohio, December 12, 1840; AVil- 
liam II., born in Union count}', Ohio, No- 
vember 29, 1843 ; Leonidas F., born in 
Union county, Ohio, February 15, 1846 ; 
Mary L., born in Union county, Oliio, 
April 12, 1848 (deceased) ; Charles L., 
born in Union county, Ohio, May 11, 
1850; George S., born in Henry county, 
Iowa, May 28, 1853; and Otway C, born 
in Henry county, Iowa, August 28, 1860. 

In 1837, Mr. Frank located at Marys- 
ville, Ohio, and was appointed postmaster 
under President Taylor's administration. 
He served during Taylor's administration 
and nine months under Pierce's adminis- 
tration. He was also justice of the peace 
as long as he would accept the office. In 
1840, he was elected coroner of Union 
county, Ohio, and was elected ma3'or of 
Marysville about the same time. He was 
at the head of the city government for 
four years, acquitting himself in a most 
praise-worthy manner. 

In 1856, Mr. Frank moved his family to 
Mt. Pleasant, Henry county, Iowa, where 
he followed contractino* and buildino' for 
several years. The country was new, 
and as he was an efficient workman he 
found plentj' of enqiloyment. In 1859, 
he went to Marshall and continued his, 
vocation successfull}' until he moved to 
Eed Oak. a few years later. While at 
Marshall, he was postmaster for three 
years and justice of the peace several 



636 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



years. He remained in Red Oak about ten 
years, after which, in January, 1882, he 
removed with liis family to Fhelps county, 
Nebr. He immediately purchased a sec- 
tion of land in Cottonwood township, in the 
Platte Eiver valley, where he has since re- 
sided. He has since sold a portion of land 
to four of his sons, who are among the 
wide-awake young men of Phelps county. 
Mr. Frank organized the Frank postof- 
fice in 1882, and has since been postmas- 
ter. The name of tlie office, however, 
has been changed to Romeyne, on account 
of a similarity of names of other offices 
in the state. He has been the efficient 
clerk of the towmship since its organiza- 
tion, and, in 1885,. was appointed to take 
the census of Cottonwood township. Mr. 
Frank has been identified with the repub- 
lican party since its organization up to 
within recent years. He now is a third 
party prohibitionist. He is a strong ad- 
vocate of temperance, and in favor of 
wiping the traffic in intoxicating liquors 
out of existence as soon as possible. He 
is an able writer, and has corresponded 
considerably for various papers and peri- 
odicals. He has never tasted a drop of 
liquor, and never has used tobacco in any 
form. He and his estimable wife have 
been members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church nearly all their lives, and although 
they are each past three-score years a'hd 
ten, their faith in the Master is as firm as 
the Rock of Ages. 



DR. J. W. FRANK, one of the 
well known and successful physi- 
cians of Phelps count}', Nebr., 
is a native of Ohio, and was born on the 
twelfth day of December, 1841. The 



bo3'hood days of Dr. Frank were mainly 
spent in Marysville, the county seat of 
Union county, Ohio, where he lived with 
his parents and attended school until he 
was fifteen years of age. In 1855 he ac- 
companied his parents to Henry county, 
Iowa, and the same year entered the 
Weslyan University at Mt. Pleasant, that 
state. He pursued his studies diligently 
in that institution for three years, prepar- 
ing himself for whatever profession he 
might choose to enter upon. 

When the war of the rebellion broke 
out and the very life of the nation was in 
peril, young Frank was among the first to 
offer his services in defense of the stars 
and stripes. He enlisted November 9, 
1861, Company D, Fourth regiment Iowa 
cavalry. The first real opposition encoun- 
tered by this regiment was at Prairie 
Grove, Ark., where, after a lively skirmish, 
the boys in blue triumpheil over the rebel 
opponents. The Fourth Iowa cavalry 
also supported General Price in his famous 
raid in Missouri, and, in fact, participated 
in nearly all the principal cavalry engage- 
ments in the West. 

Dr. Fi'ank was one of the ill-fated crew 
aboard the steamer Maria on the Mississippi 
about nine miles below St. Louis at the 
time of the terrible explosion which oc- 
curred on that boat. His right leg was 
broken in three and his left in two places 
below the knee, and his escape from a ter 
rible death was indeed a miraculous one. 
He lay in Jefferson barracks in an almost 
helpless condition for six months and is to 
this day a constant sufferer from the ef- 
fects of the injuries received on that awful 
wreck. He was discharged on the twenty- 
sixth of May, 1865, after four and a half 
years of faithful service. 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



637 



In 1866, Mr. Frank began reading medi- 
cine with Dr. S. B. Cook, of Marshall, 
Iowa, and four years later entered the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons at 
Keokuk, Iowa, from which he graduated 
in March, 1870. He immediately entered 
upon the practice of his profession at 
Indianapolis, Mahaska county, Iowa, 
where he enjoyed the confidence and es- 
teem of the entire community for thirteen 
3'ears. 

Dr. Frank came to Phelps county, 
jSTebr., in the fall of 1883, locating in the 
Platte valley in the north part of the 
county. Fiv't years later he moved across 
the river into Elm Creek, where he con- 
tinued the practice of medicine until the 
spring of 1890, when he returned to his 
farm. 

Dr. Frank was united in marriage with 
Miss Martha F. Johnson, March 13, 1873. 
She is a native of Ohio and was born July 
26, 1853. Her parents were also natives 
of the Buckeye slate and were of Irish- 
German extraction. This union has re 
suited in the birth of five children, as fol- 
lows — Lena, born February 13, 1874; 
Myrtle, born August 8, 1878; Josie, born 
March 16, 1881 ; Mma, born November 
11, 1883, and Jessie, born August 21, 1887. 
Dr. Frank owns eighty acres of improved 
land in the fertile valley of the Platte, is 
an honored member of the G. A. R. or- 
ganization and in politics is a republican, 
first, last and at all times. 



JOHN A. HOPiN is one of the earliest 
settlers in central Nebraska and a 
deservedly popular young man of 
Divide township, Phelps county. He 
was born in Sweden, March 10, 1861, 



and is one of seven children, four boys and 
three girls, boi-n toT. O. and Louisa Horn, 
both of whom are natives also of Sweden. 
His father, a carpenter and mill-wright by 
occupation, was born in 1827, the mother 
in 1830. 

John A. resided in his native country 
until he was six years old, when, in com- 
pany with his parents, he came to Amer- 
ica. Notwithstanding his extreme youth, 
he .still has some recollection of his native 
land and the long and tedious voyage to 
this country. His parents located in Henry 
county, 111., where he attended school 
and worked, during his leisure lime, in the 
shop. In 187-1 he went to Moline, 111., 
where he soon found employment in the 
large plow factories of that place. He 
remained there two years, and in Septem- 
ber, 1876, came West, locating at Kearney, 
where he worked on the brick yard one 
year, and then went north into Custer 
county and herded cattle on the range for 
two years. At that time Custer county 
was alive with deer, antelope, elk, and 
many are the interesting tales told by Mr. 
Horn in connection with his early experi- 
ence in that country. He came dow^n 
south of the Platte river, in 1878, and 
herded sheep on the Divide for three 
vears. At that early date there were few 
residents on the Divide, and the monotony 
of the vast stretching prairie was only 
broken, now and then, by the sod house 
of a venturesome settler, or a cattle ranch 
of the herdsman. He purchased the 
present quarter section in 1885, and has 
erected thereon a neat frame dwelling, 
and broken the entire one hundred and 
sixty acres. In the fall of 1889 he pur- 
chased a half section of land, three hun- 
dred and twenty acres, in section 10, town- 



638 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



shi]) 6, range 17, of whicli ninety acres 
are broken. He is a typical hustler, and 
is well deserving of the great success that 
has attended his industrious life. He has 
not yet married. Mr. Horn is a member 
of the Lutheran church and an ardent sup- 
porter of the prohibtion party. 



MANLIUS LUCAS is a native 
of Kentucky and was born Jan- 
uary 20, 1849, a son of Thomas 
and Minerva Lucas. His parents located 
in "Woodford county, 111., in 1852, and 
removed to Phelps county, Nebr., in 1879. 

Maulieus Lucas came to Phelps county, 
Nebr., in the fall of 1872, when there 
were perhaps not to exceed a half-dozen 
actual settlers in the entire county. He 
filed on a homestead and a tree claim in 
the Platte bottom and remained by them. 
Buffalo, elk, deer and antelope were 
plenty then and Indians lined the banks 
and islands of the historic stream. The 
old California trail, along which many a 
wear}' traveler had passed, runs across his 
land. A lonely grave, occupied by the 
bones of some poor fellow who fell by the 
way -side while crossing the " Great Ameri- 
can Desert," is situated on his homestead. 

Mr. Lucas was a victim of the famous 
grasshopper raid in 1875, and has not for- 
gotten how his promising crop of corn 
dissappeared before the ravenous insects. 
Indeed, those were discouraging times, 
when the crop which the pioneer de- 
pended on for his own, as well as his 
stock's food, was wiped out. 

Mr. Lucas did not believe at first tliat 
this country would ever be adapted to 
farming. His idea in coming here was to 



raise stock, to which he has since largely 
devoted himself, but he has also farmed 
quite extensively. He set . out a large 
number of forest trees,which are now quite 
large and serve as a splendid protection to 
his stock. 

Mr. Lucas has been assessor of Cotton- 
wood township for four years and is now 
the treasurer. He has alwa^'s been identi- 
fied with the democratic party, although 
he is no politician. 



JOHN FRASER, the subject of this 
sketch, is one of the early settlei's 
of Plielps count\', who came in the 
fall of 1878 and located in the 
Platte valley, on the northern border of 
the county^ when there were only eight 
families within a radius of as many 
miles. 

Mr. Eraser's pockets were not lined with 
"greenbacks" when he came to this new 
and untried country, but on the other 
hand he was without means, and conse- 
quently had to endure manj' of the priva- 
tions incident to the settlement of a new 
country. 

There was plenty of wild game and 
many a deer has he shot to supply his 
family and friends with venison. 

Mr. Fraser was born in Scotland, June 
7, 1856, and came to America in 1873. 
He is a machinist b}' trade, and upon ar- 
riving in this countr}' went to Newark, 
N. J., where he .worked several years, 
prior to coming to Nebraska. 

His father, Andrew Fraser, came to 
America at the same time. He was a 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



639 



carpenter by trade and worked in New- 
ark, on his first arrival. He came to 
Phelps county, Nebr., in the fall of 1878, 
where he has since lived. He built a sod 
house, and, although he had no experience 
in farming in a new country like this, he 
has succeeded well and now owns a good 
farm of one hundred and sixty acres. 
The senior Fraser was married October 
15, 1852, to Jane Stewart, who was born 
in 1826. To this union were born four 
children, viz. — John, Jessie, Jemima and 
Elizabeth. 

He has held the office of justice of the 
peace, and is an active member of the 
Farmers' Alliance. He and his wife are 
both members of the Presbyterian church. 

John Fraser, concerning whom this 
sketch is written, was married April 8, 
1878, to Eliza Cowans, who is also a native 
of Scotland. To this union have been born 
five children, viz. — Jane, John, Eliza, 
Margaret and Willie. 

Mr. Fraser now resides in Cottonwood 
township, where he owns a farm of eighty 
acres under a good state of cultivation. 
He has been assessor for his township 
three years, has also been justice of the 
peace for the same length of time, is now 
a member of the county board of super- 
visors, and he also organized the Fraser 
postoffice and was appointed postmaster 
in 1SS4. 

He is a prominent and influential man 
in Phelps county, especiallj'^ among the 
members of the Farmers' Alliance. 



NELS P. PETERSON, the subject 
of this biographical memoir, is 
one of the earliest settlers on the 
Divide ill Phelps county, and a prosperous 



and very popular young man. He was 
born in Sweden, April 11, 1858. 

His father, Anton Peterson, was born 
in Sweden, came to America in 1868, 
and followed the occupation of a farmer. 
His mother, Sarah (Oleson) Peterson, was 
also born in Sweden. There were eight 
children in the family to which he 
belonged, six boys, and two girls. 

Mr. Peterson lived in Sweden until he 
was ten j^ears of age, spending his early 
life, while there, in attending school and 
working on his father's farm. In 1868, he 
embarked with his parents for America. 
Landing in this country, they located 
in Knox counts, HI., where for ten 
years he was engaged at farming 
and working in the timber. He moVed 
from there to Phelps county in 
March, 1S7S, and horaesteaded the 
quarter section on which he now lives. 
The country at that time presented a 
wild and barren appearance and was any- 
thing but inviting to a new-comer. Ante- 
lope roamed over the prairie in droves of 
twenty and thirty and deer occasionally 
strolled down on the Divide from the 
Platte river, twenty miles to the north. 
The settlers were few and far between 
and the loneliness of life on the wild, 
unbroken prairie can better be imagined 
than described. Mr. Peterson constructed 
a small ten by twelve sod house in which 
to live, and began farm life. He had 
practically nothing to start with, and the 
first few years of his residence in Phelps 
county witnessed many hardships and 
privations. He, being possessed with an 
invincible determination, stuck to his 
claim, trusting to the future for better 
days. He had to haul brush from the 
Platte river twenty miles to the north. 



640 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



and also use corn-stalks for fuel. He kept 
" bach " the first three j^ears, and this, 
together with the scarcity of the settlers, 
added much to the melancholy of his life. 
The first year he broke ten acres and 
raised a small ci'op of sod-corn. His crops 
have compared favorably with those of 
his neighbors. He has succeeded admir- 
ably of late 3'ears, and does not regret 
coming to Nebraska. 

In politics he is a republican. 



PHILIP C. FUNK, the subject of 
this biographical memoir, is an 
early settler and a much honored 
and respected citizen of Phelps county. 
He was born in Germany, August 19, 1847, 
and is the only child of Philip and 
Elizabeth (Springer) Funk, both natives 
of Germany. His parents embarked for 
America when he was but five years old, 
and he, in consequence, has but a faint re- 
collection of his native country and the 
vovao-e wiiichcast his lot in a foreign land. 
His parents located on a farm in Wood 
county, Ohio, which was at that time one 
vast swale known as Black Swamp. 
Philip's mother died three years after 
their arrival and his father one year later, 
leaving him an orphan in a strange land at 
the youthful age of nine years. Kind Provi- 
dence, ever mindful of the orphan, found 
for him a home in a good family whei-e 
he was taken and reared, receiving a 
good education and moral training. 
When the war came on, Mr. Funk enlisted 
in Company A, Third Ohio cavalry, join- 
ing the regiment at Columbia, Tenn. He 
took part in the Atlanta campaign, and 
later followed up Gen. Hood's reti-eat- 



ing army from Nashville, Tenn., to Gravel 
Springs, Ala. He was also with the Wil- 
son raiders and participated in the tak- 
ing of Selma and Montgomery, Ala.; 
Columbus and Macon, Ga. He was 
with the ex]iedition sent out in search of 
Jefferson Davis, during which time he did 
the hardest marching in his whole experi 
ence. August, 1865, he was mustered out 
at Nashville, Tenn., after which he re- 
turned to Wood county, Ohio, where he 
continued his residence for one }'ear, then 
emigrated West, locating in Benton 
county, Iowa, and engaged in farming 
till 1878. In the spring of that j'ear he 
came to Phelps county, Nebr., and pur- 
chased a quarter section of railroad land 
in section 9, township 6, range 17. When 
Mr. Funk landed in Phelps county he had 
a team, some stock and a few farm imple- 
ments to begin with. He erected a small 
frame hoitse and began farming with the 
vigor that has characterized his entire 
life. He has been very successful, never 
having had an entire failure of crops, and 
has, from time to time, as his means would 
allow, purchased more land until he now 
owns over 400 acres of fine land, 260 of 
which are under cultivation. He also 
owns an interest in the town site of Funk, 
which bears his name, he having been 
instrumental in getting the officials of the 
Burlington & Missouri River Railroad to 
place a station there. Mr. Funk was 
married July 2, 1874, the lady whom he 
selected for a life partner being Miss 
Almeda Hesseltine, who is a native of 
New York. She was born July 13, 1848. 
This union has been blessed with three 
children, as follows — Alice, born July 11, 
1875; Harry, born April 1, 1877; and 
Nettie, born February 24, 1883. Politic- 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



641 



ally, Mr. Funk is a strong believer in the 
principles of the republican party. He 
held the office of supervisor of his town- 
ship in 1886-7. Considering the loss of 
Mr. Funk's parents at such an early period 
in the history of his eventful life, and the 
fact of his being left practically upon his 
own resources and that, too, in a foreign 
land, he is deserving of much credit; and 
the confidence and esteem in which he is 
held by his neighbors and acquaintances 
speaks move fully of the success of his life- 
struggle than the pen of the historian is 
able to record. 



JOHN S. JOHNSON, the subject of 
this sketch, is one of the rising 
young men of Phelps county. He 
was born in Sweden, September 9, 
1855. His father, Swan Johnson, was a 
native of Sweden, and was born in the 
village Froderyd, in 1825. During his 
life he was engaged in farming, milling 
and railroading. He died near Ophiem, 
HI., in 1875. Mr. Johnson's mother, 
Anna S. (Hanson) Johnson, was born in 
Sweden in the year 1835. There were 
seven children in the family. John S. re- 
sided in Sweden until twelve years of age, 
attended the public school and helped his 
father in the mill. He came with his 
parents to America in _1869, locating in 
Woodhull, Henry county, HI., where he 
remained five j^ears and then moved on a 
farm near Opiiiem, Henry county, and 
lived thereuntil he came to Phelps county, 
Nebr., in February, 1887. He brought 
several car loads of cows, horses and farm 
implements with him. He bought one hun- 



dred and sixty acres of fine land in section 
9, township 6, range 17, on which he has 
spent over $1,000 in improvements. Mr. 
Johnson makes a business of raising stock 
and has good success in that line. In 
1S88 he bought eighty acres of land in 
section 15, township 6, range 17, and has 
since purchased an intei'est in sixty acres 
in the town of Funk, and in 1890, three 
hundred and twenty acres in section 1 
township 7, range 17. He has had re- 
markable success for a young man and 
has a bright future before him. He was 
married March 9, 1880, the lady whom 
he chose for a life partner being Miss 
Alice C. Johnson, who was born in Henry 
county, HI., October 6, 1861. Five chil- 
dren have been born to them, as follows — 
Alice W., born December 19, 1880 ; Minnie 
O,, born January 22, 1882; Ebenezer D., 
born February 18, 1881 ; Violet N., born 
August 27, 1886 ; Frances A., born Jan- 
uary 8, 1889. 

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are both mem- 
bers of the Fridhem Lutheran church in 
Phelps county. 



NELS ANDEPtSON is one of the 
very first settlers on the Divide, 
and the first one to settle in An- 
derson township, which bears his name. 
He was born in Sweden, January 13, 18-18. 
His father, Anderson Nelson, a very ex- 
tensive farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
in Sweden and is still living. His mother, 
Eleanor Nelson, was also a native of 
Sweden and died in 1867. There were 
seven children, three boys and four girls, 
in the family. 



642 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



Mr. Anderson lived in his native coun- 
try until he was twenty years of age, and 
spent his early days in attending school 
and helping his father on the fann. In 
May, 1869, he emigrated to America, be- 
ing twenty days on the water. Arriving 
in this country, he located at Stillwater, 
Minn., where he found employment on a 
farm. He was afterwards emplo^'ed in a 
machine shop, making-engines for steam- 
boats, and continued at this business for 
five years, becoming so proficient that he 
was made foreman of the shop the first 
year, and served in this capacity for four 
years. On account of failing health he 
was compelled to leave the shoji and in 
consequence of which he came to Phelps 
county, Nebr., March 1, 1877. He had 
come out in June of the year previous, and 
purchased a half section of railroad land 
and taken a timber claim. He also pre 
enipted another .quarter, making in all six 
hundred and forty acres. He was the 
first settler in Anderson township, since 
named after him, and the old Kearney trail 
used to run directly by his place. He 
built a sixteen by twenty -two frame house, 
bought a wagon and team and began 
farming, raising a little wheat the first 
few years. He burned corn-stalks and 
wood, which he liauled from Spring creek 
thirty miles away, and one winter when 
the snow was too deep to get either stalks 
or wood he had to twist and burn iiay. 
Antelope and other wild game was abund- 
ant. During an Indian scare one year all 
the settlers left except himself and one 
other. He now has a finely improved 
farm and has prospered far beyond his 
early expectations. 

He was married, February 28, 1878, 
taking for a life companion Miss Anna 



Almen. She is a native of Sweden and 
was born March 28, 18-18. This union has 
been blessed with two children, as follows 
— Hannah V., born January 14, 1880, and 
Larens M., born April 21, 1888. 

He and his wife are members of the 
Lutheran church. Politically, he is a 
republican. 



WILLIAM E. HYMER, cashier 
of the Iloldrege National Bank 
of Holdrege, Phelps county, was 
born near Rushville, Schuyler county. 111., 
November 11, 1853. He is a son of John 
B. and Mary A. (Newberry) Hymer, both 
now residents of Holdrege, this state. Mr. 
Hymer was reared in his native county 
and grew up on his father's farm, passing 
his earlier years like most countr\' lads in 
the alternate pursuits of his ilutiesas a farm 
hand and attending the district schools. 
He followed farming in Schuyler county 
till 1878, when, having married and seeing 
a young family start up around him, he 
decided to move to the more fruitful prai- 
ries beyond the Mississippi. He came to 
Nebraska that year and settled at Sacra- 
mento, Phelps county, embarking in the 
mercantile business at that place. It is 
needless to say that even as late as 1878 
was an early day for Phelps county. There 
was at that time only two postolf ices in the 
count}', and they were kept at farm houses; 
one of these was 18 miles from where Mr. 
Hymer settled, and the other 24 niiles 
away. In 1880 he put up a hardware store 
at Plielps Center, that place having started 
in the meantime, conducting his Sac 
ramentoand Phelps Center stores till the 
fall of 1883. He than moved his building 




WM. E. HYMER. 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



645 



at Phelps Center to where Holdrege now 
stands, that town having been projected on 
the line of the Burhngton and Missouri 
railroad upon its completion into Phelps 
country. At this time, however, there was 
no town there. Mr. Hymer was the first 
mercliant in the place. He saw the town 
staked off, attended the first sale of lots 
and witnessed the beginning of what has 
since become the proud and prosperous 
little city of Holdrege. He continued in 
the mercantile business till 1880, when he 
closed out all his interests of this nature 
and began to handle real estate. From the 
broke age business he glided easih' into 
the loaning business and a year later 
opened in Holdrege a private bank, called 
tlie Bank of Holdrege, which he conducted 
a year, organizing at that date the 
Holdrege National Bank, with which he 
has been actively connected since. There 
iiave been some changes in the working 
force of the bank since its organization, 
but it has remained under the same gen- 
eral management. A. Yeazel is its president- 
F. Hallgren, vice-president, and Wm. E, 
Hymer, cashier. It has a paid up capital 
of fifty thousand dollar^ and a surplus of 
six thousand dollars. It has added 4 per 
cent, to its surplus every six months since 
its organization and has declared a dividend 
of 5 per cent, every six months. Its stock 
sells at one dollar and thirty three cents. 
It is recognized as one of tlie solid finan- 
cial institutions of the town of Holdrege 
and Phelps county, established upon a firm 
financial basis and doing a safe conserva 
tive, banking business. Its board of 
directors is composed of men of established 
reputations as financiers and men of 
unimpeachable integrity. With its afifairs 
Mr. Hvmer has been actively identified 



since its organization and it owes much of 
its success to his wise and judicious man- 
agment. In addition to his banking 
interest, Mr. Hjnner is also largly inter- 
ested in real estate in and around Hold- 
rege and has taken a leading part in the 
building up and improvment of the town. 
He has erected a number of business and 
residence buildings, and is continually 
buying, building and selling. His present 
place of business occupies one of the hand- 
somest brick blocks in the town of Hold- 
rege and stands in striking contrast with 
the primitive one-story frame building in 
which be entered on his business career 
in Phelps county twelve years ago, his old 
store building still standing in Holdrege 
not far from its more pretentious suc- 
cessor, being kept by Mr. Hymer as a 
souvenir of his earlier years. Mr. Hymer 
has never aspired to public life. He has 
found his chief employment and his chief 
pleasures in the pursuit of his own affairs, 
yet he no been honored with public trusts 
having been a delegate from his county to 
every state convention for the last 10 years 
He is a republican in politics, an able 
exponent of the principles of his party 
and an efficient worker at the polls. He 
is a man who is warm in his nature and 
steadfast in his friendships. He is highly 
regarded as a man of business and re- 
spected and esteemed as a citizen. He mar 
ried April 1, 1875, the lady whom he 
selected to share his fortunes being Miss 
Mary E. Dunlavy, of Schuyler count}'. 111. 
This union has been blessed with five chil- 
dren — Otis, Katie, Clarence, Alphia and 
Bertie. Mr. Hymer and his wife are both 
zealous members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church and generous contributors 
to all charitable purposes. 



646 



PHELPS C0VN2Y 



yl NDREAS OLESON is next to the 
/ \ oldest settler now living on " the 
2. V divide" in Phelps county. He 
was born in Sweden, June 24, 1S42, and 
his parents, Ole and Anna Oleson, were 
both natives also of that country, the 
foi'mer being born in tlie year ISl-t, and 
tiie latter a year later. These were the 
pirents of eleven children, five boys and 
six girls. Andreas was reared in his na- 
tive place and lived there to the age of 
twenty-eight. He received a good com- 
mon-school education and spent his youth 
working on his father's farm, and during 
the winter months in the copper mines 
near by. He came to America in June, 
1870, and lived successively in Houston 
county, Minn.; Trumbull county, Wis., 
and Delta county, Mich., working on a 
farm, in the pineries and along Lake 
Superior in the copper furnaces. He 
came to Nebraska in June, 18Y6, and set- 
tled in Phelps county, taking a homestead 
in section 4, township 6, and range 14 
west, where he still lives. Tlie country 
was wild and unsettled and bore but little 
resemblance to what it is now. Mr. Ole- 
son began active operations as a Nebraska 
farmer by erecting a sod house, 14 by 22, 
breaking out some land and making other 
improvements. He had the usual amount 
of hardships, but has succeeded through 
all and is now recognized as one of the 
most prosperous farmers of his locality. 
He married, April 14, 1870, Miss Sarah 
Erickson, who is a native of Sweden, and 
was born in 1842. To this union have 
been born nine children, only two of 
whom are now living. These are Emily, 
born February 10, 1883, and Willie, born 
March 16, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Oleson 
are both members of the Lutheran church. 



JOHN SINGLETERRY. Among 
those who settled on the Divide in 
an early day with little or nothing 
to begin with, is John Singleterry; 
and certainly no one who started with as 
little has made a more marked success. 
He was born in Cambridgeshire England, 
on the twenty-eighth day of Januarv, 
1853. 

His father, John Singleterr}', a farmer 
by occupation, was born in England in 
the year 1819 and lived to the ripe old 
age of three-score and eleven years. 

His mother, Jane (Lee) Singleterry, 
was also a native of England, born in the 
year 1826. These were the parents of nine 
children, five boys and four girls, three 
of whom live in America. Of the ances- 
tral history of this family little or noth- 
ing is known. 

John Singleterr3'^, the subject of this 
sketch, lived in England until he readied 
his seventeenth year. His boyhood da3's 
were spent in school and helping his 
father on the farm. Ari'i ving at tlie,age of 
seventeen and realizing that he must take 
upon himself the I'esponsibilities of life 
and desiring, as all ambitious young men 
do, to make the most of his opportunities, 
he cast about him to ascertain, if possible, 
in what field his activities were likely to 
meet with tiie greatest success. America, 
at that time in the midst of one of the 
greatest eras of prosperity ever enjoyed 
bv any nation, was the most fitting field, 
for the activities of tliis ambitious youth, 
and it is not to be wondered at that he 
chose to leave his native land and seek in 
a strange country to carve for himself 
that future bright destiny which his own 
ambition craved. Having resolved upon 
America as his future home, he accordingly 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



647 



in, November, 1872, took passage by 
steamer for this country. Arrivingwithout 
money or friends, he soon found employ- 
ment at remunerative wages on the farm 
and in the stone quarries of Cook county, 
111. He continued to labor there for 
nearly eight years, when he decided to 
emigrate to the Western frontier in Ne- 
braska. He accordingly, in October, 1880, 
came to Phelps county, having up to that 
time made but little advancement in the 
material world. He found employment 
on the farm of August Anderson, and 
for three years worked for this gentle- 
man, accumulating in the meantime a 
sufficient sura of money to enable him to 
purchase the northeast quarter of section 
3-4, township 6, range 17. This land had 
but little broken out and no improvements 
whatever at the time he made the pur- 
chase. He also bought a team, erected 
buildings and began to cultivate and 
improve his farm, which for richness of 
soil compared favorably with any in 
Phelps county. By industry and economy 
he has placed himself in comfortable cir- 
cumstances, and with the competency 
already gained will be able to crown his 
youth of labor with an age of ease. 

Mr. Singleterry married September, 
1874, taking for a life companion Miss 
Anna Anderson, a most estimable lady 
who was born in Sweden September 15, 
1850 and came to America in 1872. 
This union has been blessed with seven 
ciiildren, viz. — Elizabeth, John W., Fred- 
die, Salma, Ester, Jennie and Henry W. 

Mr. and Mrs. Singleterry are christian 
people of tiie Lutheran faith, although 
they have not yet handed their names to 
the church. 

Politically, Mr. Singleterr}' is a strong 



believer in the principles of the republi. 
can party. As an evidence of the faith 
and. trust the people of this community 
place in him, they have placed in his 
keeping the funds of his school district 
for the past three years. Certainly no 
young man surrounded by similar circum- 
stances in early life, is worthy of more 
praise for the manner in which he has over- 
come all obstacles, and, as it were, risen 
above the surrounding circumstances of 
his life to a higher and nobler plane of 
living. He has an invincible determina- 
tion, backed by industry and ambition 
equal to Hannibal, who crossed the 
hitherto unsurmountable Alps and thun- 
dered at the gates of Rome. And it is 
just such men as this that form the front 
ank of American citizenship. 



K 



NDEEW BERKMAN isoneofthe 
early settlers on the Divide in 
Phelps county, and a highlv re- 
spected and representative citizen. He 
was born in Sweden, December 23, 1835. 
His father, Andrew Anderson, a miner by 
occupation, was born in Sweden in 1806 
and met his death at the age of forty-two, 
while engaged in mining. His mother, 
Anna Anderson, was also a native of 
Sweden, and was born in 1809. There 
were five children, three boys and two 
girls, born to these parents. 

Andrew lived in Sweden until thirty- 
five years of age. On account of his 
father being poor he never had the advan- 
tage of an education, and while Jiving in 
his native country he was principally 
engaged in working in sawmills. He 
embarked for America in 1869, being two 



648 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



months on the way. He located at Gales- 
burg, III, and soon found employment at 
remunerative wages on the Chicago, 
Burlington and Quinc\' railroad. He con- 
tinued at this for six months and then 
i-ented a farm and followed farming for 
seven 3'ears. Mr Berkman came to Phelps 
county, Nebr., in February, 1878, and pre- 
empted a quarter in section 2, township 
6, range 17. When he landed at Kearney 
he had but $3 in his pocket and was one 
hundred dollars in debt. He soon con- 
structed a sod house, in which he lived for 
eleven years, and then built his present 
frame dwelling. The antelope at that 
time were abundant and would come 
around the house in large droves. He 
used corn-stalks for fuel, the timber being 
a distance of thirtj'^ miles away. The 
first three years his crops were almost 
total failures, and had it not been for odd 
jobs at blacksmithing wliich he did, he 
could not have lived. He lost his crops in 
1879 and 188i by hail, and altogether has 
seen pretty hai'd times since coming to 
Nebraska, but now has 120 acres broken out 
on his farm, and the place well improved. 
Mr. Berkman was married May 20,1862, 
to Miss Breta Oleson, who was born in 
Sweden in 1840, and this union has been 
blessed with fourteen children, ^[r. and 
Mrs. Berkman were formerl}' members of 
the Lutheran church, but since coming to 
Nebraska have joined the Methodists. In 
politics Mr. Berkman is a republican. 



PETER EEICKSON, the subject of 
this biographical sketch, is one of 
the earliest settlers and most pros- 
perous farmers on the Divide, east of Hol- 
drege. He was born in Sweden, June 25, 



1852, and is one of a family of two chil- 
dren born to Erick and Mary Peterson, 
natives of Sweden. The father was born 
in 1821 and the mother in 1815. 

Peter, our subject, remained in Sweden 
until nineteen years of age. His bo\'hood 
days were spent in attending scliool and 
working on his father's farm. Having; 
arrived at an age when the res]ionsibili- 
ties of life began to devolve upon him, and 
knowing that his future success depended 
upon liis own exertions, he cast about him 
to ascertain, if possible, in what field his 
activities were likely to meet with tlie 
greatest reward. Great numbers of his 
countrymen having emigrated to America 
a few years previous and sent back 
favorable reports, he determined to bid 
farewell to his native land and seek his 
future prosperity in this land of promise. 
He accordingly embarked, September 21. 
1871, for America, and after an ocean voy- 
age lasting twenty -one davs, he landed in 
New York city. November 6th, he 
came West to Stillwater, Minn. He soon 
found steady employment at remunera- 
tive wages in the pineries, and worked 
there during the winter months, rafting 
logs down the river in the summer. He 
continued to labor there until the spring 
of 1878, wlien, having made up liis mind 
to move West and under the homestead 
act procure a home and grow up with the 
country, he accordingly came to Nebraska. 
Landing in Phelps county, April 12, 1878, 
he at once took a homestead and timber 
claim in the north half of section 24, 
township 6, range 17. He began the 
erection of a sod house fourteen by six- 
teen feet, which, when the walls were up, 
was nearly destroyed by a wind storm. 
He managed, however, to patch it up and 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



649 



lived in it for upwards of two years, when 
he re]ilaced it with another and better one. 
The country, on his arrival, presented a 
truly Western frontier appearance, there 
beino^ but four or five settlers in his vi- 
cinity and but little land broken out. 
Antelope roamed over the prairie in large 
droves and were frequently seen grazing 
with his oxen in herds of as high as thirty- 
six in number. There being a scarcity of 
fuel, Mr. Erickson was obliged to haul 
wood witli his oxen from Spring creek, a 
distance of thirt}' miles. In making these 
long and tedious trips, night frequently 
overtook him, wiien he would lariat his 
oxen and camp on tiie open prairie with 
nothing but the dome of heaven for his 
shelter and tiie radiance of the stars for 
his light. Imagine, if you can, a dark and 
lonely night thus spent on the open prai- 
rie, witli no sound to greet the ear, save 
the munching of the oxen and an occa- 
sional yelp from a passing coyote, and 
conjecture, if you can, the feelings of our 
subject on an occasion like this. 

Mr. Erickson had $1,000 in money when 
he landed in Phelps county, but a failure 
of crops for the first few years drained 
his purse of its last dollar. The fourth 
year, after having put out a large crop of 
wheat and being greatly discouraged with 
the outlook, he borrowed enough money 
of his sister to pay his way back to Still- 
water, Minn., where he hoped to get em- 
ployment and thus earn nione}' to paj' his 
living expenses. He spent three months 
there working anil earned enough to pay 
for the harvesting of his crop and re- 
turned to find that prosperit}' had dawned 
upon the apparently forsaken country 
and that he had as fine fields of waving 
grain as he had ever seen in Nebraska, 



and his wheat when harvested and 
threshed yielded five hundred bushels. 

Mr. Erickson kept " bach " and cooked 
for himself and for the help during the 
harvest time, for four j'ears. 

March 6, 18S2, he married, taking for 
a life companion Miss Christena Louisa 
Jorganson, a most estimable lady who 
was born in Sweden, November 7, 18.59, 
and came to America in 1878. Their 
union has been blessed with five children, 
viz.— Robert T., Ralph W., Mary E. and 
Carl J. The second child died in infanc\'. 

Mr. and Mrs. Erickson are both active 
members of the Lutheran church, and 
liberal contributors to all charitable pur- 
poses. 

Politically, he is a republican and takes 
an active interest in that party. Taking 
into consideration the hardships and vicis- 
situdes of Mr. Erickson's early pioneer 
experiences, the determination with 
which he has labored and the success he 
has achieved, he is certainly worthy of 
mention in a work of this kind. 



JAMES J. MELIN, an early settler and 
prominent farmer of Divide township 
Phelps county, is a native of Sweden 
and was born October 29, 1843. His 
father, John Monson, an extensive farmer, 
and his mother, whose maiden name was 
Ella Gebson, were both natives also of 
Sweden. 

Tiie subject of this notice is one of a 
family of thirteen children. He was reared 
in his native place, growing up on his 
father's farm and receiving a good com- 
mon and high school education. He fin- 
ished his school training at a farmeis' 



650 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



institute, taking a thorough course in 
book-lceeping and other business branches. 
He came to America in June, 1868, and 
stopping at Red Wing, Minn., found his 
first employment as a farm hand. In tiie 
fall of that 3'ear he came south and located 
at Bui'lington, Iowa, where ho spent the 
winter and the following spring. He then 
went to Monmouth, 111., and there en- 
gaged as a farm hand and later as a helper 
in the plow works at that place. Eeturn 
ing to Burlington, he worked there for- 
two years in a hotel and for three years 
in a wholesale and retail dry goods store. 
He came to Nebraska in 1878, settling 
May 1, that year, in Phelps county. He 
took a homestead on one hundred and 
sixty acres and a tree claim of eighty acres 
in section 18, township 6, range 17 west, 
two hundred and forty acres in all. He 
sat about at once to make his improve- 
ments. He had some money which he 
had saved from his earnings and he had 
good need for all of it. It was two and a 
half years before he raised a crop, the 
grasshoppers and tiie drouth sweeping 
awa}' everything he planted the first two 
seasons. The third year, however, he 
raised one thousand and two hundred 
bushels of wheat, which he sold for 75 
cents to $1 per bushel, and this gave him 
hope. He forged ahead and each suc- 
ceeding j'ear witnessed an improvement 
in his condition, until now he is justl}' 
regarded as one of the most prosperous 
and best fixed farmers in his township. 
He has his farm in a fine state of cultiva- 
tion, furnished with splendid buildings, 
ornamented with groves and supplied 
with all needful conveniences. Mr. Melin 
is a level-headed man of the world, thor- 
oughly competent to transact any sort 



of business. He filled the office of assessor 
of his township for two years, that of 
treasurer for two years and is now filling 
that of collector. In politics he is inde- 
pendent, reserving the right to pass on 
men and measures according to their 
merits. 

Mr. Melin married April 22, 1875, the 
lady whom he selected for a life com- 
panion being Miss Anna Bragg, a native of 
Sweden, who came to this country in 1868. 
Their union has resulted in the birth of 
five children — Ella A., Amanda, Edward 
A., Mabel E. and Oscar. 



JOHN V. ARMSTRONG is a native 
of West Virginia, and was born 
February 16, 1835. He is the eldest 
of seven children born to James and 
Nellie (Goodall) Armstrong, both natives 
also of West Virginia, where they always 
lived, and where thev died — the father in 
1863, and the mother in 1882. The sub- 
ject of this notice was, reared in his native 
state, being brought up on the farm and 
receiving such educational advantages as 
were afforded by the district schools when 
he was a lad. He selected farming as the 
business of his life, and, in 1859, married 
and settled down to agricultural pursuits, 
following these in his native state till 
1868, when he decided to try his fortunes 
in the West, and came that year to Ne- 
braska. He made his first stop in this 
state near Plattsmouth, in Cass count}', 
and engaged in farming there for four 
years, and moved at the end of that 
time, in 1872, to 'Furnas county, taking 
a homestead and timber claim in the 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



651 



Republican valley, four miles and a half 
east of the present town of Arrapaho 
City. There lie lived for fourteen years^ 
engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 
ISSfi he moved to Phelps county, locating 
in the town of Bertrand, where he engaged 
in tlie livery business, and where he has 
since resided, following this business. He 
still owns his farm of three hundred and 
twenty acres in Furnas count}^ which he 
now has in a good state of cultivation, 
and having, also, in recent years built up- 
a good livery trade where he now lives. 

The above facts show Mr. Armstrong to 
be an old Nebraskan, and it is hardly nee 
essary to add that he has been through 
the ''flint mills" since coming to this 
state. Wiien he reached Plattsmouth in 
1808, he had his family, a small amount of 
household goods and $600 in money. 
After a residence there of four years he 
he left the greater part of what he had 
and took up the line of travel further 
West in the hope of regaining what he 
had lost and bettering his condition 
further. He found in the Republican 
valley a beautiful country, and the pros- 
pects at the outset were very encouraging ; 
but like most of the old settlers, he was 
destined to pass through a series of hard- 
ships and disappointments that sorely 
tried his patience and courage. He had 
his first few years' crops destroyed by the 
grasshoppers; then came the dry j^ears, 
followed by the hail and other troubles, so 
that it was not until 1880 that his con- 
tinued residence became an assurance. 
After that date, however, times got better, 
and his affairs, in common with those of 
others, improved from year to year. 
During the hard years Mr. Armstrong had 
frequently to leave his family on his claim 



and go back East and work by the day to 
get something to live on, sometimes re- 
maining away from home as long as six 
months at a time. There were no towns 
near his place, and his trading point was 
Kearney, in Bufl'alo count}', sixt^' miles 
away. There were no roads, no mills — 
nothing but the open prairie over which 
roamed buffalo, antelope and coyotes, 
and occasionally bands of Cheyenne, Sioux 
and Pawnee Indians. The settlements 
were confined to the Republican valley, 
and they were by no means numerous. 
That he remained amid all these trials 
and disappointments is to be wondered at, 
and the fact that he did is probably the 
highest tribute that can be paid to his 
fortitude, endurance and persevering in- 
dustry. 

Mr. Armstrong married, as above noted, 
in 1859, the lady whom he took to wed 
being Miss Malinda Phillips, daughter of 
Lilburn and Senna Phillips, of West Vir- 
ginia, descendants of old Virginia stock, 
of honored and respected families. Mr. 
Armstrong had the great misfortune to 
lose his excellent wife in March, 1889, she 
leaving surviving her, two grown sons — H. 
C. and Samuel P., beside her husband, to 
mourn her loss. 



W 



ILLIAM A. SMYTH was born 
in New York City in October, 
1833. He is the second of 
a family of nine children Iiorn to John V>. 
and Rebecca (Armstrong) Smyth, his 
father having been a native of Scotland 
and his mother coming of Scotch parent- 
age. His father came to the United 
States when a comparativel}' young man 



652 



PHELPS COUNTY 



and settled in New York city, leaving 
there in 1843 and moving West to Wis- 
consin, where he settled and subsequently 
lived and died. He was a stone and mar- 
ble cutter and followed his trade exclu- 
sively in his earlier 3'ear, first in the old 
country and afterwards in New York. In 
Wisconsin he was engaged in the marble 
business and in farming. He was an in- 
dustrious, enterprising man and succeeded 
well. Ho, died in 1S69. His wife, mother 
of the subject of this notice, survived him 
a few years, dying in 1874. 

William A. Smyth was reared mainly 
in Wisconsin, his parents moving to that 
state when he was ten years of age. He 
grew up on the farm, receiving an ordi- 
nary common-school education and being 
trained to the habits of industry and use- 
fulness common to farm life. He began 
life for himself on a farm in Wisconsin, 
and followed farming there till the spring 
of 1879, when he came to Nebraska and 
settled in Phelps county, locating at that 
date on the southeast quarter of section 
20, township 7, range 20 west, taking that 
as a homestead. Being unmarried he 
beean his career as a Nebraska farmer 
with the bachelor life common at that 
date, putting up a sod house and erecting 
a temporary sod barn. For a while he 
hauled water ten miles and "hustled" 
fuel where it was to be had. He " broke" 
only twenty acres the first year, which he 
seeded to sod corn, and then added totiiis 
each succeeding year. He has also added 
to his original homestead other tracts by 
purchase, until now he owns in Phelps 
county nine hundred and sixty acres, four 
hundred and fifty acres of which he has 
under cultivation. His sod buildings have 
been succeeded by others of a more sub- 



stantial and sightly nature, he having now 
as well improved and handsomely orna- 
mented place as there is in his vicinit\', 
has been steadily engaged in farming and 
stock-raising and has been one of the most 
successful farmers in the county. He is 
a man of clear head and sound judgment, 
and these, coupled with industry, applica- 
tion and a strong determination to succeeil 
have made him what he is. He still owns 
his old farm in Wisconsin, where he 
started in the world, and he may be set 
down as a well-to-do man. He is also a 
stockholder and director in the First State 
Bank of Bertrand, Nebr. He has never 
married, preferring to pursue the even 
tenor of his way in single blessedness. He 
has two excellent house-keepers in the 
persons of his sisters, who look after his 
domestic affairs and make his home 
pleasant for him and a cheerful retreat 
for friends and strangers who visit him. 

Mr. Smyth votes the republican ticket 
and takes great interest in a general way 
in political matters, but he has never 
sought office for himself. He has no false 
ambition in that direction. 



JOEL KEOPPEL. One of the oldest, 
settlers of Union township, Phelps 
county, and a man who has j^rofited 
as well by reason of his long resi- 
dence there as any man in the township, 
is Joel Keoppel, the subject of this brief 
biographical notice. He came to Nebraska 
in the fall of 1878 and located a home- 
stead in Gosper county and a tree claim 
in Phelps county, the latter being the 
northwest quarter of section 6, township 
6, range 20 west. After improving his 



PHELPS COUNTY 



653 



honiostead he sold it and subsequently 
moved on to his tree claim, where he has 
since resided. This lies in the western 
part of Phelps county, adjoining and 
partly covered by the town of Bertrand. 
What is not occu])ied by the town site, 
Sir. Keoppel has in a splendid state of 
cultivation, he having gro wing- on it a large 
and thrift}' grove and furnished with 
commodious and substantial buildings. 
He laid out several acres of it as an ad- 
dition to the town of Bertrand a few years 
ago. This is now covered with handsome 
residences, making homes for a number of 
families. Mr. Keoppel has been identified 
with the best interests of his communit}', 
and has been especially active in promot- 
ing the interests of Bertrand. He has 
given liberally of his means and has 
worked with untiring industry in behalf 
of his adopted town. As a return for his 
liberality and as a monument to his energ}' 
and foresight, he sees growing up around 
him a town which will be the center of 
business and afford man}'^ happy and 
peaceful homes to the people of his local- 
ity for years to come. 

Joel Keoppel was born in Mercer 
county, Ohio, November 16, 1848. He 
is the fifth of a family of twelve children 
born to George C. and Catherine (Deal) 
Keoppel, the former a native of Germany 
tiie latter a native of Ohio, of German de- 
scent. His father came to this country 
when a voung man and settled in Ohio 
where he raarrie<l and passed all his sub- 
sequent life, dying in 1888. His widow 
survives him, being still a resident in her 
native state. The subject of this notice 
grew to maturity in his native county, 
being brought up on his father's farm. 
He received a good common-school educa- 



tion and passed his earlier years in farm- 
ing pursuits and at the carpenter's trade. 
At the age of eighteen he went to Iowa 
and there in the year 1871 married Miss 
Louisa Hildebrand, a daughter of Lenoard 
and Mary Hildebrand, natives of Germany. 
To this union have been born nine chil- 
dren — Mary, Omar, Jake, Annie, Eosa, 
Allen, Emma, PhilHp and William. Mr. 
Keoppel has a pleasant home and having 
been fortunate in his worldly affairs he 
has been enabled to raise his family 
under favorable circumstances, giving 
them the benefit of good educational 
training and will be enabled to give them 
a fair start in life. 



GEORGE D. PtOWLAND, the 
subject of this sketch, is one of 
Phelps county's oldest settlers, as 
he has been one of her most successful 
citizens. He has been a resident of the 
state for nineteen years, over twelve 
of which have been spent in the 
county where he now resides. He is a 
native of Wisconsin, and the fifth of 
a family of eight children born to John 
H. and Catherine (Karris) Rowland. His 
father, now a resident of Franklin county, 
this state, is a native of Virginia, and was 
reared mainly in his native state and Ken- 
tucky. He went to Wisconsin when a 
young man, where he afterwards married 
and lived for some years, engaged in tlie 
lead mines of that state. Coming to 
Nebraska in the fall of 1871, he settled 
in Franklin county, where he has since 
resided, having reached his seventy-ninth 
year. Mr. Rowland's mother is a native 
of Ohio, being a daughter of Garrett 



654 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



Fan-is, wlio moved from Ohio and settled 
in "Wisconsin at a comparatively early 
date. Of the eight children born to John 
H. and Catherine Rowland, all reached 
maturity, and are now living, being scat- 
tered all over the West from the great 
lakes to the Pacific coast. They are all 
married and settled down in life, and are 
succeeding reasonably well. 

The subject of this sketch was I'eared 
mainly in Wisconsin, coming in the 
spring of 1871 to this state and settling 
in Franklin county, where he residetl for 
seven years. In 1878 he moved to Plielps 
county and took a pre-emption and timber 
claim in section 11, township 5, range 19 
west, and there located and has since 
lived. He began on limited means, and 
has had the usual hard experience which 
fell to the lot of all old settlers. He 
passed through the grasshopper scourge, 
the dry years, the hail storms and all the 
hard times incident to these. He lost 
several crops, but by industry and economy 
he came out of all his difficulties with 
energy unimpaired and courage undimin- 
ished, and he has succeeded, in a great 
measure, in realizing the one great hope 
of his life, namely, to make for himself a 
home where he can spend his declining 
years in the secure enjoyment of peace 
and plenty. He owns six hundred and 
forty acres of as fine land as there is in 
Phelps county, over four hundred acres 
of which he has in a splendid state of cul- 
tivation ; the home farm of three hun- 
dred and twenty acres being furnished 
with a large and commodious farm resi- 
dence and all necessary outbuildings, and 
being ornamented with trees and shrub- 
bery and stocked with the best grades of 
horses, cattle and hogs. 



AVhen Mr. Rowland came to tlie state 
he was a single man and he had the mag- 
nanimity and good sense not to ask any 
woman to share his fortunes until he got 
his affairs in shape where they would at 
least partiall}' justify him in taking this 
step. He married, in Franklin county. 
May 1, 1874, taking as a companion Miss 
Ella Reed, a school teacher, then of 
Franklin county, and a daughter of 
Orsamus and Henrietta Reed (who were 
born, brought up and married in New 
York), old settlers of that county. Mrs. 
Rowland is a native of Wisconsin, but 
was reared mainly in Wisconsin and Iowa, 
whither her parents moved when she was 
young. To Mr. and Mrs. Rowland have 
been born a family of four children — 
Ardell, Maud, Claude Leroy and Hazel 
E. They had the great misfortune to 
lose two of these — Ardell and Maud, 
from diphtheria, in July. 1880, the former 
at the age of four, the latter at fourteen 
months. 

In politics, Mr. Rowland evinces the 
good sense that has always characterized 
him by remaining aloof from all party 
associations, acting independently and 
according to his own judgment on the 
merits of all men and measures. 



OSCAR F. ROBERTS, merchant 
of Atlanta, Phelps county, is a 
native of New York, the third 
of a family of six children born to Samuel 
and Ermina (Lee) Roberts. His parents 
were both natives of New York, originally 
of Scotch extraction. They were plain, 
substantial people and always lived in 
their native state. 



PHELPS COUNTY, 



655 



Tlie subject of this notice was born in 
November, 1832, and reared on his father's 
farm, receiving a good cominon-scliool 
education. In 1S55 he married Julia 
Pratt, daughter of Stiiinian Pratt, of 
New York, and, selecting the carpenter's 
traile as a pursuit, he settled down in his 
native state and began the solution of the 
problem of life. Just as he was getting 
fairly started the clouds of civil war burst 
over the country and he, like thousands 
of other patriotic men responded to the 
call for volunteers to defend the Union, 
enlisting in 1863, in Company G, One 
Hundred and Thirty-eighth New York 
infantry, entering for tliree j'ears. He 
served with the Army of the Potomac, 
and was in all the engagements fought by 
that army fi'om the date of his enlistment 
till the surrender, and had the good for- 
tune never to be captured, wounded or 
sent to hospital. He was mustered out 
in Virginia and returned to New York, 
where he took up his calling as carpenter^ 
which he followed there for a time, mov- 
ing thence to Wisconsin and still later to 
Kansas, settling in 1871 in Jewell county, 
that state. Th^re he took a homestead 
and lived for four years. Leaving the 
farm in 1875 he moved into the town of 
Burr Oak, Jewell county, and engaged in 
the drug and jewelry business. He moved 
thence to Alma, Harlan county, this state, 
and shortly afterwards to Atlanta, Phelps 
county, where he has since resided. He 
was the first merchant who opened a 
stock of goods in Atlanta and he has done 
a steady, successful business since locating 
there, now owning a combined drug and 
grocery house. He has filled a number of 
local offices since coming AVest, the duties 
of which he lias discharged with credit to 



himself and satisfaction to all ins fellow- 
citizens. He was county commissioner of 
Jewell county, Kans., for four years ; he 
has been town clerk of Atlanta for seven 
3'ears, ever since he has been a resident of 
the place, and he has been postmaster 
there for three years. 

Mr. Iloberts had the misfortune to lose 
his first wife in October, 1867, a daughter 
and son, Lida and Frederick, offsprings of 
his marriage, are both now residents of 
New York, where they were born and 
reared. He married again in December, 
1889, taking to wife Miss Mary Harvey, 
a daugliter of Edward Harvey, of Ohio. 

Mr. Roberts is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and a zealous advocate of the 
cause of temperance. In former years he 
afKliated with the republican party and 
still votes that ticket on National issues, 
but on state and local issues he stands 
with the proliibitionists. 



SILAS LATTA was born in Seneca 
county, Ohio, April 16, 1844. He 
is the youngest of three children, 
all sons, born to David and Arteles (Bur- 
nett) Latta, both natives of Ohio. He 
was reared mainly in La Grange count}', 
Ind., whither his parents moved when he 
was two years of age. He grew up on 
his father's farm and led the active and 
industrious life common to that calling. 
Pie enlisted in the Union army in Feb- 
ruary, 1862, entering companv G, Thirtieth 
Indiana volunteer infantry. He enlisted 
for three years and served with the army 
of the Cumberland. He saw his first 
battle at Shiloh and following that was in 
the engagements at Stone river. Ten- 



656 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



nessee; Cliickamauga, Eocky Face Ridge, 
Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw mountain, At- 
lanta, Lovejoy's Station, Franklin, Nash- 
ville and others, and the term of his 
enlistment expiring while he was at Hunts- 
ville, Ala. After the dispersion of Hood's 
forces at Nashville, he was mustered out 
there and returned to Indianapolis, where 
he received his discharge. He was 
wounded at Stone river 'and captured 
while in the hospital there and transported 
to Andersonville, where he was held for 
over two months and then taken toLibby 
and held there for thirty-four days, being 
exchanged at the end of that time. He 
got a taste of prison life during this time 
and knows from experience something of 
its hoiTors. When he came out of Libby 
he weighed only eighty-six pounds. Be- 
sides himself, Mr. Latta had two brothers 
in the Union arm}', one of wliora was 
killed in the service. 

Returning to Indiana he remained there 
awhile and went then to Michigan where, 
January 1, 1870, he married Miss Lorinda 
Busk, a daughter of George Busk, a 
native of New York. Mr. Latta came to 
Nebraska and settled in Industry town- 
ship, Phelps county. He took a homestead 
and timber claim in section 20, township 
5, range 19 west. These he improved and 
resided on for three years, when he moved 
into Rock Falls township and took a pre- 
emption. Leaving there in 1883 he moved 
to Holdrege, where he has since resided, 
engaged at first in the livery and after- 
wards in the general stock business. He 
still owns his farms, having one hundred 
and sixty acres in Phelps county, six 
hundred and forty acres in Harlan county 
and three hundred and twent\' acres in 
Perkins county. He has been actively 



engaged in handling live stock, especially 
horses, for several years, being a great 
fancier of horse flesh and remarkably suc- 
cessful with them. When Mr. Latta came 
to Nebraska he had his family and house- 
hold goods and $29 in money. He began 
almost on the bottom round of the ladder. 
What he has now, he has made in the 
intervening years. He has eaten no idle 
bread as the foregoing facts show. He 
is a shrewd trader, and his knowledge 
coupled with his industry and sound sense 
have made him the bulk of what he has. 
Mr. Latta has some very fine stock, graded 
and thorough- breds, and he is making 
strenuous efforts to raise the standard of 
horses in his county. He is devoted 
strictly to the pursuit of his own affairs, 
never having had any public career. 

Could he have been as fortunate in his 
domestic affairs as he has been prosperous 
in business, he would have much less to 
regret in connection with his residence in 
Phelps county. He and his excellent wife 
have had four children born to them, all 
of whom they have lost, three dying 
within thirteen daj'S of each other in 1882. 
His life like that of most others has been 
checkered witii sunshine and shadow. 



VAN B. BEEM. Any recortl of 
the early settlers of southwest- 
ern Nebraska, however long, 
would be incomplete without prominent 
mention of Van B. Beem. of the town of 
Atlanta, Phelps county. His residence in 
this part of the state dates back to the 
early seventies, and, as the saying goes, 
he has been " through the flint mills," hav- 
ing seen the country when it was all wild 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



657 



and having gone through all tlie trials of 
tlie grasshopper seasons and otiier hard- 
sliips and privations incident to the first 
settlement of the country. Mr. Beera 
conies of pioneer ancestry and gets by 
inheritance many of the qualities which 
so well fit him for a pioneer settler. His 
father, Benjamin Beem, who was a native 
of Ohio, grew up on the frontier and 
lived nearly all his life on the outskirts of 
civilization. He was a resident, success- 
ively, of Ohio, Iowa, Colorado and 
Nebraska, and was a man of great per- 
sonal energy and fond of the free and 
unfettered life of the West. He followed 
farming and mining mostly, but also gave 
some attention to the ministry. He was 
a conspicuous member of the Christian 
church and gave the best part of a long 
life to the task of illustrating in everyday 
practice the truth of those doctrines on 
which that church is founded. He died 
in Iowa in ISSO. Mr. Beem's mother sur- 
vived her husband some years, dying in 
ISSS, and was making her home with her 
son, tlie subject of this sketch, at the 
time of her death. He took her remains 
back to Iowa and laid them to rest beside 
the father's. 

There were seven children in the family 
to which the subject hereof belonged, of 
whom he was the second in point of age. 
Ue was born in Licking county, Ohio, 
September 14, 1S38, grew up on the farm, 
and was trained to the habits of industry 
and usefulness common to farm life. He 
moved to Iowa with his parents when a 
young man, and there married in 1858, 
taking to share his life's fortunes Miss 
Lucinda Golden, she being a daughter of 
John Golden, lie started out for him- 
self on marrying, beginning farming, 



which he has steadih^ followed since. He 
resided in Iowa till 1872. At that date 
he made up his mind to go further West, 
and that year moved to Nebraska, settling 
on the Republican river, in Harlan county. 
He took a homestead in that county at 
that time, which he improved, and bought 
other land in addition thereto, until he 
owned at one time in that county four 
hundred acres. Most of this he had under 
a good state of cultivation. He lived in 
Harlan county for sixteen years, at the 
end of which time he sold out and moved 
to Phelps county, where he purchased 
three hundred and thirty acres, on which 
he settled and which he began to improve. 
This tract of land comprised the present 
town site of Atlanta, and it has risen 
steadily in value since Mr. Beem bought 
it. In recent years he has built a livery 
stable in Atlanta, and is now engaged in 
running his farm and his livery business. 
His investments having proved profitable, 
and his labors having been crowned with 
success, he is now in a fair waj^ to become 
a man of wealth. This is no more than 
he deserves, for he has been largely 
instrumental in making the country what 
it is. When he settled in Harlan county 
the whole country was practically un- 
settled, there being only a family here 
and there. He had to go to Gibbon to 
mill, and what little trading he did he 
had to go a distance to do it. He has 
worked hard, and has always stood up 
stoutly for Nebraska. He began on 
nothing, and all he has now he has made 
since he came to tlie state. AVhile he has 
given his time and attention mostly to his 
own business, he has borne his full share 
in the development of the country, having 
served his county as commissioner, his 



658 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



township as supervisor, and his school 
district in every capacity, official and 
otherwise. He is a public-spirited citizen, 
a man of sound intelligence and clear 
judgment. In politics he is a republican, 
and a stanch supporter of the principles 
and methods of his part3^ 

Mr. Beem has reared a family of six 
children, these being Ingiibu, now de- 
ceased; William, Myer, John, Emma and 
Benjamin. 



GEORGE W. KENNEDY, one of 
the largest and most successful 
farmers of Phelps county, is a 
native of Ohio, and was born March 16, 
1832. He comes of New England parent- 
age, his father and mother both having 
been natives of Massachusetts. His 
father's christian name was David and his 
mother's maiden name was Abigail 
Sprague. The}' were married in their native 
state and moved "West at an early day, set- 
tling in Ohio, where they both died. They 
had five children, of whom the subject of 
this notice is the eldest. He grew up in 
his native state, receiving a common- 
school education and being trained to the 
habits of industry and usefulness common 
to farm life, being his own guardian and 
making his own way in the world since 
early childhood, losing his parents when 
he was young. He left Ohio at the age of 
eighteen and went to Lafayette, Ind., 
where he enfTao:ed as a farm hand and 
where in 1858 he married, moving two 
years afterwards to Illinois and then 
after one_ year's renting, bought a farm of 
120 acres on v/hich he settled. In Febru- 
ary, 1865, he entered the Union army, 



enlisting in Company F, One Hundred 
and Fifty-fifth Illinois volunteer infantrv, 
and going South at once, was in the service, 
till the following September, being on 
guard duty, mostly along the line of rail 
ways running out from Nashville. Tenn. 
Returning home in the fall of 1865, he 
resumed farming and continued success- 
fully at it in Illinois, till the spring of 1880, 
when he decided to try his fortunes in 
the West, and accordingly came that year 
to Nebraska, settling in Phelps county, 
buying half of section 3, township 5, range 
19 west, where he has since resided. 
Unlike many of those who sought homes 
in Nebraska at a comparatively early date, 
Mr. Kennedy had some means to start on, 
not however a great deal. The farm he 
bought was practically unimproved and 
all it is he has made it. He now owns 
the entire section on which he lives, besides 
a quarter section in Harlan count}', mak- 
ing him 780 acres, all fine land and about 
half of which he has under cultivation. He 
has his home place in splendid condition, 
being furnished with a superior class of 
buildings and all needful conveniences. 
He is a systematic, thorough-going man of 
business, and has made the bulk of what 
he has in the last ten years. He has never 
failed to raise a crop since he has been 
in the state and he thinks, taking it one 
year with another, he has had the best 
success at farming since living in Nebraska, 
that he ever had in his life. Mr. Ken- 
nedy has had a great deal of experience in 
the ways of the world and has acquired a 
large fund of practical information, having 
had to think and.act for himself, from 
youth up. He is a man of sound intelli- 
gence and clear and comprehensive judg- 
ment, plain in manner, blunt in speech, 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



659 



and direct in his business methods. He 
has a kindly disposition and his neighbors 
say that when one conies to know him 
there is no better man to live by in the 
world. He has a pleasant home and a 
family of seven children growing up 
around him. He married, as above noted 
in Lafayette, Ind., in 1858 ; the lady whom 
he chose for a life companion was 
Miss Caroline Sandell, a daughter of 
Anares Sandell, a native of Stutterstrip, 
Sweden. His children, some of whom are 
now grown up, are — Elizabeth, Clara, John, 
"Warren, Bugg, Alvin and David. 

In politics Mr. Kennedy affiliates with 
the republicans, but is not a politician and 
has never sought office for himself in 
his life. 



HERMAN L. BRANDT. Phelps 
county boasts of many well-to- 
do farmers, but she probabl}^ has 
none who, measured by their age and 
opportunities, have met with better suc- 
cess or who are more worthy of the suc- 
cess they have met with, than the subject 
of this sketch. Born in Planover, Ger- 
many, March 27, 1857, the eldest child of 
Lutjin I. and Gratje (Debuhr) Brandt, he 
came to America with his parents in 1805 
and settled in Freeport, 111., where, and in 
AVill and Iroquois counties, that state, he 
was reared. He came to Nebraska in 
1877 as a member of his father's family, 
settling in Clay county, and the following- 
year moved into Pheljis county, where he 
took a homestead and timber claim in 
section 26, township 5, range 19 west, 
located and has since resided. He has 
purchased another quarter of the same 



section, owning now nine hundred and 
sixty acres, a large part of which he has 
under cultivation, furnished with orchards, 
groves and other needed improvements. 
He has been steadily engaged in farming 
since coming to Phelps count}' and is 
justly regarded as one of that county's 
most successful farmers, as he is one of 
its shrewdest and most intelligent business 
men. He deals largely in grain and stock 
and has been as successful in the handling 
of these as in his agricultural pursuits. 
Mr. Brantlt was a poor boy when he came 
to the county and what he has he has made 
since that time. He has been thoroughljr 
identified with the best interests of his 
community and has taken an active part 
in the development of its resources and in 
the administration of its local affairs. He 
has served as supervisor of Industry' town- 
ship and discharged his duties with zeal 
and fidelity. In politics he affiliates with 
the republican party, but he is a man of 
strong temperance views and on an issue 
between his party and the advocates of 
prohibition he would throw his influence 
with the latter. He is an active and con- 
sistent memljer of the Baptish church and 
a generous contributor to all charitable 
purposes. 



WILLIAM I. HAZLETT, the 
fourth of a family of ten chil- 
dren born to William P. and 
ZereJda (Haggard) Hazlett, is a native 
of Christian county, 111., and was born 
March 14, 1853. His father was born 
in Virginia, but moved to Illinois when 
a young man and there married. His 



660 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



mother was born in Kentucky and was a 
tlaughter of Ilarman and Sarah Haggard, 
who emigrated to Illinois at a compara- 
tively early day. 

The subject of this notice was reared in 
Christian and Sangamon counties, 111. 
He grew up on his father's farm, receiving 
a good common-school education and be- 
ing trained to habits of industry and use- 
fulness common to his calling. He resided 
on the farm with his parents till 1874, 
when, having married, he started to farm- 
ing for himself, which occupation he fol- 
lowed until the year 1879, then moved 
into the city of Springfield and engaged 
in the mercantile business, clerking for 
one Mr. John M. Forden for three years. 
Then he worked in the watch factor v at 
tiiat place for another year, then rented a 
farm near Springfield for one year, after 
which he decided to seek a home in the 
West and came in 18S4 to Nebraska and 
settled in Saline county. The following 
year he moved to Phelps county, securing 
as a homestead the northeast quarter of 
section 32, township 5, range 19 west, 
which he filed on as a homestead. He 
has improved this, now having one hun- 
dred and twenty-five acres under cultiva- 
tion and com.fortable buildings. Since 
proving up on his homestead, has bought 
another farm of eighty acres joining him 
on the west. He started in with a span of 
horses and a wagon and what he now has, he 
has made. lie owns a considerable bunch 
of cattle and has plenty of personal prop- 
erty. He is an industrious, wide-awake 
man and knows how to improve his time 
and opportunities. 

He has a pleasant home and in his 
labors of building up his fortunes in the 
AVest he has been abl}' assisted by the 



intelligent and hearty co-operation of an 
affectionate wife. He married, as above 
noted, in Sangamon county. 111., the lady 
whom he selected to share his fortunes 
being Miss Ilari-iet M. McKinnie, a dauglr 
ter of William P. McKinnie, formerly of 
Kentucky. This union has been blessed 
with five children, as follows — Fannie 
(who died October 19, 1888, age thirteen), 
Charles, Pearl, Ralph and Luna. 

Mr. Hazlett takes considerable interest 
in the educational, social and religious 
afiairs of his community, and lends a help- 
ing hand to everything tending to promote 
these interests. He has been moderator 
of his school district and is a zealous mem- 
ber of the Baptist church. In politics he 
is a democrat, but never allows himself to 
be drawn into the questionable entangle- 
ments of political squabbes. He dis- 
charges his duties as a citizen by voting 
and keejjing himself posted on current 
events ; and this is the extent of his 
political aspirations and public career. 



DAVID F. FRY is a native of 
Pennsylvania and was born Sep- 
tember 22, 1836. He is the sec- 
ond of a family of eleven children born 
to John C. and Sarah (Berkabile) Fry. 
His parents were also natives of Pennsyl- 
vania antl were of German and English 
descent. Mr. Frj' was reared in his na- 
tive state, growing up on his father's 
farm and receiving in his youth an ordi- 
nary common-school education. He 
married in Pennsylvania, February 23, 
1860, and there settled down to agricul- 
tural pursuits. He was so engaged when 
he was called two vears later as a volun- 



r HELPS COUNTY 



001 



teer to defend the Union against the at- 
tacks of secession. lie entered the Union 
arin\' in February, 1862, enlisting in Com- 
pany E, Eleventh Pennsylvania infantry. 
Ilis regiment served with the Army of 
tlie Potomac and took part in fifteen of 
the hardest fought battles of the late war. 
Beginning with Manassas, its heaviest en- 
gagements were Antietam, Fredericks- 
burg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Cold 
Harbor, Spottsylvania, siege of Petersburg 
and Hatcher's run. Its service is well 
shown by its death-roll. Out of a total 
enlistment of two thousand and fifty-two, 
it lost, in killed and wounded, eight hun- 
dred and sixt3'-nine men. Its heaviest 
losses were sustained at Manassas and the 
Wilderness, in the latter of which engage- 
ments Mr. Fiy was wounded by a shot-gun 
tlirough the right leg below the knee, 
disabling him from duty from May until 
the following September. With the ex- 
ception of that time he was actively in 
the service from the date of his enlistment 
till the surrender, being mustered out at 
Bail's Cross-roads, Virginia, receiving pay 
and final discharged at Harrisburg, Pa. 
Resuming farming he resided in Pennsyl- 
vania till the fall of 1877, when he moved 
to Nebraska and located in Phelps county, 
taking a homestead and timber claim in 
section 18, township 5, range 19 west, 
where he settled and has since lived. His 
claim had no improvements on it when he 
took it. He lias one hundred and sixty 
acres of it now under cultivation, eleven 
acres in timber, an orchard and other con- 
veniences. He has been stead il}' engaged 
in farming and with the exception of the 
first three seasons he has always had tol- 
erably good crops. He has met with good 
success since coming to the state and is 
38 



regarded as one of the most prosperous 
farmers of his communit}'. 

As stated above, Mr. Fry was married 
Fe&ruary, 1860. The lady whom he took 
to wed was Miss Magdelene Nicodemus, a 
daughter of Herbert Nicodemus, of Penn- 
sylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Fry have had 
born to them a family of ten children, all 
but two of whom are now dead, the sur- 
viving ones being a son and daughter — 
George and Susan E. George is mariied 
and is living on his own farm one mile 
away from his father's home. 

Mr. Fry has taken an active interest in 
the affairs of his township, particularlv in 
matters relating to the educational and 
agricultural interests of his community. 
He has been moderator of his school board 
and is an active member of the Alliance. 
He is a zealous member of the United 
Brethren church and a generous supporter 
of all church work. In politics he is a 
republican with a strong leaning towards 
tlie prohibition cause, being an enthusias- 
tic temperance man. 



RICHAED S. BLACK, a thoroughly 
])ractical farmer of Lake town- 
k. ship, Phelps county, Nebr., was 
born in 1849 in Schuyler county. 111. 
When quite a lad he enlisted in Company 
G, Sixty -second Illinois infantry, took 
part in a number of engagements, and 
was mustered out at Fort Smith, Ark., in 
1865. He then returned to his native 
county, where he worked on a farm until 
1S79, when he came to Nebraska, where 
he first located on section 33, township 5, 



662 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



range 17, in Phelps county ; but subse- 
quently moved to his present place on 
section 31, township 5, range 17. His 
sole possessions on coming here com- 
prised a wagon and a team of horses ; 
he now owns a quarter section of 
land, one hundred and fort}^ acres of 
which are under cultivation and are well 
stocked and improved in every respect. 
In 1S7G Mr. Black married Miss H. A. 
Demlavny, who was born in Illinois in 
1858. Six children have I'esulted from 
this union, as follows — HoAvard, Claude, 
Atwell, Clara, Nancy and Katie. In 
politics Mr. Black is a democrat and is 
now serving as county supervisor, giving 
universal satisfaction in the performance 
of the duties of the ofBce. 

John L. Black, the father of Richard 
S., was the first white child born in "Wood- 
stock township, Schuyler county, 111., 
his birth having occured in 1830. In 
18-18 he married Miss Nancj' Pickenpaugh, 
who was born in Illinois in 1832, became 
the mother of two children — the subject 
of this sketch and Mrs. Mary Bates of 
Butler county, Nebr. — and died in 1857. 
John L. Black was reared to farming, 
but he was a patriot and enlisted in Com- 
pany E, One hundred and nineteenth Illi- 
nois infantry, and was mustered out in 
18(!3. In politics he was a democrat. 



EDWARD SANDSTED is a native 
of Sweden and was born in the 
year 1852. lie is a son of Andrew 
Sandsted, who was also a native of Sweden, 
born in 1807 and died in 1889, a farmer 
by occupation, an industrious, useful citi- 
zen and a pious christian father. There 



were ten children in the family to which 
the subject of this sketch belonged, eight 
of whom reached maturity and six of 
whom are now living, the full list being — 
Mary, who was married to August Ander- 
son and is now dead; Jane, who was also 
married to August Anderson, she becoming 
his second wife, and is also deceased ; 
Chai'les, Magdalene, now wife of John 
Broman, and Frank; the last three being in 
Sweden; Alfred in Phe]})s county, Nebr., 
and Maurice iii Harlan county, Nebr., and 
two that died in infancy. 

The subject of this notice was reared in 
his native country to the age of sixteen, 
Cuming thence to America and settling in 
Knox county, 111. After a residence there 
of four years, three years of which he 
worked as a farm hand, beinsj enfraaed 
the last 3'ear as a clerk in a mercantile 
establishment, he came in 1872 to Nebraska 
and made his first stop in Adams county. 
In the fall of 1873 he went to Harlan 
county and took a homestead in Antelope 
township, and being then unmarried settled 
down to the bachelor life of the West, 
spending most of his time, however, with 
his brother who had preceded him to that 
count}' by one year. Becoming impatient 
at the slowness with which the country 
settled up, he decided to return East after 
a short time spent there, and did t;o back 
to the East ; but soon struck for the AVest 
again, going to the Black Hills country of 
Dakota. Not liking it thei-e he returned to 
Nebraska, settling on his claim in Harlan 
county. At the date he made his secoiul 
settlement he had just 90 dollars with 
which to begin the arduous struggle of 
making a home on the raw pi-airie. He 
invested this in a yoke of oxen and a 
wagon and went to work with a will. lie 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



063 



lived in Harlan county till 1883, gradually 
improving his fortunes, and then moved 
to riielps county, where he purchased a 
farm in section 30, township 5, range 
17 west, where he located and has since 
resided. He owns half of the above see- 
tion, besides a quarter section in Tiiomas 
county, Kans., all of which he has well 
imju'oved, most of it being under cultiva- 
tion and well stocked, and all of which he 
lias made within the last sixteen years, 
lie is regarded as one of the most prosper- 
ous farmers of the locality where he lives, 
as well as one of the most intelligent and 
siii'ewdest business men. He has spent 
his entire time since coming West in farm- 
ing and stock-raising and has been devoted 
strictly to his own personal affairs. He 
has had more than the usual hard experi- 
ences of the old settlers, having gone 
through every phase of frontier life, from 
a l>lack Hills miner to a prairie home- 
steader, and knows what it is to subsist 
on hope and fresh air. He went through 
the dry years, the grasshopper scourge, and 
he has had his crops destroyed by hail and 
his property by prairie fires. He has lived 
in a dug-out and a' sod-house and has had 
for his only companions coj'otes, antelope 
buffalo and Indians. He has hauled 
water and wood for miles and has gone to 
bed many times supperless. 

In 1883, Mr. Sandsted, having got suf- 
ficiently far along in a worldly wa}'^ to ask 
a Unl}' to share his fortunes with him, 
married Mrs. Hanha Amelia Sophia An- 
derson, a widow who had one child by her 
first marriage, and who, like himself, came 
on to the prairies at a comparatively early 
day and saw some of the hardships and 
]irivations of pioneer life. This union has 
been blessed with five children — Lillie, 



born in 1884; Rosie, born in 1885; Earn- 
est, born in 1886; Arthur, born in 1888) 
and Alfred, born in 1890. Mr. Sandsted 
wears the dog-collar of no political faction, 
being independent in politics as in all 
other things. 



CHARLES S. BRADLEY, a well- 
known citizen of Phelps county 
and a native of Vermont, was 
born in Williston, October 1, 1833, and is 
the fifth of a family of ten children born 
to Eli J. and Sarah Bradley. His father 
was a farmer, followed farming through- 
out life, and was an intelligent, upright 
citizen. He accomplished much good 
during his life, and died in his eighty- 
third year, regretted by a large circle of 
friends, who loved and revered him as an 
upright, and ver}'^ earnest christian man. 

The mother of C. S. Bradley bore the 
maiden name of Sarah Cooley, and is now 
living in Nebraska with her son, our sub- 
ject, and is in her ninetieth year. 

Charles S. Bradley was reared in the 
place of his birth, being brought up on 
his father's farm, and was early trained to 
habits of industry and usefulness commOn 
to farm life. He attended the common 
schools, and received a good common- 
school education. He then began to stud}' 
for the ministry and to teach, and was 
first licensed in 1854 by the quarterly 
conference of the Methodist church. He 
went to Ohio, taught school tiiere one 
year, and then returned to Vermont. 
From Vermont he went to Missouri, and 
there he was engaged in teaching and 
preaching. While there he married, tak- 



fi64 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



ing for a life companion Miss Matha Wil- 
liamson, a daugiiter of Thomas William- 
son, of Cooper count}-. Mo. 

After a residence of five years in Mis- 
souri, Mr. Bradley returned to Ohio, and 
remained there till coming to Nebraska in 
1876. When he came to Nebraska he 
settled in Seward county, bought railroad 
land and began to make improvements. 
Being disabled by the "grasshopper raid," 
from fully meeting his annual obligations, 
the railroad company sold him out for a 
small amount of unpaid monev, although 
he had paid them as much as §1,200. In 
1878 he came to Phelps county, and 
located a homestead on the southwest 
quarter of section 18, township 5, range 
19, and a timber claim on the northwest 
quarter of section 19, township 5, range 
19. He has also added, by purchase, 
another quarter section, now owning four 
hundred and eighty acres of good land, 
lie has one hundred and sixty acres under 
cultivation, and raises mixed crops, 
mainly corn. His chief line of business is 
raising corn, cattle and hogs. He now 
owns one of the finest farms in Phelps 
county, with good building improvements, 
groves, and a fine orchard. The success 
he has met with is the result of good man- 
agement, and has been obtained by a life 
of unremitting industry and perseverance, 
united with frugal habits, and to his esti- 
mable wife who has so long aided and 
counseled him in all his praise-worthy 
efforts, much of his success is due. He is 
a man of truly religious principles, and 
lives up to all his professions ; is scrupu- 
lously honest in all his dealings, cautious 
in his conversation, never speaking aught 
to the detriment of his neighbors, and is 
much respected by all who know him. 



Mr. Bradley has been twice married. He 
lost his first wife by death, July 27, 1864 
August 24, 1865, he married Miss Rosanna 
Creamer, a daughter of C. C. Creamer, 
of Fayette county, Ohio. Mr. Bradley is 
the father of eight children, two by his 
first marriage and six by his last. The 
children by the first marriage are — Eli 
W., and Charles H. (deceased). By his 
second — Henry C, Minor (deceased), Ab- 
blex, Charles A. (deceased), Ancel M. and 
Myron W. 

Mr. Bradley's work being mission work, 
he has traveled almost constantly' since 
1862, but now has a short vacation. 

In politics he affiliates with the prohi- 
bition party, and is speciall}' interested in 
all reform movements. 



OJ. GAMEL was born in Oliio in 
184:6, and is a son of Henry 
and Susanna (Davis) Gamel. 
Henry Gamel, also a native of Ohio, was 
born in 1819, and served under Gen. Fre- 
mont from 1861 to 1864, his death occur- 
ing in the year last named. Mrs. Susanna 
(Davis) Gamel was born in Ohio in 1823, 
was married in 1843, and died in 1863, 
the mother of seven children, namely — 
Orin (deceased), Malinda (deceased), O. J., 
Henry II., Amanda (deceased), Melvina, 
Thomas Jefferson and C\'rus P. 

O. J. Gamel remained in his native 
state of Ohio imtil 1861, when he drove a 
flock of sheep through to Illinois, occui>y- 
ing fifty-two days on the way. In the 
latter state he lived with his maternal 
grandfather, Henry Davis, from 1861 
until 1863, at which time his mother died 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



G65 



aiul lie returned to his home in Ohio, 
where he remained until 1807, when he 
attain went to Illinois, where for eleven 
years he engaged in farming, and for six 
3'ears in the mercantile business at 
Mahomet. In 1885 he came to Nebraska 
and for two years he lived on a rented 
farm in Fillmore county, from there he 
came to his present home in Phelps 
county, on section 33, township 5, range 
17. Mr. Gamel began life with a horse, 
saddle and bridle, and came to Xebi'aska 
with a capital of $10,000 ; he now has four 
hundred and eighty acres of land, well 
stocked and unincumbered. 

In February, 1868, Mr. Gamel married 
Miss Sarah A. Ehrlich, a native of Ohio, 
born in 184:8. Three children now brighten 
his hearthstone and are named — William 
E., Cora Anna and Clarence Carl. In poli- 
tics Mr. Gamel is a republican. 



TAY. BONSER,of Lake toivnship, 
Phelps county, Nebr., was born in 
Illinois in ISiO. His father, W. T. 
Eonser, was born in England in 1800. 
He was a farmer by vocation, and on 
coming to America settled in Schuyler 
county. 111., where he passed the remain- 
der of his days. He was an active mem- 
ber of the Union Baptist church, and in 
politics was a democrat. In 1834 he mar- 
ried Emeline Stephens, a native of Indiana, 
born in 1813, and also a member of the 
Union Bajitist church. Thirteen children 
were born to this marriage, namely — Mrs. 
Keziah Rawson, in Illinois; William, in 
Phelps county, Nebr.; Mrs. Eliza Sugget, 
in Wyoming Territory; John,' in Illinois; 



Nancy Jane ; James (deceased) ; T. W. Mil- 
borne; Henry; an infant that died un- 
named; Edward; another infant that died 
unnamed, and Marion. 

T. W. Bonser was reared a farmer and 
was educated in his native county, which 
he left at the age of twenty -eight, in 1878, 
and came to Nebraska, settling in Phelps 
county, on section 25, township 5, range 
17 west. When he began his business 
life, at the age of twenty-one, he had 
nothing in the way of wealth; when he 
came to Nebi'aska he had a team of mules, 
a wagon and two hundred dollars in cash • 
at present he is the owner of two hundred 
and seventy-five acres of good farming 
land, well stocked and improved and clear 
of all incumijrance, all earned by hard 
work and good mana<>:ement. 

In 1878 Mr. Bonser married Miss Nancy 
E. Strong, a native of Illinois and born in 
1869. She has borne two children, 
Everett, in 1884, and Cora, in 1888. Mr. 
Bonser is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, and in politics is a 
democrat. 



A 



NDREW HOLLENBECK, a far- 
mer of Lake township, Phelps 
county, Nebr., was born in New 
York in 1843, where he remained until 
about 1878. Jacob B. Ilollenbeck, his 
father, also a native of New York, was 
born in 1820 and was a prosperous farmer 
and an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. He was of Holland 
descent and of the second generation born 
in this country. In 1840 he married Maria 
Van Ness, who was born in New York in 



666 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



1822, and who bore hira six children, 
namely — Mary (Mrs. John M. Deroe), 
Andrew, Arcliibald, Catherine M. (Mrs. 
Mortimer), Maggie and Sidney (deceased). 
The paternal grandfather of our subject 
was Battus Ilollenbeck, a native of Fulton 
county, X. Y. His paternal grandmother 
was Mar\r (Argersinger) Hollenbeck, of 
New York. His maternal grandfather 
was Andrew Yan Ness, and his maternal 
grandmother was Catherine (Vosberg) 
Yan Ness. 

Andrew Hollenbeck jiassed .his early 
summers on the home farm and his early 
winters in getting out timbers. For a 
number of years after reaching manhood 
he lived on a rented farm in his native 
state, and on coming to Nebraska, in 1878, 
and settling in Phelps county, had a capi- 
tal of only $75 in cash and a team. He 
was, moreover, incumbered witli quite a 
large family. He went manfull^y to work, 
however, and is now the owner of a half 
section of land, of which two hundred 
acres are under cultivation and improved 
with all necessary- buildings, etc. He is a 
democrat, has served several years as jus- 
tice of the peace, and is a popular man 
generall}'. In 1867 he married Miss Sarah 
E. Cowles, who was born in Fulton county, 
N. Y., in 18-19, and this union has resulted 
in tlie birth of ten children, namel}^ — 
Laura (Mrs. Whitney), Elijah, Jacob, Wil- 
liam (deceased), George, Elmer, Herbert 
and Plerman (twins), Sidney and Earl. 



LARS OSCAR OLSON is a native 
of Gothenborg, Sweden, and was 
_^ born August Ifi, 1841. He was 
reared in his native place and in his earlier 
days was apprenticed to the carpenters 



trade, which he mastered and followed 
for some time. After reaching maturity 
he was engaged a few years as a sailor on 
the North sea, the vessel he was on ply- 
ing between England, Sweden, Belgium 
and France. Coming to AmeiiA, he made 
a short stop at Hinsdale, Mass. From 
Hinsdale he went to Chicago, where he 
found his first employment in an imple- 
ment factory. For twenty years he made 
Chicago his headquarters, living there a 
large part of the time, his main occupa 
tion being bridge -building and mill- 
wrighting, the former of which lie followed 
nine years and was emploved in building, 
among others, the principal bridges on the 
Union Pacitic railroad, between Omaha 
and Ogden, Utah, in the years 1867-8-9. 
He also worked in Dunlap's National and 
Indiana elevators a large part of the time 
while in Chicago. He has worked in six- 
teen states in the Linion, being as far east 
as Massachusetts, west as Utah, north as 
North Dakota and south as Florida. 

In 1880 he bought a quarter section of 
land whei'e the town of Holdrege now 
stands for $610. Six years afterward he 
sold fort}' acres of it for $3,200 and within 
a year afterwards he sold eighty acres 
more for $8,800. He then moved to 
Phelps county, purchasing a half section 
in Laird township for $4,400, and still 
another quarter for $2,500, and built on 
the former place a house and barn that 
cost $7,500, and has since resided there 
and is now largely engaged in farming 
and stock-raising. 

He married. May 25, 1872, the lady 
whom he selected for a companion being 
Miss Albertina C. Magnusson, also of 
Gothenborg, Sweden. Six children have 
been born to this union, namely — Axel B, 



r HE LPS COUNTY. 



6G7 



born Marcli 27, 1873; Annie C, born 
Decen)ber 13,1874; Oscar, horn Septem- 
ber 15, 1876; Oscar Alfred, born August 
1, 1881 ; Clara M., born January 31, 1888, 
and Iledwig, born Novenil)er 25, 1889. 
Of these, Otcardied the thirteenth of June, 
1881, and Oscar Alfred, May 19, 188-1. 

J[r. Olson evinces tiie good sense that 
characterized him througli all his business 
career by remaining independent in poli- 
tics and keeping aloof fi-oni all political 
squabbles and connections. 



K 



XDKEW J. NELSON was born 

in Elsburg, lower Sweden, March 
IS, 1S54, He was rearetl on a 
farm and attended the common district 
schools, till he was seventeen years old, 
coming then to America, reaching New 
York the twenty-sixth of May, 1871, with- 
out a penny. He borrowed money enough 
to pay his passage to this countiy, his 
mother going his security. Going at 
once to Hartford, Mich., where he had 
acquaintances, he obtained emplojMiient 
on a railroad, and remained there about 
three months; then went to Iroquois 
county, III., and worked on a farm. By 
fall, he iiad earned enough money to pay 
back what he had borrowed to bring him 
to America. He worked in Iroquois 
county three years, and at the end of that 
time, with the money so earned, bought 
eighty acres of land. He disposed of this, 
however, four years afterwards and in the 
spring of 1879 came to Phelps county, 
Nei)r. This he found to be a wild prairie 
country, then very sparsely settled, but 
he determined to locate and go to work 



to secure a home. After prospecting 
about for some time he selected a home- 
stead in I'rairie townsiiip and set about to 
erect a sod house. He never discovered 
that the future county seat would be 
located on land ail joining his claim. He 
had onlv about two liundred dollars when 
he came to Nebraska, and aft(M- he had 
secured his claim and purchased feed for 
a team he had brought with him he had 
but little left. He remained on this home- 
stead about nine years. In the meantime, 
the Burlington & Missouri Eiver railroad 
was built through Phelps county and the 
county seat located at Holdrege, which 
place seemed to spring up out of a corn 
field after the railroad was built. The 
officials of the road concluded to locate 
their extensive shops at Holdrege and 
made Mr. Nelson an offer of eight thou 
sand dollars for his farm, which lay about 
one mile from the new town. He ac- 
cepted this offer and immediately invested 
the money in land in Laird township, 
where he now" owns six hundred and forty 
acres. 

Mr. Nelson was married December 25, 
1870, to Miss Gusta Lindgreen. She was 
born in Elsburg, lower Sweden, Septem- 
ber, 19, 1823, coming to America \\\l\\ her 
parents when quite small. To this union 
have been born five children — Minnie S. 
born October 23, 1877 ; George W., born 
February 19, 1879; Lewis IL, born 
November 1, 1883; Call E., born January 
11, 1886; Hattie E., born July 12, 1888. 

Mr. Nelson is an ardent advocate of 
temperance and votes the prohibition 
ticket. His farm where lie now lives 
comprises three hundred and twenty 
acres, on which he has recently erected a 
handsome residence. Every thing indi- 



G68 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



cates tlirift and prosperity, and shows Mr. 
Nelson to be a shrewd and careful mana- 
ger. He deals extensively in stock and 
does his own shipping. He ranks among 
the most successful farmers of Phelps 
countv. 



EZEA EEAD, an enterprising 
young hardware merchant of 
Loomis, Phelps county, was born 
in Iowa, September 29, 1850. He is a son 
of Joiin and Ann (Sturmni) Eead, both 
natives of England. They emigrated to 
America in 1850, and came west as far as 
Madison county, Iowa. The senior Read 
was a carpenter by trade but followed 
farming largely. He was born February 
8, 1813, and died August 23, 1888. His 
wife was born December 25, 1812, and 
died October 31, 1888. 

Ezra Read, the subject of this sketch, 
worked with his father in the milling busi- 
ness till he became of age, when he started 
out for himself, continuing in the milling 
and lumber business till September, 1878, 
when he came to Nebraska. He was one 
of the first settlers in Industry township, 
Piielps county. Taking a homestead 
there, he made a hole in the ground and 
lived in it all winter. He had to haul water 
over two miles. The prairie had been 
burnt and there was no grass or feed to 
be had. When he got settled on his claim 
he had onl}' $2.80 left to live on during 
the long winter. He lost his team after 
he had been there about two months, and 
had to go in debt for another in the 
spring. There were times when he did 
not know where his next meal was to 



come from, but he managed some way to 
get along. 

Mr. Read was married June 29, 1872, to 
Barbara Lukecart. She is of German de- 
scent and was born in Iowa August 14, 
1855. Four children grace their happy 
home — Annie, born May l-l, 1873; Wil- 
liam O., born December 19, 1874 (de- 
ceased); Lester, born August 17, 1876, 
and Benjamin F., born November 15, 1888. 

Mr. Read sold his homestead Novem- 
ber, 1889, and moved to Loomis, where he 
opened a hardware store Deceml)er 1st, 
that year. He carries a splendid stock, 
comprising a general line of hardware, in- 
cluding a stock of harness. Mr. Read is 
a careful business man and enjoys the con- 
fidence of his communit}', and although 
he has only been in business a few months 
he is succeeding beyond his most sanguine 
expectations. 

Both himself and wife are zealous mem- 
bers of the United Brethren church, and 
are always found at their post when any 
religious duty is to be performed. 



JAMES LUKECART was born in 
Ross county, Ohio, August 14, 1S27. 
His parents were Jacob and Rebecca 
(Chambers) Lukecart, the former 
being a native of Pennsylvania and the 
latter of New Jersey. They were mar- 
ried in Ohio, and moved to Illinois in 
1849, locating in Coles county, where 
they remained till 1860, whence they 
moved to Marshall county, Iowa, where 
they remained for seven years. Both 
died in 1869. He was a miller, and fol- 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



609 



lowed his favorite vocation nearlv all his 
life. 

James Lukecart was inari'ietl October 
15, 1S4S, to Miss Nancy C. White, who 
was a native of Illinois. Soon after mar- 
riage they settled in Marshall county, 111., 
where he was employed in a packing 
house. In 1858 he emigrated to Powshiek 
county, Iowa, and was among the early 
settlers. The nearest trading point was 
Iowa city, fifty miles distant. He killed 
wagon-loads of deer and took them to 
Iowa city, where he exchanged them for 
provisions. After four years of pioneer 
life in this Avild country he removed to 
Strong county, where he remained about 
eleven 3'^ears. 

Mr. Lukecart enlisted, October 27, 1862, 
in tiie Ninth Iowa infantry, and his first 
experience in battle was at Nashville, 
Tenn. He was a participant in the 
engagements at Tunnell hill. Lookout 
mountain, Coui'tland, Ala. ; Kingston, 
N. C. ; Goldsborough and Raleigh, and 
was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., and, 
received his discharge July 27, 1865, at 
Clinton, Iowa. 

Mr. Lukecart came to Phelps county, 
Nebr., in the fall of 1878, and located on 
a homestead in Laird township, and built 
a sod house when there was not another 
in sight. He had some live stock, but 
only $2.40 in money, but, nevertheless, 
has been a successful farmer from the 
first, always having good crops. 

There have been born eleven children 
to Mr. and Mrs. Lukecart, viz. — Jolin W. 
(deceased), Annie, Mary Jane, Barbara, 
Lavina, James (deceased), Sarah, Stephen 
D., Jacob (deceased), Sherman (deceased), 
and William C. Mr. Lukecart has eighty 
acres of well improved land, the soil of 



which is ada]>ted to raising almost any- 
thing grown in this climate. He is a 
member of Glover Post, No. 111,(1. A. R., 
of Hoklrege, and has always affiliated 
with the democratic party. 



F^Y. KIPLINGER, an enterpris- 
ing young banker at Loomis, 
Phelps county, is a native of Plain- 
field, 111., and was born December 3, 1805. 
His father, Elias Kiplinger, is a native of 
Ohio and was born in 1835. He was an 
Evangelical minister of considerable note 
for several years, but has retired from 
active work and is residing in Iloldrege, 
Nebr. He has preached in Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois and Nebraska, and was presiding 
elder in Indiana for twelve years. He 
came to Hoklrege in 1885 and preached 
there three years. 

The mother of the subject of this sketch 
bore the maiden name of Elizabeth R. 
Ruth and is a native of Germany. She 
was brought to America when seven years 
old by her parents, who located at South 
Bend, Ind. 

Mr. F. W. Kiplinger entered the North- 
western College at Naperville, 111., in the 
fall of 1882, having completed his prej)ar- 
atory work in the common and graded 
schools. He left college while in his 
junior year, but completed a course in the 
commercial department, which laid the 
foundation for a successful business career. 
After his return from college he taught 
school near Hoklrege, and in the fall of 
1885 was called to the principalship of the 
Bertrand schools. 

In June, 1887, Mr. Kiplinger purchased 



670 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



an interest in the bank at Looinis, his 
partners being his father, E. L. Kiplinger, 
and his brotlier. Earnest Kiplinger. The 
banlv was establisiied in 1886 with a capi- 
tal of 85,000, but was reorganized in 1888 
as a state bank, and tiie capital stock in- 
creased to 820,0U0, and is now known as 
the Loomis State Bank. The officers are: 
E. L. Kiplinger, president; F. W. Kip- 
linger, cashier, and Earnest Kiplinger, 
assistant cashier. At the close of business 
Februar}' 10, 1S87, the resources of the 
bank were shown to be $7,429.35, and on 
the same date, in 1890, §38,162.57. The 
volume of business for 1889 amounted to 
over $1,500,000, with collections amount- 
ing to $52,130. This is an excellent show- 
ing, considering that the town was only 
started in 1SS6, and speaks well for the 
careful management of the officers. 

Mr. Kiplinger was married October 19, 
1888, to Miss Ida M. Morgan, daughter of 
Mr. M. S. Morgan of Holdi'ege. This 
union has been blessed with the birth of 
one child. Aline Marie, born July 13, 
1889. 

Mr. Kiplinger is a stock bolder and 
treasurer of the Loomis Milling Com- 
pany, capital stock, $25,000. He and 
his estimable wife are members of the 
Evangelical church. 



EDWIN BARNUM is a native of 
Illinois and was born August 5, 
I 1839. He is a son of Albert and 
Abigal (Truesdell) Barnum, both of whom 
are natives of New York. The senior 
Bai-num was a cabinet-maker and came 



West, locating in IlHnois in 1839. He 
died in 1880. 

Edwin Barnum was tlie second of a 
family of four childi-en and reniainetl with 
his parents until 1861, when he turned 
his attention to farming for himself. He 
continued this favorite vocation for seven 
years, and then engaged in tlie grocery 
business at Hopedale, Tazewell county, 
111. He returned to farming, however, 
after a few years. His next move was to 
Ilartsburg, in Logan county, where he 
bought and shipped grain for several 
years. He was justice of the peace and 
did considerable business of an official 
character. 

Mr. Barnum came to Nebraska in the 
spring of 1883 and settled in Hall county. 
He only remained there one year, how- 
ever, when he located at Plielps Center, 
then the county seat of Phelps county, 
and conducted a hotel as landlord. Mr. 
Barnum is a success and duiinghis stay in 
Phelps Center he did a thriving business 
When the count\' seat was removed to 
Holdrege, Mr. Barnum purchased a farm 
in Union township and farmed for six 
years. 

He mari'ied, October 18, 1860, Miss 
Mary J. Smaliey. She is a native of 
Michigan and was born Februar}^ 28, 1842. 
This union has resulted in the birth of eight 
children — Nellie L, born April 1, 1862 
(now deceased) ; Henry, born April 8, 
1864; Ada J., born July 2, 1866; Mary E., 
born August 26, 1868 ; Lavanche, born 
August 1, 1871 ; Abigal, born August 1, 
1874 ; Albert, born January 10, 1877; Ross, 
born August 25, 1884 (deceased). 

Mr. Barnum moved to Loomis and began 
the erection of a commodious hotel about 
the first of November, 1889, and had it 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



671 



completed ready for the public by the 
first .of April, 1890. He was appointed 
postmaster at Loomis in December, 1889, 
and received his commission in January 
following-. He is quite well known 
througliout the county, and he wields 
considerable influence in local and political 
alia Irs. 



HENKY P. BANNING is a native 
of Ohio, and was born at Chilli- 
cothe September 28, 1835. His 
father was a native of Ohio, while his 
motlier was born in Pennsylvania. The 
former dipd in 1889, and the latter in 
1846. Mr. Banning was seventeen years 
of age when he went from Ohio to In- 
diana, where he engaged in farming for 
about live years. He then emigrated to 
Des Moines, Iowa, and was married in 
Polk county, October 27, 1855, removing 
immediately to Stoiy county. 

In the fall of 1879 Mr. Banning came to 
Nebraska, settling in Phelps county. He 
took a homestead and built a sod house, 
but about the time he got moved into his 
new house a terrible prairie fire swept 
over the county and destroyed everything 
he had. Being thus entirely burnt out he 
was obliged to spend the winter in Harlan 
county. 

Twelve children have been born to Mr. 
Banning, viz. — Sarah J. (deceased), John 
H. (deceased), Vince, George and Lizzie 
(twins), Emma, Charles, Thonias, Alfred, 
Ada, Nettie and Mattie. Mr. Banning 
lias moved to Loomis, where he has just 
erected a neat fi-a me dwelling, but he stdl 
owns one hundred and sixty acres of good 



land south of the town. He has a splendid 
war record, having enlisted, July 28, 1862, 
in the Twent3'-third Iowa infantry. Com- 
pany A. The first engagement he par- 
ticipated in was at Magnolia church, near 
Vicksburg. He was also present at the 
terrible siege of Vicksburg, at the storm- 
ing of the old Spanish fort. Port Gibson, 
Champion Hills, Black Biver bridge and 
Milliken's Bend. At the battle of Vicks- 
burg he was placed on picket guard, but 
got over the lines ; the rebs opened fire 
and the pickets were ordered to fall back; 
they lodged in a ditch, but a comrade 
jumped on him, seriously injuring him. 
He was discharged July 26, 1865 



SAMUEL REED is one of the early 
settlers of Laird township, Phelps 
county, having homesteaded the 
southwest quarter of section twent^'-six in 
the spring of 1879. The country was then 
new and plenty of wild game such as 
antelope and deer could be found. Al- 
though the country presented a wild and 
desolate appearance, Mr. Reed came with 
a determination to make a home for him- 
self and family. He at once erected a 
comfortable house from sod and in this 
rude structure he spent his pioneer days. 
Mr. Reed is a native of Indiana county, 
Pa., and was born July 9, 182-1. He 
was reared on a farm, and upon arriving 
at the age of maturity, he concluded to 
adopt the jjursuit of an agriculturist. He 
enjoyed no special school advantages, 
other than the common district school of 
the early days. He lias made iiis own way 
through life and has kept himself as well 



G72 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



informed as his lime and means would 
permit. 

Mr. Reed was married December 27, 
1849, to Miss Sarah Stalie, a native of 
Indiana county, Pa. She was born Jan- 
uary 10, 1825. To this union have been 
born nine children, of whom the following 
are stillliving — Lydia C, John, Martha, 
William, Elizabeth, Susan and Joseph. In 
the spring of 1858, Mr. Reed removed with 
his family from his native county in 
Pennsylvania to Des Moines count\'^, Iowa. 
He, five years after, purchased a farm 
on which he continued to live till he came 
to Phelps count}', Nebr., in the spring 
of 1879. 

On August 22, 1862, when the war of the 
rebellion was raging, Samuel Reed joined 
the Thirty-ninth regiment Iowa volun- 
teers and marched to the field of action. 
His service covered a period of nearly 
three years, during which he participated 
in sixteen noted battles and skirmishes, 
among which were the battles of Lookout 
mountain, Parker's Cross-roads, and Al- 
toona pass. He was mustered out June 5, 
1865, and participated in the grand review 
at Washington. Mr. Reed has never taken 
much interest in jjolitical affairs, but never- 
theless he has been called upon to fill 
various local ofiices. He has, up to recent 
years, always affiliated with the republi- 
can party, but that party having diverged 
from the firm views which he has alwaj's 
entertained, he has decided to act independ- 
ently hereafter. He is a member of the 
Alliance and a firm believer in the prin- 
ciples it advocates, and at present county 
chaplain for the same. He and his esti- 
mable wife each hold strong religious con- 
victions and have been members of the 
United Brethren church for many years. 



The one hundred and sixty acres compris- 
ing his homestead are now under a good 
state of cultivation, the soil beins as 
rich as that of an}' section of the county, 
and in point of production having never 
been surpassed. He expects to remain there 
during life with the exception of an oc- 
casional visit to his friends in other parts. 



GEORGE F. RACINE, tiie subject 
of this sketch, is one of the pro- 
gressive young men of Phelps 
county. He was born in Williams county, 
Ohio, May 2, 1817. His father, Charles 
Racine, was a native of New York. 
He was a farmer and died in 1853. 
His mother, whose maiden name was 
Catherine Racine, is a native of France 
and is now living. 

Mr. Racine has always cultivated habits 
of industry and economy. At the age of 
fifteen he began to learn the shoemaker's 
trade, and after serving an apprenticeship 
of two years, continued to work at his 
trade till he was twenty-seven years old. 
In 1869 he came to Missouri and kept a 
shoe store at Gallatin, Davies county. He 
did a thriving business for about two 
years. 

Mr. Racine was married April 14, 
1870, at Stryker, Ohio, to Miss Adeline 
Kitzmiller, a native of Richland county, 
Ohio. She was born August 17, 1851. 
To this union have been born five child- 
ren — Fred, born in Davies county. Mo., 
February 14, 1871.; William, born in Car- 
roll county, Mo., May 8, 1874; Albert 
born in Harrison county, Mo., August 8, 
1878 ; Francis O., born in Phelps county, 



r HELPS COUNTY. 



673 



Nebi'., December 27, 1883, and Josie born 
in Flielps county, Nebr., February 2, 
1885. 

Mr. Eacine resided in various localities 
in Missouri until in the spring of 1879 he 
removed with his family to Phelps count}', 
Nebr. He took a homestead on the 
northeast quai'ter of section 26, where he 
has since resided. He built a sod house 
and broke fifty-five acres of sod the first 
season. He is a careful, judicious farmer 
and has always raised good crops, his 
average yield being fully as high as any 
reported in the county. His homestead, 
which comprises one hundred and sixty 
acres, is now under a good state of culti- 
vation and lies on a high elevation over- 
looking the surrounding countrj^. Mr. 
Racine already has an established reputa- 
tion as a bi'eeder of fine Poland China 
hogs and he has now about seventy- 
five registered. He is also interestino- 
himself in Shorl-horned cattle. He 
believes that the best is the cheapest, and 
thus far he has made it a point to secure 
the best. 



JAMES M. SKILES is a native of 
Schuyler count}'. 111., and was born 
on Christmas day, 1839. His father, 
Moses Skiies, was a native of Mis- 
souri, and emigrated to Illinois at an 
earl}' day. He was a soldier in the Black 
Hawk war, and was a man of prominence 
and inrtnence in the community where he 
resided. He was justice of the peace for 
man}' years, and was elected to various 
other local offices. He was a farmer by 
occupation, a iiard-working, industrious 



man. He died in 1877. His wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Mary Luttrell, 
died in 18'12. Both were members of 
the United Brethren church. 

James M. Skiies, the subject of this 
sketch, was one of a family of eleven 
children and started out to " hoe his own 
row " at the age of seventeen. His 
opportunities for obtaining an education 
were very limited and he had to confine 
himself to the advantages offered in the 
district schools. He worked on a farm 
until March 22, 1862, when he enlisted in 
the Third Missouri cavalry. His service 
was rendered mainly within the borders 
of Missouri, where many of the most noted 
skirmishes of the war took place. He 
was a participant in the famous skirmish 
at Hartsville, Mo., where great efforts 
were exerted on both sides. He served 
as corporal for sometime previous to being 
mustered out, and followed after such dis- 
tinguished leaders as Generals Warren, 
Steele and Merrill. He was mustered out 
at Little Rock, Ark., in March, 1865, 
making his term of actual service three 
years. Soon after his return from the 
war, Mr. Skiies purchased a stock of gen- 
eral merchandise and kept a store at Ray 
Station, Schuyler county, 111. He was 
activelv engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness at this point for about seven years, 
when he disposed of his store and decided 
to seek a home in the West. ]\[r. Skiies 
was among the first homesteaders in 
Laird township, Phelps county, N'ebr. 
It was early in the spring of 1879 when 
he first began prospecting for a claim, 
and, as might be expected, his countenance 
wore a doubtful but earnest expression. 
He found himself out on a boundless 
praii'ie almost uninhabited, and where the 



074 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



antelope and deer roamed at will. There 
3'et existed a doubt concerning the future 
of this particular portion, which was once 
known as the •' Great American Desert." 
In appearance the country was a rolling 
prairie, beautiful to behold, but difficult 
to understand. This township is located 
on the Divide between the Platte and 
Ile})ublican rivers, and consequently it is 
from two hundred to two hundred and 
fifty feet to water. This fact discouraged 
many who preferred to locate near the 
streams. This, however, did not prevent 
Mr. Skiles from selecting a choice quarter 
section and locating on it. He had faith 
in the country, and set about immediatel}' 
to kindle the fire of civilization. He built 
a sod house, and began breaking the sod 
preparatory to planting his crojj. He 
came with the determination to endure 
the many hardships and privations inci- 
dent to the life of the early settle)', ir 
order that he might have a home for him- 
self and family in years to come. 

Mr. Skiles married April 20, 1865, the 
lady whom he selected for a partner being 
Miss Cyntliia Tracy, a native of Schu_yler 
county, 111. She was born April 10, 1848. 
Her parents were Lyman and Annie (Car- 
lock) Tracy, the former a native of New 
York, and the latter of Tennessee. Her 
father died in 1853, and her mother in 
1882. There were ten children in the 
Tracy family, of whom Mrs. Skiles was 
the voungest. 

To ]\Ir. and Mrs. Skiles have been born 
nine children, as follows — Mary Ann, born 
February 23, 1867; Thomas Logan, born 
October 2, 1868 ; Agustus, born December 
15, 1870; Eose, born January 31, 1873; 
Dora, born May 19, 1875; Frederick, 
l)orn October 11, 1877; Luther 15., born 



February 15, 1880; Arcadia, born March 
11, 1882, and James, born December 9, 
1885. 

Politicallv, Mr. Skiles is a republican, 
but he is not a professional politician. He 
has, however, filled various offices with 
credit to himself and to the entire satis- 
faction of his constituents. He served 
one term on the county board of super- 
visors, and has been justice of the peace 
for several years. He is a member of the 
Farmers' Alliance and one of its most 
ardent advocates. His once barren home- 
stead is now under a good state of culti- 
vation and yields an abundant harvest 
each year. 



HON. ERIC JOHNSON was born 
in Sweden July 15, 1838. In 
1846 he moved with his parents 
to Amei'ica, settling in Henry county. 111. 
September 14. 1861, he enlisted as a pri- 
vate in Company D, Fifty -seventh Illinois 
regiment volunteers. At the organization 
of the companj' a month later in Camp 
Bureau, near Princeton, 111., he was elected 
first lieutenant. The first battle engaged 
in was in the capture of Fort Donelson 
and after the battle of Shiloh he was pro- 
moted to captain. He resigned in Sep- 
tember, 1862, upon the recommendation 
of regimental surgeon, on account of sick- 
ness. 

C'aptain Johnson married December 31, 
1863, taking for a life companion Miss 
Mary O. Troil, who died April 23, 189(i. 
This union was blessed with eight children, 
five of whom are now living, viz. — Axel T., 
Sadie O., Julia C., Eric Sixtus and Earnest 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



G75 



G., aged respectively twenty-one, nineteen, 
sixteen, tliirteen, antl ten. 

Captain Johnson entered tlie journal- 
istic field in 186-i as editor and proprietor 
of tlie Galva lIU)wis Union, launching 
upon the sea of journalism in 1869. The 
ininois Swede, at Galva, Illinois, which 
was afterwards changed to jVi/a Verlden, 
and moved to Chicago in 1871, and is to- 
day the leading Swedish paper in Amer- 
ica, being now published under the name 
of Suensl'u Tribanen. 

Captain Johnson never had the advan- 
tage of any higher grade of education 
than a few winters in the pioneer district 
schools of Illinois from 1849 to 1854.^ He 
cast his first presidential vote in 1860, for 
Abraham Lincoln and voted for him again 
in ISC.I-. In 1868 he voted for U. S. Grant; 
in 1ST2, he voted for Horace Greeley; in 
1876, he lost his vote for president by a 
short residence in Kansas; in 1880, he 
voted for Garfield, renewing Ijis allegiance 
to the republican part}', but he has never 
been a strong party man since 1872. 

In 1871 he was journal clerk of the Illi- 
nois House of Representatives. 

In July, 1885, he became a resident of 
Nebraska, and for one 3'^ear edited the 
Sti'omsljurg Repvhlican. Moving to Ilold- 
rege in Juh', 1S86, he started the Uoldreije 
Citizen, remaining on tiiat paper until 
December, 1887. In April, ISSS, he took 
charge of the Iloldrege I'rogress, of which 
he has been the editor antl business man- 
ager up to date. The I'rogress has for 
several years been the official paper of the 
county, and has an actual circulation of 
one thousand and one hundred. It is now 
])ublisiie(l by Eric Johnson & Son. This 
same firm commenced, April 16, 1800, the 
publication <jf iYi//itc/7ietsI>astinen, a |)aper 



printed in the Swedish language devoted 
to prohibition, and has a circulation of 
five thousand. 

In the fall of ISSS, Captain Johnson 
was elected to the legislature from Phelps 
county, as an independent candidate, by a 
plurality of one hundred and forty-seven. 
T. M. Hopwood was the regular repui)li- 
can nominee and James J. Ehea the dem- 
ocratic nominee, the county giving Harri- 
son a majority over all of six hundred and 
twentv-five votes. Johnson's career in the 
legislature was so acceptable to the peo- 
ple of Phelps county, irrespective of party, 
that upon his return he was given a sur- 
prise at his residence by a large number 
of his constituents, many of whom had 
worked and voted against him when a 
candidate, and presented him with a purse 
of money and an elegant gold watch, 
bearing the following inscription: " From 
the people of Phelps county to Captain 
Eric Johnson for honest and faithful work 
as legislator in 18S9." 



MC. BRADLEY, editor of the 
Iloldrege Citizen, Holdrege, 
Phelps county, Nebr., is a na- 
tive of Waterbury, Vt. Lie was reared 
in his native place and in Reading, Mich., 
whitlier his parents moved when he was 
small. He learned the printei-'s trade in 
Reading and began his career as a jour- 
neyman in the office where he learned his 
trade. He came to Nebraska in 1875 and 
located in Seward county, taking a place 
as a compositor on the Bcporter, published 
at Seward, soon afterwards becoming fore- 
man. In the fall of 1878 he came to 



676 



PHELPS CO UNTY. 



Phelps county, which was then beginning 
to settle up, and took a claim in Industry 
township in the southwestern part of the 
county. In 1884 he returned to Seward 
county and worked on the Fe^wrter till 
the spring of 1887, when he came back to 
Phelps county, located at Holdrege and 
was one of a number of the leading busi- 
ness men of that place interested in buy- 
ing out the Holdrege Republican and the 
Citizen, consolidated the ])lants, formed a 
joint stock company and began the publi- 
cation of the new Citizen. Mr. Bradley 
later became editor and business manae:er, 
and as such has had practical control of 
the paper and all its affairs. The Citizen 
is a seven-column quarto weekly, devoted 
to the best interests of the town of Hold- 
rege, Phelps county and southwestern 
Nebraska. It is republican in politics, but 
stands fearless for tlie riglit in ail things 
It was formerly published semi-weekly 
and also ran an edition in the Swedish 
language, but these features have been 
abandoned, the patronage not being suffi- 
cient to warrant the additional expenditure 
in keeping them up. In addition to its 
newspaper patronage the Citizen office 
has one of the largest job-work depart- 
ments in the soutinvestern part of the 
state and turns out a very superior quality 
of work in that line. Its phmt will invoice 
between ^6,000 and $8,000, and it does a 
thriving business all round. In the build- 
ing up of the Citizen establishment, while 
ably assisted by his associates in business, 
the bulk of the work has necessarily fallen 
to Mr. Bradley, wlio has had the general 
management of the paper and its business 
and who is the practical man of the con- 
cern. For this labor Mr. Bradley is well 
qualified by nature and training, being a 



steady, sober, industrious young man, of 
good business habits, possessing a special 
taste for his work and having come, as all 
successful newspaper men have, from the 
position of "devil" up to editor. 



WT. LINDSAY. There are 
probably few old settlers in 
southwestern Nebraska who 
have been more prominently connected 
with the newspaper interests of this sec- 
tion, or who have been more active in 
local politics than Mr. Lindsay, now of 
the Holdrege Nugget Mr. Lindsa}' came 
to Nebraska in March, 1873, and settled 
at that date in Harlan county, since 
which time he has resided in Harlan, Fur- 
nas and Phelps counties and is well and 
favorably known, not onl\' for liis per- 
sonal character, but for his public labors. 
His chief labors of a public nature have 
been in the newspaper field, and in that 
field he is known as a hustler. 

Mr. Lindsay came from Iowa to Ne- 
braska. His native state, however, is 
Ohio. He was born in Guernse\' county, 
that state, in 1847, and was reared in that 
county and in Rock Island county, 111., 
whither his parents moved when he was 
young. Going to Warren county, Iowa, 
in 1860, as a member of his father's family, 
he there began the race of life. Ilavino' 
been reared on the farm, his first pursuits 
were of an agricultural nature. He 
worked on his father's farm for some 
years, and then in the fall of 1868 he mar- 
ried Miss Jennie Adams, of Osceola, Iowa, 
and settled down in earnest to the solu- 
tion of the bread and butter problem. 



PHELPS COUN'IY. 



677 



He followed farming in Warren county, 
Iowa, till the spring of 1873, when he 
came to Nebraska and took a home- 
stead six miles north of the present 
town of Orleans, in Harlan count}^ 
Tliere he passed seven years in the 
toilsome pursuit of his fortunes amid 
the grasshopper scourges, the drouths, hot 
winds, blizzards and other discourage- 
ments, until, wearying of the struggle, he 
gave it up and in 1880 moved into the 
town of Orleans, where he engaged in 
clerking for a year or so. In 1882 he 
moved to Oxford and in the fall of that 
year founded the Register, a live, seven- 
column folio, republican, weekly news- 
])aper, wiiich he conducted about two 
years, then sold out. Not long afterward 
he started the Standard, a publication 
simihir to the Eegister, and consolidated 
the two papers, running his new paper 
under the title of the Standard. This he 
conducted till the fall of 1888, giving to 
the people of Harlan and Furnas coun- 
ties a sheet eminently worthy of them as 
well as of the wide-awake, progressive lit- 
tle town where it was jiublished. In De- 
cember, 1889, Mr. Lindsay leased the IIol- 
drege JShigget of Mr. J. M. Hopwood, the 
veteran newspaper man of Phelps county, 
which he at once took charge of and 
which he is now running. The Nxigget 
is not onl}' the oldest newspaper in Phelps 
county, but it is one that has shown itself 
equal to the demands of the enterprising 
and public-spirited citizens for whom it 
is published, and it is needless to sa\' that 
it has not fallen off in interest or public 
favor since it went into the hands of its 
present managei'. Mr. Lindsay is a news- 
paper man possessing many of the best 
qualities for his calling. lie has the nat- 



ural acumen for the business, sometimes 
called the "newspaper nose"; he is an in- 
dustrious worker, a man of sound sense 
and good taste and a good writer. And 
above all he is devoted to his calling and 
pursues it with enthusiasm. lie has a 
host of friends and of course is not with- 
out enemies. No honest, earnest laborer 
in the wide field of politics and newspaper 
life ever was without enemies. 



WP. HALL, attorney at law, 
Holdrege, Phelps county. Neb., 
is a native of Illinois, and was 
born February 6, 1850. He received his 
education at the poor boy's university', the 
common-schools of his native state. At 
the early age of thirteen he began life for 
himself as a farm laborer. Having a 
natural taste for books, he spent his leisure 
hours reading such works as came in his 
way, and in this manner accumulated a 
considerable store of knowledge of a gen- 
eral kind. He began reading law with 
Judge M. T. Layman, Jacksonville, 111., in 
1871. He was admitted to the bar at 
Springfield, and started at once to the West 
in search of a location. He settled at 
Holdrege, in 1884, just as that place was 
starting on its career of prosperity. At 
that time, however, there was not a brick 
house, school house or side-walk in the 
town. He is a public-spirited citizen and 
labors assiduously in building up his city 
and developing the surrounding county. 
In April, 1889, he was elected mayor of 
his adopted city. Plis sterling integrity, 
mental and moral worth brought him this 
honor without solicitation on his part. 



678 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



lie is a member of the firm of Hall & 
Patrick, leading attorneys of Holdi-ege. 
In 1872, he was married to Miss Sarah, 
daiigliter of William Mclntyre, a native 
of Kentucky. Four children — Walter E., 
Ruel Glen, Mabel and Delia, shed the sun- 
light of happiness in their elegant home. 
Mr. Hall, by dint of industry, enjoys a 
large and growing practice. Republican 
in politics, yet he is very popular with all 
parties. 



FRANK HALLGREN was born 
December 1, 1852, in Ostergotland, 
Sweden. He is a son of Ham pus 
Y. Ilallgren. Having heard of the El- 
dorados in America, it stimulated a desire 
in him to seek his fortune in the land of 
promise ; so, at the age of thirteen, he 
kissed the loved ones of home good-bye, 
and, bidding a long farewell to his native 
land, single-handed and alone he set sail 
for Columbia, a land of freedom and 
equality. He made the long voyage of 
the Atlantic alone, not a familar face nor 
a welcoming smile to greet the brave- 
hearted boy when he stepped ashore at 
Castle Garden, New York cit\^ He lin- 
gered not a da}' in the great American 
metropolis, but set his face westward, 
stopping in Henry county, 111., where 
he had a brother and other relatives, and 
began life in the new world as a farm lad. 
He came with his brother, Leander Hall- 
gren, who was traveling agent for the 
Union Pacific Railroad ComjJan}^ to Ne- 
braska in 1876, and located in Phelps 
county. Here they were appointed land 
agents for the Union Pacific Railroad Com- 



pany, and the subject of this notice was 
employed to look after the interests of the 
company in Phelps and Kearney counties. 
The railroad company would solicit excur- 
sion parties from the older settled states, 
and Mr. Hallgren would sliow them the 
advantages of Nebi'aska lands for agri- 
cultural purposes. He delighted to tell the 
homeseeker of the wonderful fertility and 
depth of soil, and through his efforts he 
was instrumental in attracting attention 
to that portion of Nebraska, and thus de- 
veloping and advancing the growth of 
Phelps and Kearney counties. In the 
meantime he located a timber claim and 
homestead for his own benefit, in the 
center of Phelps county, which he has 
made final proof on and still owns. 

In 1879 he married Miss Hulda Sampson, 
an old school-mate of his in the old coun- 
try. In 1885 he moved to Iloldrege, Nebr., 
and in 1886, without solicitation or effoi't 
on his part, he was elected treasurer of 
Phelps county. He has been a successful 
man in every department of life. A hand- 
some fortune now ministers to his wants, 
for which he deserves great credit, coming 
to this country when a small boy, with no 
capital save an abundance of energy and 
thrift. He stands high in financial and 
political circles. He is vice-president of 
the Iloldrege National Bank, in which he 
is a stockholder and a member of its 
board of directors. 

His handsome residence in the northern 
part of the prosperous little city of Ilold- 
rege is a monument to the enterprise and 
thrift of its popular owner. Its luxurious 
a]>pointments and furnishings, combined 
with the genialit}' of its host and the 
domestic harmony of his interesting 
family, render it a model home, and one 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



679 



wliose portals are always open lo his 
legion of friends. 

Tiiere is a lesson in the life of Frank 
Hailgren for the emulative youth. His 
life is a model for his children to follow. 
He is a striking example of the self-made 
man. He deserves the success that has at- 
tended him. 



DR. SAMUEL F.SANDERS. J.T. 
Sanders, the father of Doctor 
Sanders, was a native of Eng- 
land, who came to America and settled in 
Pennsylvania. He was a lawyer of emi- 
nence, and, embracing Christianity while 
the "warm and licjiiid dews of youth were 
full upon him," he became an expounder 
of the common law, devoting a great deal 
of his time in the advocacy of his Master's 
cause. His hospitable home was the re- 
sort of the ministers of his acquaintance 
and was justly termed the "Shepherds' 
Rest." He was an exemplai-y christian 
gentleman and his dutiful son is following 
in the footsteps of his pious father. In 
1878 he was called to that rest, the prep- 
aration for which he had devoted a long 
and useful life. 

The mother of Doctor Sanders is a sis- 
ter of Judge J. M. Beck, Iowa's most 
eminent jurist, and is still living at 
Busliell, 111. She is a member of the 
Primitive Baptist church, an organization 
noted for the pure, sweet devotion of its 
members to the teachings of the Bible. At 
a ripe age she is waiting for the summons 
to come wiien she shall join her devoted 
iuisband in the enjoyment of the fruition 
of hope in the great beyond. 



The subject of this sketcli was born 
April 16, 1845, and received his literary 
training at Abingdon, 111. He studied 
medicine with Dr. W. T. Wright, of 
Bushell, 111., attending the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa, 
and graduated in the spring of 1868 ; after- 
wards he graduated at the Missouri Med- 
ical College at St Louis in 1872. His desire 
to avail himself of later discoveries in the 
science of medicine and surgery ]irompted 
him to take a course of instruction at the re- 
nowned Rush Medical College, Chicago, 
from which institution he was graduated 
in the spring of 1881. He began the prac- 
tice at the town of Goodhope, McDon- 
ough county. 111., where he continued to 
enjoy the fruits of a liberal patronage till 
1888. He decided to move West at that 
date and accoi'dingly came to this state, 
settling in Holdrege, Piielps county. He 
at once took a high stand in his profession 
where he located and lie has enjoyed a 
constantly increasing practice. So rap- 
idly has his business grown that he has of 
lace confined himself to the practice in 
Holdrege and to office work. 

On May 8, 1871, Dr. Sanders married 
Miss Matilda A. Morris, daughter of 
Thomas Morris, of McDonough county. 111. 
Three children have been born to this 
union, UlaM., Frederick M., and Roy A. 

Dr. Sanders and his wife are members 
of the Presbyterian church, in the affairs 
of which they take an active and conspic- 
uous part, contributing to its support and 
otherwise aiding in the promotion of its 
work. Dr. Sanders is an elder in this 
church, a Knight Templar Mason, and a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. Not only does he stand higli in 
his profession, but he occupies a front 



680 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



rank as a citizen and moves in the highest 
circles of society, culture and refinement. 
Dr. Sanders has a pleasing address, refined 
manners, and is a constant student. 
When not engaged in business connected 
with his ]irofession, he can always be 
found among the books of his well se- 
lected library. Generous, without being 
extravagant, he is always ready toaid any 
legitimate enterprise, and responds to all 
calls for charity. Iloldrege is fortunate 
in being able to number such a man 
among her thriving and enterprising citi- 
zens. 



JOHN P. NELSON was born March 3, 
18,55, in Jonkopings Lon, Sweden, 
and is a son of Nels and Karrie John- 
son. He came to America in 1868 
and located in Cannon River Falls, Good- 
hue country, Minn., where he followed 
farming. In 1877 he immigrated to Ne- 
braska, settling at Phelps Center, Phelps 
county, where he took a timber claim. He 
accepted a position in a mercantile estab- 
lishment and moved to Kearney, Nebr., 
in 1878. While there a fire broke out in 
the business portion of the citj', which he 
helped to subdue, and by his heroic efforts 
was instrumental in preventing a destruc- 
tive confiagration. The exposure he 
underwent at this fire so impaired his 
health that he was not able to do any 
thing for more than a year. After regain- 
ing his health he entered the employ of 
Mr. G. Kramer, at Kearney. Mr. Kramer 
did an extensive mercantile business, own- 
ing establishments in various parts of the 
country. He established himself at once 
in the confidence of his employer, which 



was demonstrated in 18S4 when Mr. Kra- 
mer put Mr. Nelson in charge of a branch 
house at Holdrege. His employer in tlie 
meantime having retired from business, 
our subject, Ledlie and Rea began business 
in the same line. His fair dealing and in- 
tegrity made him ver}' popular among his 
customers. Business men looked upon 
him as a man of more than average busi- 
ness ability', and, looking over the field for 
an available man for county clerk, he was 
chosen by his part\' to fill that position in 
1887, and began the discharge of his official 
duties January 5, 1888. He is a painstak- 
ing, accommodating and thoroughly effi- 
cient officer, as the neatness and accuracy 
of the count}^ records and his popularity 
will bear witness. His official career was 
endorsed in 1889 by a re-election to the 
same position, and he will no doubt con- 
tinue to meet the confidence of his constit- 
uents as long as he is retained in office. 
He is the right man in tlie riglit jtlace. 
He was married November 13, 1880, to 
Miss Hilda, daughter of Johan Johnson 
and a native of Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. 
Nelson are members of the Free Lutheran 
church, m the afl'airs of which tliey take 
an active part. Mr. Nelson affiliates with 
the republican party and is capable, hon- 
est and progressive, and, being a thorough 
business man and public-spirited citizen, 
he has a bright future before him. 



FD. TRAYIS was born in Indiana 
county. Pa., April 12, 1830, and 
is a son of William and Jane 
Travis, both natives, also, of Pennsylvania. 
His fatiier engaged in agricultural pur- 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



681 



suits all his life. The maiden name of her 
mother was Jane McPlierson. They 
moved to Illinois, where they passed a 
great part of their lives and where they 
died, having been life-long members of the 
Presbyterian church. 

The subject of this biographical notice 
is tiie fourth of seven children. He 
received his education at the Glade Run 
Academy, Armstrong county, Pa., and 
afterward located at Paxton, 111., where 
he engaged in the mercantile and grain 
business. He subsequentl}' opened a 
branch house at Pelleville, 111. In 1884 
he immigrated to Nebi'aska and located in 
Holdrege and engaged in the real estate 
business, dividing his time between Hold- 
rege and Kearney. AY hen Cleveland was 
elected President, Mr. Travers was 
appointed postmaster at Holdrege, serv- 
ing the people faitiifully till the close of 
that administration. His sterling integ- 
rity and executive ability were at once 
recognized by his fellow-citizens by his 
election in 1889 as treasurer of Phelps 
count}'. Being a democrat and his party 
being largely in the minority, his election 
indicates the appreciation of the man by 
the people of his adopted county. As the 
political sentiments of his constituents is 
largely opposed to his own, he has the 
satisfaction of knowing that his selection 
to fill this important position was made 
from purely personal qualilications and 
the unqualified confidence in his ability as 
a man and character as a citizen. His 
administration of the county's finances 
has not only been satisfactor}' to his sup- 
porters, but pre-eminently so to those 
opposed to him politically. 

On September IS, 1SS7, he married Mrs. 
L. J. Evans, a lady eminently qualified to 



bear him the companionship he sought 
with her hand. 

Mr. Travis is personally verj' popular 
and is one of Holdrege's representative 
citizens and a polished gentleman. He 
takes an active interest in all the affaii's 
of his adopted home and that place is 
justly proud of him. 



CA. BOEHL. The parents of this 
gentleman, Carl and Mary Boehl 
are natives of Germany and came 
to America in 1856, locating in Iowa. 
They moved to Nebraska in 1858, settling 
in Hall county, where they acquired large 
property interests. They subsequently 
located at Holdrege, where the senior Mr. 
Boehl ranks high socially and financially, 
being one of the earliest pioneers of cen- 
tral Nebraska. 

The subject of this notice was born in 
Grand Island, this state, March 6, 1S59, 
and was the first child born in that pros- 
perous little city. The Land Association, 
in honor of the event, deeded a lot in that 
city to the pioneer baby, which has been 
improved by the erection thereon of a 
substantial brick block, the rentals from 
which bring in a handsome income. 

He was married in 1887 to Miss Carrie 
Hugland, daughter of M. Hugland of 
Phelps county. He is one of Holdrege's 
substantial business men, being a member 
of the firm of Boehl &, Son, who are the 
proprietors of the Empire Eoller Mills, the 
products of which have gained an exten- 
sive .sale until they have nearly monopo- 
lized the trade of that section. They also 
own the Sappa Valley Mills, located at 



682 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



Orleans, this state. Besides their large 
milling interests, the firm has large invest- 
ments in Holdrege real estate. Holdrege 
is destined to become a city of no mean 
proportions and then this property will be 
the means of adding to the already in- 
creasing fortune of this firm. For finan- 
cial abilit}' the firm of Boehl & Son rank 
high. The junior member is a hard worker, 
possessing fine executive ability. No citi- 
zen of this bustling little city has done more 
for the development and improvement of 
Holdrege and Phelps county than he. lie 
is liberally inclined to all public enter- 
prises, giving freely of his means and 
freely exercising his superior judgment. 
He possesses to a remarkable degree the 
enei'o'v and snap that have been such 
wotiderful elements in the subjugation and 
development of the West. Guided by the 
more mature experience of his father, he is 
quick to heed his advice. Father and son are 
potent factors in the unparalleled growth 
of their adopted city. In financial busi- 
ness and social circles no one stands higher 
than C. A. Boehl. 



GUSTAVITS NOEBERG. The 
fatlierof Gustavus]Srorberg,E. U. 
JSforberg, is a native of Sweden^ 
who emigrated to the new world in 1842. 
He settled in Michigan, but is now a resi 
dent of Toulon, 111. 

The subject of this sketch was born 
December 6, 1853. He was educated at 
Urbana University, Urbana, Ohio, and 
began the study of law under the super- 
vision of Hon. T. E. Milchrist, of Galva, 
111., for several years United States 
district attorney. He also pursued his 



studies under the tuition of Martin Shel- 
lenberger, of Toulon, 111. After having 
acquired a thorough knowledge of the 
elementary principles of the law, he was 
admitted to the bar in the supreme 
court of that state. He came to Nebraska 
in 1883 and began the practice of his 
chosen profession at Phelps Center, Phelps 
county, whence he removed to Holdrege, in 
December, 1883, continuing the practice 
of the law at that place. His legal ability 
and moral worth as a citizen were soon 
recoo-nized. He forged his wav steadilv 
to the front, and was elected county attor- 
ney in 1886. He gave almost universal 
satisfaction as an officer and was re- 
elected in 1888. He married Miss Carrie 
E. Burnett, a native of New York and a 
daughter of C. H. Burnett, Esq., now a 
citizen of Holdrege. Mr. Norberg is very 
popular among his agricultural friends, in 
whose afl'airs he takes great interest, and 
is an earnest advocate of the diversifica- 
tion of farm products. Possessing an 
ample store of snap and energj', he is a 
recognized leader in matters of public 
import. Endowed with a keen apprecia- 
tion of the busy scenes of active life, 
he nevertheless loves the peaceful quiet of 
his cheerful home life. The cares and 
responsibilities of his professional career 
he banishes from his mind the moment he 
crosses the threshold of his delightful 
home. 



A J. CARLSON is one of the early 
settlers of Phelps county, having 
located there in 1877. He is a 
native of Sweden, and immigrated to 
America in 1870. By economy and 



PHELPS COUNTY 



683 



industi-y he has accumulated enough of 
this world's goods to satisfy the wants of 
life. Pleasantly located on a beautiful 
farm, he is spending his days in the happy 
quiet of farm life. Although thoroughly 
in sympathy with the progressive, big- 
hearted West, and identified with the sub- 
stantial development of his adopted 
country, yet native ties, the duty of the 
religion of the soil, turns his heart to the 
home of his childhood and the associates 
of his youth across the water. He desires 
to go back and look again upon the 
familial' haunts where rustic jo\'s gilded 
the monotony of peasant life in years 
long agone — happy years, halcyon days 
— the pleasures of which crystallize the 
frost-woik of sweet day dreams of the 
present, called recollections of other 
days. 



PETEK J. MOON. The ancestors 
of the subject of this sketch fig- 
ured conspicuously in the wars 
that antedated and that out of which was 
born the Republic which has been and is 
the wonder of political organizations in 
the world's history. His paternal grand- 
father served with distinction in the 
French and Indian wars; the grandfatlier, 
Williain Moon, a native of New York, was 
a Tlevolutionar}' patriot, and died at the 
age of seventy-seven, from a wound re- 
ceived in the war of independence. The 
father, Philip Moon, was a farmer, re- 
moving to Michigan in 1828, being one of 
the pioneers of that state, where he died 
at tiie ripe age of eighty. 

Peter J. Moon was born in New York, 



May 7, 1818. His mother, whose maiden 
name was Charlotte Johnson, was a native 
of Vermont and died in Michigan. He 
began his career as a farmer in the Lake 
State. In 1880, he came to Nebraska, 
settling in Phelps county. Was married 
June 9, 1839, to Miss Harriet Tomlinson. 
She died April 4, 1881, and was buried in 
Harlan county, this state, leaving surviv- 
ing her venerable husband and six chil- 
dren to mourn her loss. Mr. Moon is one 
of Phelps county's respected citizens. He 
is justly proud of the glorious achieve- 
ments of his ancestors. In politics he is 
a democrat of the Jackson school. He is 
now in his seventy-third year, having 
lived out the time allotted to man — three 
score and ten years. Although healthy 
and vigorous for one of his age, 3'et in the 
nature of things he will not long survive 
the inevitable decree that awaits us all. 
Three quarters of a centuiy, happy, peace- 
ful years, lie behind him, and ere long he 
most emigrate to that unknown country 
to meet again the beloved wife of his 
youth and the solace of his declining years. 



HS. MOON was born in 1840, 
in Van Buren county, Mich., 
and is a son of Peter J. and 
Harriet Moon. A sketch of his father 
appears in this work. 

The subject of this notice moved to 
Nebraska in 1879 and settled in Adams 
county, wiiere he resided a 3'ear and 
then moved to Phelps county and h; s 
since lived there. He took a home- 
stead on settling in Piielps and has been 
engaged in farming since that date. He 



684 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



was reared on a farm and has been identi- 
fied witli farming interests all his life, 
and now owns one of the best farms in 
Phelps county and a fine one also in Har- 
lan county. 

In 1866 he married Miss Susan, daugh- 
ter of Thomas Ensign, of Ohio. Three 
children have been born to this union — 
Leroy, Arthur and Eugene. 

Mr. Moon is an old soldier, having 
enlisted in the Union army in 1862, enter- 
ing the Eighty-Ninth Illinois infantry. 
His first service was in Kentucky, under 
Gen. Buell. He was in the engagements 
at Perry ville. Stone river, Liberty gap, 
Tullahoma, Chickamauga and Missionary 
rid"e. He was wounded in the latter 
engagement hy a gunshot in the left arm 
and hand, and was sent to the hospital, 
but as soon as he recovered sufficiently 
to get about he ran away from the hos- 
pital and rejoined his command at Kene- 
saw, Ga., and participated in the battles 
around Atlanta. He was also with Gen. 
Thomas at the engagements at Franklin 
and Nashville, in the former of which he 
saw the distinguished Confederate Gen- 
eral, Pat Cleburne, fall mortally wounded. 
He was in the memorable retreat from 
Pulaski to Nashville, where Thomas made 
his stubborn resistance to Hood, winning 
the battle of Nashville. Mr. Moon was 
mustered out of the service soon after 
this, the term of his enlistment having 
expired. He carries with him, as memen- 
toes of his services in behalf of the 
Union, two scars made by the enemy's 
guns. In the quiet, peaceful battle for 
existence he has been equally as suc- 
cessful as in those for the honor of his 
country's Hag. 



GUY CRANDALL, the well-known 
horseman of Holdrege, Phelps 
county, is a native of Fulton 
county, 111., and was born October 
20, 1857. He was reared in his native 
count}', and in Schuyler county, whither 
his parents moved when he was but 
twelve years of age. Most of the 
education he obtained was got in contact 
with the practical affairs of life. His 
father was a breeder and dealer in fine 
horses, and young Guy, inheriting much 
of his father's love for horse flesh, began 
handling stock when a lad, going on 
the road as a buyer and shipper at the 
age of fifteen. He accumulated but little 
book lore ; but he was a deep student of 
the markets and a close observer of stock. 
While other lads were pourmg over his- 
tory, locating the geographical positions 
of the remote places of earth, digging out 
cube roots and constructing philosophical 
essays on the duties and responsibilities 
of youth, Gu\' w^as hunting up the pedi- 
grees of famous horses, running down the 
different strains, stud^'ing the sti-ong and 
weak points of an animal and speeding 
his favorites around the track to test their 
mettle and see what there was in them. 
Increasing years and observation brought 
increased knowledge, and j^oungCrandall 
came to be a splendid judge of horse flesh, 
an expei't buyer and seller, long before 
he reached his majorit}'. It is hard to 
say when he began business as a man of 
his own affairs. He grew into business 
as naturally as he grew into manhood, 
and there has never been a time since he 
was old enough to sit on a horse, that he 
has not had an interest of some sort in 
horses. He is now one of the largest 
dealers in horses in southwest Nebraska, 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



685 



aiul his reputation as a fancier of liorse 
fiesh is not confined to his own section 
either. He is known abroad. His splen- 
did stables at Holdregenow contain some 
of the finest strains of blood to be found 
in the West. Mr. Crandall's judgment 
of a horse is unerring, and many people 
buy stock of him solely on his knowledge 
and recommendation. As the success he 
has attained would indicate, he is also a 
shrewd business man, capable of succeed- 
ing at anything else to which he might 
turn his attention as assiduously as he has 
to horses. He stands high in the commu- 
nity where he lives and is universally 
popular. He is a practical, matter-of-fact, 
jolly, good-natured fellow, with a hearty 
taking manner, a broad smile and a help- 
ing hand for all. Mr. Crandall has 
resided in Holdrege since 1884, and there 
is no man who has become better known, 
or who has made more friends in that 
time among the citizens of Phelps county, 
than he has. He has a pleasant home and 
an interesting family, having married in 
1SS3, the lad\' whom he took to share his 
fortunes being Miss Lulie McCreary, of 
Schuvler county, 111. 



A 



E. WHITCOMB, born in the 
town of Windsor, Vt., April 29, 
185-i, is a son of Daniel and 
Arvilla (Adams) Whitcomb, natives also 
of the "Green Mountain State," and de- 
scendants of old New England stock. 
His parents immigrated to the West 
when the subject of this sketch was a 
child, settling in Kock county, Wis. There 
his earlier years were spent and there he 



began the race of life. He was brought 
up on his father's farm and his first pur- 
suits were those of afjriculture. Taking 
a position with the Eclipse Wind Mill 
Company of Wisconsin, in 1871 at the 
age of seventeen, he remained in their em- 
ploy for a period of seven years, engaged 
in selling wind-mills and pumps, master- 
ing all the arts of the craft during this 
time and getting a world of experience 
and valuable business training, as any 
shrewd, wide-awake young fellow might 
be expected to do. He came to Nebraska 
in 1878 and located in Phelps count}'^, 
where he opened an establishment of his 
ovvn and began selling wind-mills, pumps, 
tubular wells, etc. Moving to Holdrege 
when that place started, he enlarged his 
stock with his growing trade and has 
-since done a thriving business. He owns 
a large store and carries a full line of sup- 
plies in his line. Mr. Whitcomb has built 
up a very desirable business in his adopted 
town and county and is a man of recog- 
nized business talent and integrit}'. He 
has considerable real estate intei'ests in 
Phelps county and is actively identified 
with the general growth and development 
of his communit}'. He is a progressive, 
enterprising public-spirited citizen and 
has abundant confidence in the future of 
Holdrege and Phelps county. He has 
never aspired to any public position, being 
a man of quiet tastes and strict business 
habits. Like all good citizens he keeps 
up with local, state and national questions 
and the progress of general events. He 
has his opinions and when occasion de- 
mands he does not hesitate to express 
them. He is a stanch republican and 
usually votes that ticket. 

Mr. Whitcomb has been twice married ; 



686 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



his lirst wife Miss Rosa Farnham, his sec- 
ond Mrs. Mary Lepper, both of Davis 
county, Iowa. He has an interesting fam- 
Wy and a pleasant home. 



RT. MoGREW, president of the 
First National Bank of Holdrege, 
Phelps count}', is a native of 
Illinois and was born October 25, 1848. 
He was reared in Shelby county, 111., 
whither his parents moved when he was 
small, and he received his education in the 
common schools of that county, finishing 
at Farmersburg Academy, at Farraers- 
burg, Ind. He was brought up on a farm 
and his earlier years were spent in agricul- 
tural pursuits. He came to Nebraska in 
1878, located at Hastings, Adams county, 
and went into the wind-mill, sewing ma- 
chine and pump business, at which he con- 
tinued till January, 1882. He then wont 
to Phelps Center, Phelps county, Nebr., 
and oriranized the Farmers and Merchants 
Bank, which he conducted till July, 1884, 
orffanizing at that date the First National 
Bank of Holdrege, in which he placed the 
bulk of his funds and with which he has 
been prominentlv connected since. The 
First National Bank started with a capital 
of $50,000. A. L. Clark was the first 
president and R. T. McGrew first cashier. 
There have been several changes in the 
working force of the bank since its organi- 
zation, but Mr. McGrew has been a 
heavy stock-holder in it at all times, and 
has been its president since the fall of 
1887, and a member of its board of 
directors, and in whatever official capacity 
he has served he has had the practical 



management of the bank's affairs. The 
capital has been increased to $60,000 and 
there has accumulated a surplus of $30,- 
000. The following figures taken from 
the last published statement show the 
bank's condition : 



RESOURCES. LIABILITIES. 

Loaos 8138,703.15 Capital stock 

Over-drafts .... 240.99 Surplus 

U.S. Bonds 1,5,000.00 

Bkng. House 16,B7S.35 

Prms. Paid 2,013.90 

Redpt. Fund 675.00 

Cash & sght 30,8S3.59 



30 
Undivided pfts.... 3] 

Circulation 13, 

Deiiosits 80,488.82 

Re-discounts 17,659.10 



,000.00 
,(I00.W) 
,278.21 
500.00 



8204,926.13 



$204,926.13 



The subject of this sketch is now pres- 
ident of the bank, P. O. Hedlund is vice- 
president and S. E. McNaul is cashier. 
The First National is one of the solid 
financial institutions of Phelps county, es- 
tablished upon a firm basis and recognized 
as doing a safe, conservative banking 
business. The prominence it has attained, 
as a business factor in the community 
where it is, has been the result of the un- 
tiring energy and splendid executive 
ability of its able chief executive. Mr. 
McGrew is a trained man of affairs, he 
has devoted himself strictl}' to business 
all his fife, and. knowing himself as not 
many men do, he has set the proper limits 
to his aspirations. He has grown along 
the line of his natural tastes and gifts, and 
has industriously used his talent. So liv- 
ing, his career has of necessity been one of 
success, and he has escaped many of the 
disappointments and heart-aches which 
come to those who strive for what is the 
unattainable for them in this life. 

Mr. McGrew married in December, 1884, 
Miss Carrie L. Anderson, daughter of Olaf 
Anderson, of Chicago, 111. He has a 
pleasant home and an amiable family. 

In personal appearance Mr. McGrew is 
striking, in manner captivating, hearty 



PHEirS COUNTY. 



687 



and full of that indefinable force some- 
times called magnetism, by which the 
stronger draw the weaker natures around 
them. His acquaintance wears well, his 
friendships are of the warmest nature. 



/ 






P. ERICKSOX, one of the repre- 
sentative business men of the 
1. V town of Holdrege, Phelps county, 
was born near Linkoping, Sweden, No- 
veml)er 20, 18i6. He came to America 
in 1866, and stopped among some of his 
countrymen at Galesburg, 111., wiiere he 
lived for a year and a half, going thence 
to Iowa and locatincf in Burlington. He 
lived in Burlington for thirteen years and 
was engag-ed there in the mercantile busi- 
ness, first as clerk, and afterwards as pro- 
prietor. He then moved to Nebraska and 
lived for awhile in Kearney, Buffalo 
county, settling, in 1883, in Holdrege, 
Phelps county, where he now resides. Dur- 
ing the first two ye.ars of his residence in 
Holdrege, he was engaged in the mercantile 
business, but ^juitting this he was appoint- 
ed deputy county treasurer in 1885, which 
position he held one year, going then into 
the Commercial State Bank as assistant 
cashier and remaining there for more than 
two years. January 1, 1890, he opened 
an office in Holdrege and began lending 
money on personal and chattel security at 
which he is now engaged. 

Mr. Erickson is one of the successful 
men of Holdrege. He is a clear, level- 
headed financier, a man of intelligence 
and discriminating judgment, well })osted 
in commercial and banking matters, a 
competent accountant, attentive to busi- 



ness and a polite and accommodating gen- 
tleman. He is po])ular among his fellow- 
citizens, as is evidenced by the positions 
of trust he has held, and is a liberal- 
minded, progressive, public-spirited man. 

Mr. Erickson married in 1874. his wife 
before marriage being Miss Bettie Ander- 
son, of Burlington, Iowa. Two daughters 
gladden his household, Melia and Olivia. 

In politics Mr. Erickson has always 
affiliated with the republicans, being a 
stanch believer in republican principles 
and methods in dealing both with state 
and national questions. He is a zealous 
Mason, having taken all the degrees up to 
and includmg the Knight Templar and 
Shrine, and he and his estimable wife are 
both members of the Evangelical church 
and liberal contributors to all charitable 
purposes. 



EDWARD W. ROBERTS. In 
writing of the men who have 
been actively identified with tiie 
settling of Phelps county and the found- 
ing, growth and development of the town 
of Holdrege, mention must be made of 
Edward W. Roberts, who, as contractor 
and builder, has done more towards build- 
ing up the town of his adoption than any 
other man in it. Mr. Roberts, although a 
comparatively 3'oung man, has led an 
active, not to saj' laborious, life, and 
nowhere are the fruits of his labor to be 
seen in greater abundance or to better 
advantage than in the proud and pros- 
perous little town of Holdrege, where he 
has resided for the last few 3'ears. 

Edward W. Roberts was born in the 
town of Union, Rock county, Wis., Octo- 



G88 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



ber 6, 1S4S. He is next to the youngest 
of a family of seven children boru to 
Edward and Ann (Thomas) Eoberts, the 
others being three sons and three 
daughters — Elizabeth, William, John, 
Sarah, Kate and Albert. His parents 
were both natives of Wales, came to this 
country, were married in Ohio, and settled 
in Wisconsin, where the father died in 
1852 ; the mother resides in Duluth, Minn., 
with her daughter Kate. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
on a farm and followed different occupa- 
tions till he was twenty -three, years old, 
at which time he went to work at the car- 
penter's trade, mastering the craft and 
afterwards working for some years as a 
journeyman. In 1879 he came to Nebraska 
and located at Minden, in Kearney county, 
soon after that town was started and 
while Phelps county was still but sparsely 
settled and the present town of Holdrege 
was a bare, unbroken prairie. At Mindjn 
he worked some at his trade and was 
also for awhile postmaster. Moving to 
Holdrege when that town started on its 
career of prosperity about 1884, Mr. 
Koberts began contracting and building, 
and he has followed that successfully up 
to the present time. No man ever visited 
the town of Holdrege without being 
struck at once not only with its clean, 
neat, thrifty, prosperous appearance, but 
also with the splendid structures, resi- 
dences and business blocks that line its 
principal streets and adorn its expansive 
suburbs. These structures are not the 
common cheap buildings made of ship- 
lap, putty and paint, usual in the new 
Western towns ; they are large, commodi- 
ous, well constructed, tastily designed 
buildings, made of the best material, lum- 



ber, brick and stone. Most of these rep. 
resent the industrj% ingenuity and skilled 
labor of Edward W. Roberts and they are 
no greater credits to the enterprise and 
public-spirit of their owners than they are 
monuments to Mr. Roberts' skill as a work- 
man and his ability as a man of business. 
But in building up a town and community 
Mr. Roberts is the ritrht man in the rio;ht 
place ; for he is not only a skilled me- 
chanic, with a thorough knowledge of his 
callins:, but he is an intelligent man of 
business, a live, progressive, public-spirited 
citizen. He takes an active interest in all 
local matters of public concern, and, being 
a man of strong personal energy, accus- 
tomed to pushing ahead in his own affairs, 
he naturally adopts the same methods in 
dealing with public matters, and like all 
men of that kind he frequently finds him- 
self placed at the fore-front in public en- 
terprises and not unfrecjuenth' pushed into 
positions where energy and executive 
ability are in demand. He is now chair- 
man of the board of supervisors of Phelps 
count}', member of the board of education 
of the city schools of Holdrege, and one 
of the city aldermen. Being a man who 
does not stand back when work is to be 
done and a good man to lay out work for 
others, he finds plenty to do. 

Mr. Roberts is a man of family and finds 
not the least of the pleasures of this life in 
his home, surrounded by his wife and chil- 
dren. He married April 2, 1871, Miss 
Mary E. Child, who is a native of the 
town of Barford, Stanstead county, Prov- 
ence of Quebec. The fruits of this union 
have been eight children, and as a result of 
thecare witli which Mr. Roberts has looked 
after those matters of family history con 
cernino' which his descendants will be 



phi: LPS COUNTY 



689 



most interested in years to come, the 
names and exact dates of the births of his 
children and of the deaths of those whom 
he has lost can here be given. These are — 
Loova May, born January 28, 1873, at 
Union, Rock county, AVis., 1:15 p. m.; Eddie 
Carlton, born September 14,1874,at Union, 
Hock county. Wis., 12:30 p. m., and died 
September 18, 1875, at 1:15 p. m.; Emer}' 
lianiville, born December 5, 1875, at 1:15 
A. M.; Arthur Samuel, born November 22, 
1878, at Union, Rock county. Wis., 12:20 
p. M.; Ray Ellsworth, born August 15, 
1881, at Minden, Kearney county, Nebr., 
10:20 p. M.; Clara Maud, born June 19, 
1883, at 3:20 a. m., and died August 14, 

1883, and Minnie Ulissa, born July 30, 

1884, at 4:35 a. m., and died August 25, 
1884, and baby chiughter who died at llold- 
rege September 9, 1887, at 3 p. m., just 
after birth. 

Having led an exceptionally active life, 
Mr. Roberts has had but little time to de- 
vote to fra.ternity work and the cultiva- 
tion of the social amenities within these 
orders. He, however, is a zealous member 
of the Ancient order of United Workmen 
and takes an active interest in its matters. 
He lias alwa_vs voted the straight republi- 
can ticket in ]iolitics. 



PO. HEDLUND. One of the best 
known young men in southwest- 
ern Nebraska, a prominent mem- 
ber of the Phelps county bar and a man 
of solid business interests of the town of 
Holdrege, is P. O. Iledlund, the subject 
of this sketch. lie is a son of Olof 
Iledlund, whose biography appears in this 
volume as one of the first settlers in Plicl})S 



county, and whatever facts may be 
deemed of interest in reference to the 
ancestral history of the subject of this 
notice will be found in his father's history. 
P. O. Iledlund was born in Gefleborg's 
Lon, Sweden, September 14, 1856. A 
year later his parents immigrated to 
America and settled in Knox county, 
III., where he was reared. He came in 
1876 with his father to Nebraska, settling 
in Phelps county. In 1877 he was elected 
surveyor of Phelps county, served two 
years, and was re-elected in 1879. His 
father having in the meantime been elected 
treasurer of the county, young Hedlund 
resigned his position as surveyor to accept 
a deputyship under his father. At the 
same time he received tlie appointment 
of deputy county clerk and filled these two 
offices for a term of two years. In 1881 
he was elected county clerk and held that 
office by successive re-elections till Janu- 
ary, 1888. He began reading law in 1884 
and was admitted to the bar in 1887. On 
quitting the county clerks' office he 
embarked at once in the law, loan, real 
estate and abstract business, continuing at 
this since, being now the senior member 
of the firm of Iledlund & Roth. In No- 
vember, 1889, he bought an interest in the 
mercantile Arm of Fredricks & Engstrom, 
the firm becoming Fredricks & Hedlund, 
which interest he still retains. He is also 
vice-president of the First National Bank 
of Holdrege, a stockholder in the Citizens' 
Publishing Companj' and interested in 
various other enterjinses in and around 
Holdrege. Mr. Hedlund has taken an 
active part in politics and is one of the 
most popular and influential men in the 
county. He is public-spirited and jiro- 
gressive in his views, a hai'd worker and 



690 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



an enthusiastic believer in the future of 
his adopted town and county. From his 
well known personal energy and discrim- 
inating judgment his name has come to 
be an unfailing guarantee of success in 
any enterprise with which it is associated. 
Thoroughly honest and correct in his busi- 
ness relations and methods he enjoys the 
absolute confidence not only of his coun- 
trj^men by whom the town of Holdrege 
and the county of Phelps are largely 
settled, but b}' all, regardless of national- 
ity, who know him and have had deal- 
ings with him. 

Mr. Hedlund married, in 1880, Miss 
Ellen Anderson, then of Knox county, 
111., a lad}' well litted to bear him the 
companionship which he sought with her 
hand. In his pleasant home in Holdrege, 
made so b}' the untiring industry of his 
amiable wife, he finds rest and relaxation 
from the worry and anxieties whi'ch, as a 
bus}' man of the world, he can not find 
elsewhere. 



JE. PATRICK, attorney-at-law of 
Holdrege, Phelps county, is a native 
of Armstrong county. Pa., and was 
born March 4, 1855. He comes of 
old Pennsylvania stock, his father, A. C. 
Patrick, being a native of Armstrong 
county ; his mother, Catherine (Hill) Pat- 
rick, was born in Westmoreland county. 
His mother is dead, l)ut his father still 
lives in Armstrong county and is well 
advanced in years. 

J. R. Patrick was reared in his native 
county and received an academic educa- 
tion. He began teaching while 3'et in his 



teens, and, conceiving a great liking for 
books, he decided to devote his life to the 
pursuit of one of the liberal professions, 
and in 1880 began reading law. Mr. Pat- 
rick was a poor bo}', and his first steps 
towards acquiring a knowledge of his 
profession were attended with many dif- 
ficulties. But he adopted the methods 
pursued by ambitious young men of lim- 
ited means who aspire to the higher walks 
of life. He made the earnings from his 
school-room work pay his way through 
the preparatory stages of his career, and 
what advantages he had not money to 
procure he abundantly made up for by his 
assiduous application at home by private 
study. He started West in 1880, and 
stopped first at Paxton, 111., where, after 
reading awhile in the law office of Kinnear 
& Maffett, he was admitted to the bar in the 
fall of 1882, and at once began practice. 
Not long after, he was elected prosecuting 
attorne\' of his district, and held the ofiice 
for a year, when he resigned to move 
further west. He came to Nebraska and 
located at Holdrege in October, 1884, and 
immediately formed a partnership with 
John Smith, of that place, and entered on 
the practice. This partnership lasted only 
a short time. He then formed another 
with W. P. Hall, the firm becoming Hall 
& Patrick, and so continuing until the 
present time. It is no flattery to these 
gentlemen nor any injustice to their many 
deservins: brothers of the bar, to sav that 
the firm of Hall et Patrick do the bulk of 
the legal business of the town of Holdrege 
and Phelps county. It is ?-ecognized as 
one of the strongest law firms in south- 
western Nebraska. No small amount of 
the success it has attained has been due to 
the junior member. 



rH ELI'S COUNTY. 



691 



For his chosen profession, Mr. Patrick 
])ossesses a special aptitude, liaving a re^ 
inarkably slrongand vigorous mind, a clear 
and discriminating judgment and a knowl- 
edge of men and tlieir many devious ways 
far beyond the average of his years. He 
is a close student, especially in the facts 
of his cases, and he has the happy faculty 
of tjetting at the true inwai'dness of a 
complicated statement of facts and pre- 
senting the merits of an issue in a clear 
and intelligent manner to court and jury. 
He has achieved much of his reputation as 
a trial lawyer. He is a strong, forcible 
speaker, rising to the " height of the ar- 
gument " on all occasions, his speech fre- 
quently reaching the dignity of true elo- 
quence. 

Mr. Patrick married April 13, 1887, the 
lady whom he took to share with him 
the pleasures and sorrows of this life being 
Miss Lulu Ballard, daughter of D. H. Bal- 
lard, of Hastings, Nebr. Mr. Patrick and 
his worthy lady have a pleasant home in 
Holdrege and they are deserved!}' popular 
in the best society of their place. 



REV. LEWIS EINSEL was born in 
Fairfield count\', Ohio, October 
. 22, 1813, to which place his 
parents, Henry and Barbara (Seitz) Einsel, 
emigrated from York county, Pa., in the 
year 1805. Lewis was reared on a farm, 
gi'owing up as a country lad. At tiie age 
of twenty-three, having embraced the 
faith of the Evangelical church, he began 
preaching its doctrines and spent eight 
years in different localities in Pennsvl- 
vania, Ohio and Illinois, activel}' engaged 



in the ministry. His health failing from 
his arduous labors, he was compelled to re- 
tire from active service in the church, and 
in 1844 he settled in Pickaway county, 
Ohio, and began farming and stock-raising 
and was also engaged a i)art of the time 
in merchandise. He lived there for twenty 
years, devoting himself mainly to the 
prosecution of his own affairs and render- 
ing to his church as a local preacher such 
service as he could without endan fieri no- 
his already shattered health. He moved 
in 1862 to Tippecanoe county, Ind., con- 
tinuing in the peaceful pursuits of agricul- 
ture, but more largely in stock-raising, 
serving as minister to local churches and 
doing evangelical work. In 1881 he 
moved to Holdrege, Pheljis county, Nebr., 
where two of his sons and their families 
had previously settled, mention of whom 
is made in this volume. Mr. Einsel mar- 
ried in 1842 — the lady whom he selected 
to share his life's fortunes being Catherine 
Dreisbach, a daughter of the Rev. John 
and Fannie (Eyer) Dreisbach. Mrs. Einsel 
was born in Union count}', Pa., August 
17, 1820. Her parents settled in Ohio 
in 1S31, her father being a pioneer 
preacher of the Evangelical church, the 
fourth minister who was ordained to de- 
clare the doctrine of that denoniiuacion. 

Mr. Einsel has devotetl his life to the 
pursuit of his own affairs and to the min- 
istry of his church. In each of these 
departments of endeavor he has met with 
the success which his earnest efforts have 
merited. He has lived an active life and 
has devoted his best energies to the good 
of his kind. He is a man of large exper- 
ience and a wide range of knowledge, 
particularly on religious subjects, and 
when his tonjjue has been silenced from 



692 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



disease contracted in the cause of his Mas- 
ter his pen lias still been busy expounding 
the great truths of Christianity to his fel- 
low-men. To his church and the doctrines 
upon which it is founded he has ever 
rendered the loyalt\' of an earnest and 
faithful nature; and now, having almost 
finished the race and kept the faith, he 
still finds the chief source of his pleasures 
and the solace of his declining years in the 
study and contemplation of those same 
gi'eat truths which he spent the vigor of 
his manhood in declaring to the world. 



DR. E. H. MABERLY. The sub- 
ject of this sketch is a native of 
Berkshire, England. He was 
born April 28, 1853. He comes of Eng- 
lish parentage from time immemorial. 
His father, Thomas M. Maberly, and his 
mother, Mary (Steele) Maberly, were both 
born, reared and passed their lives in 
Berkshire. 

E. H. Maberly was reared in his native 
place and educated in the public schools, 
growing up as most lads do, variously en- 
gaged, till he reached his seventeenth 
year. He then set out to try his fortunes 
in the new world. He came to America 
in 1870 and settled in Carroll county, HI., 
where he lived for eight years. He fol- 
lowed different pursuits during this time 
and traveled around learning the Ameri- 
can ways of doing things, and, as a 
shrewd, intelligent young fellow would, 
contrasting them with the ways of the 
old country and gathering therefrom 
valuable lessons of experience. In 1878, 
when his ideas had matured and he had 
settled on his plans for the future, became 



West, located at Ellsworth, Kans., and 
took up the stud}'^ of dentistry under Dr. 
C. D. Day, of that place, pursuing it for 
some time. He returned to Hlinois and 
began the practice in Savannah, that state, 
and remained there till 1883, when he 
came West again and settled at Iloldrege, 
Phelps county, this state. There he has 
resided since and has devoted himself ex- 
clusively to the practice of his profession. 
He is the only dentist in the town of 
Holdrege and the only one that has ever 
been there. He is a competent workman 
and well read in the literature of his pro- 
fession. He is popular among his fellow- 
townsmen and does a prosperous business. 
He is a prominent member of the Masonic 
fraternity, having taken the Knight 
Templar degree. He is also a zealous 
member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and has represented his lodge in 
the Grand Lodge for two years past. He 
belongs to the Evangelical church and 
gives freely to charity. 



LBANTA, the subject of this sketch, 
now in his forty-fifth year, was 
/ born and reared in the West. He 
is a Westerner by instinct and education. 
He is moulded after the broad and gener- 
ous plans of all Western products. He 
practices the free and liberal methods 
characteristic of the people of the bound- 
less prairies. He is a typical rustler of the 
better sort. He possesses in an eminent 
degree the happy genius of the typical 
Westerner for getting on in the world. 
His career has been that of tlie successful 
man of the world, beginning m the humble 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



693 



walks of life. His record is of value be- 
cause it is helpful. 

L. Banta was born in Des Moines county, 
Iowa, April 25, 1846. He is a son of 
Abraham and Rachel (Van Arsdale) 
Banta, his father being a native of Ken- 
tucky. 

He was reared in his native county, 
learned the blacksmith's trade when a lad, 
following it when he grew up as a jour- 
neyman. He resided in Iowa till 1878, 
when he came to Nebraska and took a 
homestead in Harlan county, near the 
present town of Oxford. He lived there 
four years and moved then to Holdrege, 
which has since been his home. He mar- 
ried, in 1872, Miss Roxie Van Nuys, 
daughter of Albert Van Nuys, of Des 
Moines county, Iowa. His wife died 
September 5, 1889, leaving six children, 
who, with their father, mourn her loss. 
These are — Grace L., Albert A., Minnie 
M., Nellie B. and Aurel M. Mr. Banta 
married again March 2, 1890, Mrs. M. F. 
Wilkins. 

Mr. Banta stands high in a number of 
the benevolent orders, being a zealous 
member of the Masonic fraternity, the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen and 
the Gi'and Array of the Republic. He is 
also an enthusiastic prohibitionist and an 
active aud consistent member of the Meth- 
odist church. 



ED. EINSEL, president of the 
South Platte Loan and Trust 
Company and president of the 
United States National Bank, both of 
Holdrege, Phelps county, is a native of 
the town of Circleville, Pickaway' county, 
Ohio, and was born March 17, 1850. He 



is a son of the Rev. Lewis Einsel, a sketch 
of whom appears in this work, and in that 
sketch will be found the facts relating to 
the ancestoral history of the subject of 
this notice. 

E. D. Einsel was reared in his native 
place and in Tippecanoe county, Ind., 
whither his parents moved when he was 
twelve years of age. He was educated in 
the common schools of the communities 
where he resided and finished at the 
Northwestern College at Naperville, III., 
taking a three-years course in this institu- 
tion. He selected the ministry as his 
profession, began preaching in the Evan- 
gelical church at the age of twenty-two 
and was engaged actively in church work 
for seven years. In 1872 he married Miss 
Emma S. Miller, daughter of J. G. Miller, 
of Madison, Wis. This estimable lady 
shared the fortunes of her husband during 
all the years of his ministry', accompany- 
ing him from one field of endeavor to 
another and rendering him the efficient 
aid which every man seeks in the selection 
of a life companion. But her health, 
never too vigorous, gave way, and in the 
hope that a change of locality and calling 
would benefit her, Mr. Einsel gave up the 
ministry in 1879 and moved to Nebraska, 
settling in York county, where he engaged 
in farming. After three years spent on 
the farm he moved into the town of York 
and filled the office of deputy county 
treasurer of York county for a short time. 
He then, in connection with others organ- 
ized the York Exchange Bank and took 
the position of cashier of that institution, 
which position he held for one year. In 
the meantime he organized the Commer- 
cial State Bank of Holdrege, Phelps 
county, and closing out his interests at 



York be moved, in 1S83, to Iloldrege to 
assume control of the bank there. He 
occupied the same position in tliis institu- 
tion that he did at the date of its organi- 
zation, that of cashier, for seven years, 
to July, 1890, when the bank changed to 
the United States National Bank and he 
was elected president. He has had the 
])ractical managment of the bank's con- 
cerns, and what success it has attained has 
been I'eached mainly through his efforts. 
The bank was organized with a capital of 
$30,000, which has since been increased 
to $75,000. With a few changes in its 
woi'king force its organization remains 
about the same as when started. E. A. 
Washburn is now cashier; J. H. Einsel, 
vice-president; E. D. Einsel, president, 
and J. R. Shreck, assistant cashier. The 
United States National Bank is manned 
by competent oflBcers and backed by men 
of unquestioned ability and integrity. 
Besides his banking interests Mr. Einsel 
has large land and stock interests, owning 
in connection with his brotlier, J. H. 
Einsel, over twenty thousand acres of 
land in Nebraska and Colorado, having 
one ranch in Phelps county of three thou- 
Siind acres over which are running five 
hundred head of fine Galloway cattle. 

It would hardly be possible for a man 
possessingthe business qualifications which 
Mr. Einsel does and who has achieved the 
marked success which he has, to escape 
being pushed into some positions of public 
trust, however distastful the wranglings 
of political life might be to him. Mr. 
Einsel was elected to the state senate from 
the twenty-nintli senatoral district, in 
1884, and served one term. He was not 
present at the convention when he was 
nominated and made no special effort in 



the canvass, but was nevertheless elected 
by a flattering vote. He took to the dis- 
charge of his duties as a public official the 
same zeal, enei'gy and discriminating judg- 
ment, the same fidelity to principle and 
faithful regard for the rights of others, 
that he had always displaj'ed and yet con- 
tinues to display in the management of 
his own affairs. And he left his office 
bearing with him the approval of the 
best citizens of his district on his conduct 
as a public official, as well as tiieir 
highest esteem and praise as a courteous 
christian gentleman. In addition to the 
part he took in the general legislation 
before the senate, he served as a member 
of the committees on engrossed and 
enrolling bills, railroads, banks, public 
printing and immigration. Mr. Einsel 
was a delegate to the National Republican 
convention wiiich met at Chicago in June, 
1888, and took an active part in the delib- 
eration of his delegation. But his best 
work, like that of all true laborers, has 
been outside the arena of politics. It has 
been done as a private citizen. When Mr- 
Einsel relinquished his calling as a min- 
ister he did not la}' aside his zeal in behalf 
of his church nor his interest in the wel- 
fare of his fellow-men. If anj'thing, he 
redoubled his energy and enthusiasm in 
the cause of Christianity and in the up- 
building of the church's interests, and he 
has made a wise and effective use towards 
this end of the means which have come 
into his hands. He has given liberalh' to 
the church and to every charitable purpose. 
He assisted in organizing the Young Men's 
Christian Association in Holdrege, and 
has been its able and efficient president 
since. He is a member of a number of 
benevolent orders, among them the 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



695 



Masonic, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and 
his charitable impulses have also taken in 
a large measure the practical turn incul- 
cated by these fraternities. 

Fortunate by circumstances, he has been 
singularly happy in the prosperity of his 
affairs. Yet his life has not been all sun- 
shine. Across his pathway have fallen 
some shadows. He lost liis estimable 
wife in 1884 after more than twelve 
years of a most cherished companion- 
ship, she sinking to rest in the same faith 
in which she had zealously labored so 
many years with her husband. Mr. Einsel 
subsequently married her sister, Miss Sara 
Miller, a lady who draws from the same 
source his former companion did, many of 
the amiable christian graces that adorn 
her character and render pleasant their 
quiet, peaceful home. 



FEANK JOHNSON. This gentle- 
man is one of the leading merchants 
of Holdrege, Phelps county. He 
is a splendid representative of that intelli- 
gent and enterprising class of citizens b}' 
whom the town of Holdrege and the county 
of Phelps are mainly settled, namely, 
Swedish- Americans. Mr. Johnson was 
born in Smoland, Sweden, January 23, 
1853. He came to America at the age of 
sixteen, unaccompanied b}' friend or rela- 
tive. He stopped in Henry county, HI., 
among some of his countrymen whom he 
had formerly known, and went to work to 
repay his friends who had advanced his ship 
fare to this country. He found his first 
employment as a farm hand, working by 



the month. He afterwards went on the 
railroad, and after knocking around for 
some time and acquiring some knowledge 
of the English language, he engaged in 
clerking for A. P. Johnson & Co., at 
Altona, HI., remaining as clerk with this 
firm for ten years, when he was taken in 
as a partner. He retained his partnership 
interest there for four years and then de- 
cided to move West. He came to Ne- 
braska in 1884, and settled at Holdrege, in 
Phelps county. Holdrege at that time 
was just starting, and Mr. Johnson was 
one of the first merchants in the place, his 
store being built from the first load of 
lumber shipped into the town by rail. He 
at once opened out a general line of mer- 
chandise and began supplying the local 
trade. As the town and surrounding 
country settled up his business grew, keep- 
ing pace with the general progress of the 
community, and in a few years he found 
his quarters too small for his growing 
trade. He then erected the elegant double- 
front two-story brick building which he 
now occupies, and which is a credit to his 
town and a monument to his industry, 
liberalitj' and public spirit. He deals now 
in dry goods, clothing, hats, caps, boots, 
shoes and carpets. He has handled thou- 
sands of dollars' worth of goods, and is 
widely and favorably known by the buy- 
ing public where he lives. Mr. Johnson's 
success has been reached by the exercise 
of great industr3', economy, strict attention 
to business and fair dealing by all. 

He married, in 1878, the lady being 
Anna Anderson. To this union have 
been born three children, two girls and 
one boy — Mabel, Lutennis and Luella. 

While looking assiduously after his own 
interests Mr. Johnson has given due atten 



696 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



tion to the claims of the public on him as 
a citizen. He is progressive in his vieus> 
liberal with his means and willing to lend 
a helping hand to any deserving enterprise, 
and the needy never leave his door empty- 
handed. 



GEORGE STENNETT, a prom- 
inent and influential farmer of 
Phelps county, was born in 
Edwards county, 111., March 5, 1839, 
and is a son of John and Mary (Fowler) 
Stennett. 

Mr. Stennett's parents moved to Logan 
county, 111., when he was a lad about 
fourteen years of age, and in that county 
he was reared and began the race of life. 
He was brought up on the farm and se- 
lected farming as his life work. He mar- 
ried in Logan county on reaching his 
majority, the lady whom he selected for a 
wife being Elizabeth, a native of that 
county and a daughter of John Houston, 
one of its earliest settlers. Mr. Stennett 
moved to Nebraska in 1885 and settled in 
Phelps county, where he has since resided. 
He owns 320 acres of fine land two miles 
north of the town of Holdrege, most of 
which he has under cultivation. He has 
his farm well improved, having bestowed 
upon it much labor and thoughtful atten- 
tion. He is recognized as one of the best 
farmers of his community, being thor- 
onghljr alive to the responsibilities as well 
as the possibilities of his calling. He is 
more than a mere tiller of the soil ; he is a 
reading and thinking man. He is well 
respected and regarded as a man of intel- 



ligence and sound judgment. He has a 
pleasant home and a family of interesting 
children, Avhom he is rearmg to lives of 
industry and usefulness. These are John 
H., Charles H., Louetta H., Frank IL, 
Hattie H., Florence H. and Albert II. 
Stennett. 



OLOFHEDLUND, one of Phelps 
county's best known and most 
successful farmers, like many of 
the representative citizens of his commu- 
nity, is a native of Sweden and was born 
January 13, 1827. He was reared in his 
native country, being brought up to the 
blacksmith's trade, which he followed in 
his earlier years and at which he was a 
competent and successful workman. He 
married in July, 1854, being then in his 
twenty-seventh year — the lady wliom he 
marrietl being Miss Brita Holmstrand, 
born June 3, 1836, at his native place, and 
two years later, in August, 1857, he im- 
migrated to the United States and settled 
in Knox county, 111. He was a resident 
of Knox county till 1876, when he moved 
to Nebraska and settled in Phelps county. 
In Illinois he was engaged partly in farm- 
ing and partly at his trade as blacksmith, 
but since coming to Nebraska he has been 
engaged in farming exclusively. He owns 
a splendid farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres in Sheridan township, which he has 
in a fine state of cultivation and on which 
he has bestowed much labor, care and 
thoughtful attention. His })lace is noted 
for its clean, neat, thrifty, prosperous 
appearance, and, like all Nebraska farms, 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



697 



for the ahundiince of its productions. Mr. 
iledliind is a practical fanner, yet he is 
a reading and thinking one as well. He 
is probably as well posted on agricultural 
matters as any man in the county, and is 
identified with every interest affecting the 
community. He has never aspired to any 
l)ublic position and yet he has been hon- 
ored with public office. He was elected 
treasurer of Phelps county in 1879 and 
iield the office two years, administering 
its affairs with credit to himself and fidel- 
ity to his county, and left the office taking 
with him tiie gratitude and esteem of all of 
his fellow-citizens. 

Ml'. Hedlund is a man of large heart 
and genei'dus impulses. He is now and 
has been for many years a prominent 
member of the Lutheran church and not 
the least of the good he has done has been 
accomplislied through the means of his 
church. He takes an active interest in 
all church work and gives liberally of his 
means to all church and charitable pur- 
poses. No man would go further than he 
to help a friend or accommodate a neigh- 
bor, or render assistance to the needy or 
afflicted. He has lived to a good old age 
in the practice of those great virtues 
which were first announced bj^ him "who 
spake as never man spake," and in the 
study and practice of those virtues he 
still finds the comfort of his declining 
years. He has an interesting family of 
children, most of whom are now grown, and 
some of them settled off in life and dointr 
for themselves. He has reared five children, 
two boys and three girls — P. O. Hedlund, a 
prominent lawyer and business man of 
Hoidrege, a sketch of whom appears in 
this work; Anna E., Emma A., Mary A., 
and Charles L. 



THOMAS M. HOPAVOOD. editor 
and proprietor of the Nehra-'ska 
JVugyet, is the oldest editor and 
newspaper publisher in Phelps county. 
The Nugget was first established under 
the name of Phelps County Pioneer, and 
published at the original Sacremento, 
Phelps county, and the first issue was 
March 22, 1879. It was a small sheet 
containing eight pages, two columns to the 
page. May 3, 1879, the paper was en- 
larged to a four-page journal, four columns 
to the page, and continued so until July, 
1879, when it became a five-C(jlumn four- 
paged pai)er. 

In the spring of 1880, the paper was 
removed to Phelps Center, the new 
countv seat, which had been removed that 
year from Williamsburg, on tlie Platte 
river, to Phelps Center. In June of the 
same j'ear (ISSO), Mr. Hopwood purchased 
this paper and became proprietor and 
editor, changing the name to the Ne- 
hraska Nugget. In politics the paper con- 
tinued the same, which was I'epublican, 
and in the salutatory we find the follow- 
ing : " Our politics first, last and all times 
are in perfect harmony with the princi- 
ples of the republican party; we are en- 
couraged to look forward into the years 
to come, believing there is a place of 
power in the march of Nebraska for 
Phelps county. Tlie enterprise and talent 
of states East will find place with us ; the 
element that conquers obstacles, that is 
equal to emergencies and glorious in ac- 
complishments, will send us booming on 
in the path of progress. All that is broad, 
useful and kindly shall have our consid- 
eration." Mr. Hopwood had continued 
editorand proprietoi' until December, 1879, 
and has since been its editor and owner. 



698 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



When Mr. Hopwood took charge of 
the paper he enlarged it from a five col- 
umn four-page, to a five-column eight- 
page, and in December, 1882, enlarged the 
paper to an eight-column and then, in the 
following year, again enlarged it to its 
present size. Mr. Hopwood was born in 
Fayette county, Pa., August 20, 1847, 
moved with his parents to Iowa county', 
Iowa, in 1861, settling on a farm, and 
remaining there until he reached his 
majority, when he entered Western Col- 
lege, Iowa, where he remained four years. 
His health having failed through too close 
attention to his studies, he traveled some 
years in the interest of several fire insur- 
ance companies, and in 1887 he \\ as united 
in marria<2-e to Miss Mina Wooldrido-e of 
Fillmore county, Minn., who had gradu- 
ated at Western College, Iowa, in the 
class of 1887. She is a daughter of Ed- 
ward and Marv (Smith) Wooldridge, both 
of Clearfield county, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hopwood have two sons, viz. — James E. 
and Chester L., aged eleven and nineyears. 
Mr. Hopwood is a member of the I. O. O. 
F. and A. O. U. W. He first settled on 
a claim ten miles east of Phelps Center, 
where he remained nearly three years. 
He was nominated by acclamation four 
months after his arrival in the county, 
and two months later was elected county 
commissioner and was re-elected twice 
after, servmg in all five years on the 
county board. In 1878 he was nominated 
for representative to the state legisla- 
ture on the I'eiiublican ticket. In the 
convention which nominated him, how- 
ever, Eric Johnson was the choice of the 
Swedish element, which, being in the 
ascendenc}' in the county, bolted the con- 
vention and nominated Johnson on an 



independent ticket. The democratic party 
nominated James I. Rhea as a candidate, 
and in the three-cornered contest Mr. 
Johnson was elected on a small plurality 
vote, Mr. Hopwood coming out second 
best. 

Mr. Hopwood is one of the enterprising 
citizens of Holdrege and is highly es- 
teemed bv all who know him. He built 
and owns the Arlington hotel and is one 
of the founders and a director in the Hol- 
drege National Bank, a stockholder in the 
Holdrege Manufacturing Company and 
is liberal in all church and school enter- 
prises which tend to build up a permanent 
moral and business community. 

Mrs. Hopwood, now thirty-five years 
of age, is one of the most popular edu- 
cators in the West and is to-day holding 
the oflBce of county superintendent for 
the fifth consecutive term. She attends 
nearly all the educational conventions 
in the state and was a member of the 
National Teachers' Association held at 
St. Paul, Minn., last summer. 



y^LFRED JOHNSON, a large and 
/ V influential farmer of Phelps 
J_ \__ county, is a native of Sweden and 
was born June 15, 1844. He was reared 
in his native countrj' and lived there till 
the age of twentj'-five, coming to the 
United States in 1809. He settled in 
Minnesota and began life in the new 
world with §3 in his pocket. He found 
his first employment as a common laborers 
He applied himself industriously to what- 
ever he could find to do and saved his 
wages as they were earned. Coming to 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



699 



Nebraska in 1878, he settled in Piielps 
county where he tooic a iiomestead, the 
northeast (juarter, section 22, townsiiip 6, 
range 18, and began farming. Tlie first few 
years of his residence in tlie county were 
not noted for any astonishing amount of 
progress. He began in an humble way^ 
but his progress was steady and his success 
assured from tlie beginning. He bought 
other land as he accummulated the means, 
all of which he improved, giving to the 
details of the business his undiviiled atten- 
tion, to which fact much of his success is 
due. Mr. Jolinson is justly regarded as 
one of the most intelligent and successful 
farmers of his community. What he has 
is the result of his own industry and per- 
severance, he being in the truest and best 
sense a self-made man. He owns a half 
section of as fine land as there is in Phelps 
county, lying four miles northeast of the 
county seat, Holdrege, nearly all of which 
he has under cultivation, in some shape. 
Mr. Johnson is a wide-awake man, an 
enterprising, public-spirited citizen. He is 
a member of the Farmers' Alliance of 
Phelps count}' and identified with the 
best interest of the farming community- 
He is an active member of the Lutheran 
church and a man of benevolent impulses. 
His home gives evidence of the system 
and good management that prevail on his 
place, and at it all are alike welcome. 
Mr. Johnson, careful and deliberate in all 
things, was unusually so in the selection of 
a life companion. He did not many until 
July 25, 1889, taking to share his life's 
fortunes with him at that date Miss 
Josejiliine Larson, who is also a native of 
the Fatherland — the snowy kingdom 
amid the icy seas. 



JOHN DANIELSON, farmer of 
Phelps county, was born in Sweden, 
April 6, 1849. He is a son of John 
S. and Martha (Anderson) Daniel- 
son, both natives also of Sweden. His 
parents immigrated to America in 1854 
when the subject of this notice was in his 
fifth year, and settled in Moline, 111. 
Thev resitted there onlv two vears, movins: 
thence to Altona, 111. There our subject 
was mainly reareil. He followed various 
pursuits, agricultural, mercantile,- stock 
and others till 1880. He then moved to 
Nebraska and settled in Phelps county, 
where ho has since resided. Since he has 
lived in Phelps county he has been engaged 
exclusively in farming, and measured b}' his 
means and opportunities he has made a 
fair success. He owns one hundred and 
sixty acres of fine land lying within two 
miles of the corporate limit of Holdrege, 
the county seat of Phelps county, all of 
which he has in a splendid state of culti- 
vation and which yields an abundance of 
Nebraska's great product, corn. He owns 
considerable stock, being engaged in mixed 
farming. He takes an active interest in 
all agricultural mattei's, being a diligent 
reader of the best periodicals and a close 
student of his own surroundings. He has 
served his township in several local official 
capacities and has made a careful and 
faithful official. 

Mr. Danielson has a familv, liavino- 
married on February 13, 1882, the lady 
whom he married being Miss Tilda Olson. 
To this union have been born four chil- 
dren, as follows — Walter J., born Ajiril 18, 
1883; Alfred W., born September 1, 18.s4 ; 
Gertrude P., born May 3, 1886; Elmer (J., 
born December 17, 1887. 



700 



PHELPS COUNTY 



JOHN LINDBLOM. In a state like 
Nebraska, where the cliief interests 
are agricultural, the farming com- 
munities oftentimes absorb some of 
the best business talent of a country, and 
they furnish in return some of the most 
signal instances of success to be found in 
a county. An instance of this is to be 
found in the subject of this sketch. John 
LindbJom is one of the most prominent 
and successful farmers of Phelps county. 
He is not an old man, either, and what 
renders his case the more marked is that 
he is a foreigner b}' birth and has been a 
resident of this country but little more 
than twenty-five years. He began, as 
most immigrants to this country do, on 
the bottom round of the ladder. He is 
deserving of prominent mention in con. 
nection with the history of his adopted 
county. 

John Lindblom was born in Sweden^ 
Februar\' 11, 1842. He was reared in his 
native country to the age of eighteen, 
coming thence in 1864 to America and 
stopping first in De Kalb county, 111. He 
went at once into the government employ, 
becoming a member of the supply corps 
for the United States army, gathering 
commissar}^ stores for Hlinois regiments 
then on the front. He held this position 
till the war was over. Being then a 
j'oung man, unmarried, and his fortunes 
yet to make, he started out like a stout- 
hearted fellow to carve his way alone. 
He found his first employment as a com- 
mon laborer on the railroad. This he fol- 
lowed between three and four years, 
mostly in Minnesota. Afterwards he 
farmed some in Minnesota, having saved 
enougli from his earnings to bu}' a small 
place in that state. In 1878 he decided 



to move to a new country where land was 
more plentiful and opportunities for 
acquiring wealth were better. He came to 
Nebraska that year and settled in Phelps 
county, taking a homestead and beginning 
on the raw prairie. Mr. Lindblom had 
the usual experiences of the early settler ; 
saw all the hardships and privations 
which fall to the lot of the pioneer, but 
he never allowed his courage to weaken 
nor his faith in the countr}' to be shaken. 
Like a prudent man, he bought up cheap 
land as he accumulated the means, im- 
proved these lands and held them for the 
advance in prices. He began handling 
stock as soon as he located, and he has 
increased his flock and herds from time 
to time since. He is now regarded as one 
of the largest and most successful farmers 
in his county, as well as one of the shrewd- 
est, most intelligent business men. He is 
a live, progressive citizen, a reading and 
thinking farmer, and not a mere tiller of 
the soil. 

Mr. Lindblom has a splendid farm, fur- 
nished with large and commodious build- 
ings with comfortable appointments and 
conveniences, and an interesting family to 
share its pleasures with Jiira. He married 
in 1868, while a resident of Minnesota, 
the lady whom he selected for his life 
companion being Miss Maggie Swanson 
one of his own fair countrywomen, who, 
like himself, left the friends of her youth 
and the scenes of her childhood to seek 
her fortunes in this country. This 
union has been blessed with a family 
of seven— Tillie, Albert, Lottie, Frank, 
Hilca, Otto and Nina. The rearing and 
training of these afford Mr. Lindblom 
not the least of the pleasures of his 
life. 



r HELPS COUNTY. 



701 



GEORGE W. HILL is a native of 
Putnam county, W.Va., and was 
l)oi'n October 9, 1854. Ilis father, 
Charles Hill, was a native of New York, 
and went to Pennsylvania at an early da\' 
and from there to West Virginia, where 
he died in 1S5S. His mother, whose 
maiden name was Susannah R. Tremble, is 
a native of Renns\'lvania, and now resides 
with her son. 

George W. Hill left his native state when 
twenty years of age to come West in 
search of employment. His first stop was 
at Fort Wayne, Ind., where he remained 
for about one year. In 1875, he came 
West as far as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where 
he established himself on a farm. In 
April, 1879, Mr. Hill came to Phelps 
county, Nebr. He took a homestead in 
Union township, being one of the first set- 
tlers in that section. He erected a sod 
house and had only nine cents after 
securing his homestead. The country was 
sparsely settled, and a man without money 
and a stranger in a strange land, as can 
well be imagined, had a hard time to get 
along. People of this time have but a 
faint idea of the trials and privations 
endured by the early settlers of Nebraska. 

Mr. Hill was married, March 31, 1887, 
to Miss Virginia Morehead, who is a 
native of Quincy, 111. She was born 
November 24, 1860. Her parents were 
Thomas M. and Carolina Morehead, both 
of whom are natives of Kentucky. They 
came to Illinois in the spring of 1860, and 
were among the early settlers of Adams 
county. Her father has been deputy 
recorder of Adams county for several 
years, and has filled various important 
offices durinir his life. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hill have two children — 



Edith A., born May 2i, 1888, andEdwai'd 
T., born December 8, 1889. 

Mr. Hill was elected county supervisor 
in the fall of 1888 and reelected in 1889, 
for a term of two years. He belongs to 
the Alliance and is a wide-awake and 
progressive young man. He has one 
hundred and sixty acres of excellent land, 
a good frame house surrounded by a grove 
of splendid trees. He has a fine lot of fruit 
trees, and is confident fruit will flourish 
in Nebraska. 



CHARLES L. HARPSTER was 
one of the early pioneers of Ham- 
ilton county, Nebr., having come 
from Ohio early in the seventies. He is a 
native of Ross county, Ohio, and was 
born February 10, 1846. His parents 
were both natives of Ohio. His father, 
Rudolph Harpster, was a farmer and died 
in 1853. His mother's maiden name was 
Lydia M. Cartright. She was a devoted 
member of the United Brethren church, 
ami lived a life consistent with her pro- 
fession, dying in 1863. 

Charles L. Harpster, the subject of this 
sketch, was obliged to go out and work to 
support his widowed mother when he 
was only nine years old. He learned a 
valuable lesson of self dependence early 
in life, and although he was denied the 
privilege of special school advantages, he 
has managed to gain a large fund of prac- 
tical information. 

Mr. Harpster was only eighteen 3'ears 
of age when he enlisted, February 15, 
1864, in Company M, First Ohio calvary, 
and served with credit to himself till the 



702 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



close of the gre;it civil conflict. He went 
through the Atlanta campaign, belonged 
to the famous Wilson raiders and was in 
many exciting skirmishes. He partici- 
pated in the engagement at Montgom- 
ery, Selma and Plantersville, Ala., and 
also at Columbus and Macon, Ga. He 
was an active participant in the Kilpat- 
rick raid about Atlanta. During the fight 
at Lovejoj' station he had a mule shot 
from under him, and a bullet hole put 
through his hat. He was mustered out 
at Hilton Head, S. C, September 13, 
1865, and received his discharge at Co- 
lumbus, Ohio, on the twenty-seventh of 
the month. Although suffering from ill- 
ness incurred during his service in the 
army, he has never drawn a pension. 

October 20, 1872, Mr. Hai-pster took up 
a homestead claim in Hamilton county, 
Nebr., and next came to Phelps county, 
February 5, 1883, and purchased a farm 
in Union township where he now lives. 
He belongs to the G. A. E., and is an effi- 
cient member of the Farmers' Alliance 
and Patrons of Husbandry. He organ- 
ized Union township in 1886 and named 
it. He also organized the school district in 
which he lives. He has always taken an 
active ])art in every progressive move- 
ment, and generally makes a success of 
what he undertakes. He hasone hundred 
and sixty acres of splendid land which he 
is improving as rapidly as his means will 
allow. In politics he is strictly independ- 
ent, for he seldom takes sides with either 
of the old parties, but is generally found 
advocating reform measures. In all local 
matters he supports good men regardless 
of their politics. He has been assessor 
of his township, but has never aspired to 
any office. 



Mr. Har^JSter was married December 
27, 1873, to Miss Minerva Harpster, who 
is a native of Ross county, Ohio. To this 
union have been born seven children — 
Lesley L., Cora F., Cecil W., Effie M., 
Flossie B., Annabel R. and Merle I. 



J A. MASTERS is one of the early 
settlers and represent.itive men of 
Union township, Phelps county. He 
is a native of Kentucky and was born 
September 23, 1846. His father, Wesley 
Masters, was a native of Kentucky, and 
lived the quiet and uneventful life of a 
farmer. He died in 1887. His mother, 
who bore the maiden name of Marthena 
Masters, was also of Kentucky birth, and 
came from Virginia stock. She died in 
1882. 

J. A. Masters left home before he was 
sixteen years old and engaged to drive a 
supply wagon for the Army of the Cum- 
berland. He continued in this capacity 
for two years, when, in March, 1863, he 
enlisted in the Seventh Kentucky cavalry. 
He participated in man\' a lively skirmish, 
especially at Hopkinsville, Ky.; Franklin 
and Columbus, Tenn.; Resaca, Ga.; Selma 
and Montgomery, Ala. He was with tie 
Wilson raiders from East Port, Miss., to 
Macon, Ga. He saw plenty of hard fight- 
ing and endured man}' hardships. He was 
mustered out in September at Louisville, 
Ky. At the close of the war he farmed 
one year and then emigrated to McClellan 
county. III., where he remained one year. 
His next move was into Brown county, 
that state, where he remained from 1867 
to 1879. Mr. Masters came to Phelps 



r HE LPS COUNTY. 



703 



count}', Nebr., in the fall of 1879. After 
pi-ospectino' about for some time he 
selected a homestead in the western ]iart 
of the county, in what has since been 
called Union township. Being one of the 
first settlers in this section his neighbors 
were few and far between. lie built a 
sod house, but had to go six miles to find 
a well of water. One team and $3.50 was 
all he had when he settled, but he has 
been an industrious and hard-working 
man, and is now one of the well-to-do 
citizens of the township. 

Mr. Masters was married November 24, 
1870, the lady whom he chose to share his 
fortunes being Aliss Addie Minium. To 
this union have been born eleven children 
— Julia (deceased), Estella, Martin, Florida 
M., Marida, Lena, Klida E., John W., 
Eiley S., Elsie P. and Jennie B. 

Mr. Masters has been town treasurer 
and collector for several years, and is a 
member of the Farmers' Alliance. He 
has two hundred and fort}' acres of splen- 
diil land and is a prosperous farmer. He 
has always affiliated with the republican 
party. 



A UGUST J. VAUGHAN, a success- 
/ \ ful farmer and stock-raiser of 
2. \. Williamsburg township, Phelps 
county, was born in Sweden, February 8, 
185-1. He was reared on a farm and at- 
tended school for about seven years. He 
landed in New York Citj', after a some- 
what stormy voyage, on August 3, 18G8, 
and came west as far as Oneida, Knox coun- 
tv, 111., where he remained for ten years 
working out by the month on a farm. 

Mr. Vaughan came to Phelps countj% 
Nebr., in July, 1878, homesteading the 



southeast quarter of section 32. There 
was plenty of antelope and other wild 
game, but ver}' few actual settlers in that 
locality then. Mr. Yaughan was a young 
man and came here with very limited 
means, having only three horses and about 
$50 in money. He built a sod house 
and at once set about laying the found- 
ation for his future home. He under- 
went all the hardships of frontier life, was 
com])elled to haul water three miles for 
his stock, being unable to have a well dug, 
and was subjected to many other incon- 
veniences. He has worked hard, early 
and late, however, until the once wild and 
desolate prairie homestead has been trans- 
formed into a productive and beautiful 
farm. 

Mr. Yaughan was married to Miss Ma- 
tilda S. Peterson on December 31, 1877. 
She was born in Sweden in 1S56, and came 
to America in 1868. This union has result- 
ed in the birth of five children, namely — 
Oscar, Ira (deceased), Alice, Eddie, and 
Carroll. Mr. Yaughan has three hundred 
and twenty acres of improved land, all 
fenced and under a good state of culti- 
vation. He is a progressive man and be- 
lieves in keeping well-bred stock of all 
kinds. He has some as fine standard- 
bred Hambletonian horses as any one 
would wish to see, and his Shoi't-horn cat- 
tle and Poland-china hogs are among the 
best to be found in Phelps county. He is 
regarded as one of the most successful 
stock-raisers in the county, and his ex- 
ami)le is well worthy of emulation. 

Both Mr. Yaughan and his estimable 
wife are members of the Christian Mission 
church. In politics he is a I'epublican, 
and a man who stands high in the estima- 
tion of his fellow-men. 



704 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



RICIIAKD EICHARDS, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born in 
^ County "Wexford, Ireland, Jan- 
uary 27, 1834. lie enjoyed only such 
educational advantages as tlie common 
schools of Ireland afforded in that day, 
and, at the age of seventeen enlisted, at 
the city of Dublin, September, 1852, in 
the Thirty-fourth regiment infantry of 
the British army, its depot then being at 
Aberdeen, Scotland, but was afterwards 
transferred to the Thirtj'-ninth regiment, 
then in Cork, Ireland, and at that time 
preparing for the Crimean war, and it 
was his unstinted loyalty to the British 
flag that prompted young Bichards to 
enlist. Some time was spent in drilling, 
then the Thirty-fourth depot was sent to 
Fort George, in the Highlands of Scotland. 
From this point the depot proceeded to 
Manchester to meet the troops of the 
Thirth-fourth regiment from India. After 
considerable preliminary maneuvering, the 
Thirty-ninth regiment proceeded to Gi- 
bralter, where, after nine months' delay, 
the army sailed for the seat of war. Mr. 
Richards is familiar with every detail of 
the siege of Sebastopol, having been an 
active participant in that fampus battle. 
He received an honorable discharge in 
Canada, April, 1857, and was also pre- 
sented with a silver medal, which he now 
has, for his services rendered at the seige 
of Sebastopol. liis term of service ex- 
tended from September, 1852, to April, 
1857. 

After his discharge from the army, Mr. 
Richards located near Brockville, in upper 
Canada, and engaged in farming until the 
year 1880, in the spring of which year he 
came to York county, Nebr., and farmed 
there two years. His next move was to 



Phelps county, where he arrived in the 
s]iring of 1882. He purchased one-hun- 
dred and sixty acres of railroad land in 
Williamsburg township, where he has 
since lived. At that time the country 
thereabout was new and sparsely settled, 
consequently the first settlers were sub- 
jected to all the inconveniences incident 
to the first settlement of any new country. 

Mr. Richards has twice married. His 
fii'st wife was Sarah M. Edwards, whom 
he married March 4, 1859, and b^' whom 
he had eight children, namely — Charles 
F., born July 13, 1860; Edward T., born 
September 24, 1861 ; Harriet, born Decem- 
ber 30, 1862; William C, born February 
5, 1864 ; Margaret, born December 13, 
1867; Joseph, born April 25, 1871; Rich- 
ard, born March 4, 1873, and Sarah L., 
born October 16, 1874. His wife died in 
1875. His second marriage was with Jane 
E. Ross, on August 24, 1875. She is a 
native of Canada, born October 9, 1838, 
and is of Irish descent. To this union has 
been born one chiUl, John Albert, Decem- 
ber 18, 1876. 

Mr. Richards has seen some military 
service since coming to Nebraska. He 
joined the state militia soon after coming 
to the state, and. as a member of that 
body, was called to Omaha to put down 
the great Burlington strike, and thus 
knows what it is to do military service 
under the stars and stripes. Mr. Richards 
has one hundred and sixty acres of im- 
proved land and he is numbered among 
the enterprising farmers of his vicinit\'. 
While a resident of Canada he belonged 
to the conservative party, and since his 
residence in the United States has always 
remained strictl}' independent, so far as 
politics is concerned. He believes in ele- 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



705 



vating none but good, capable men to, 
public trusts, and lie supports only such 
no matter from what political party they 
may come. He is a well-posted man, and 
can talk intelligently upon all the leading 
issues of the da\^ He and his wife are 
both zealous Presbyterians. 



HON. THOMAS H. MARSHALL, 
one of the representative men of 
rhelps county, was born in the 
Province of Ontario, Canada, April 28, 
1838. 

He is a son of John and Sarah (Bresee) 
Marshall, the father having been born in 
Connecticut in 1794, and the mother in 
Vermont in 1801. 

John Marshall went with his father to 
Canada wlien a lad. He gvQw to manhood 
and was married tliere. He was a black- 
smith by trade, and a hard-working indus- 
trious man. He was noted for his enter- 
prising spirit and was one of the best known 
and most popular men in the section of 
country where he lived. He took an 
active part in politics and was always 
identified with the great reform party. 
He was an elder in the Presbyterian 
church for forty j^ears and always lived an 
u[)right life. He died in 1865, his wife 
following in 1883. 

Hon. Thomas. H. Marshall, the subject 
of this sketch, was one of a family of ten 
children and was the last one to leave the 
old homestead. His father being <jne of 
the pi(^neers of the Ottawa valley, in U|)per 
Canada, where schools had not been organ- 
ized, lie employed private tutors to 
instruct his children. But Thomas being 
one of the youngest members of his family, 



he was too small to receive much benefit 
from the school privileges provided by his 
father. Young Marsiiall conducted the 
homestead farm until 1880. He was also 
an extensive dealer in lumber for a period 
of fifteen years. He has engineered many 
a raft of logs down the Ottawa and St. 
Lawrence rivers to Quebec, and has 
traded extensively witli the Indians in 
these northern regions. 

Mr. Marshall was married July 19, 1870, 
the lady whom he selected to share his 
fortunes being Miss Marcia Kedey, a 
native of Canada. She was born in 1835. 
To this union have been born seven cliil- 
dren — John, Jesse, Lizzie, Addie, Lillie, 
Thomas and Ralph. 

Mr. Marshall is held in high esteem by 
his neighbors, as is evidenced by the fact 
that he was elected annually for seven 
years as a member of the county board. 
He resigned his position when he decided 
to emigrate to the United States. He was 
regarded as a prominent and influential 
citizen and aiwa3's took an active part in 
local, state and national politics. 

On the twenty-ninth day of March, 1880, 
Mr. Marshall purchased twenty-nine 
tickets for Nebraska points, many being 
for his neighbors, who decided to accom- 
pany him to the " States." The little 
colony settled in the valley of the Platte, 
in the northern part of Phelps county, 
some purchasing railroad land and otiiers 
settling on homesteads. They found the 
country new and very much unlike the 
one they had left. Tiiere were no I'ailroads, 
no cluirches, in fact nothing. Mr. Mar- 
shall immediately set about to organize a 
Sabbath-school, ami his efforts were success- 
ful. There has always been a Sabbath- 
school in that communitv since. Li 1884 Mr. 



706 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



Marshall circulated a petition to have the 
county adopt tiie township representation 
system. He secured the requisite num- 
ber of sio:natures, and succeeded in getting: 
the matter submitted to a vote of the 
people. The people cast then- votes for a 
change of the election and since that time 
Phelps county has enjoyed the privilege 
of more equal representation. Mr. Mar- 
shall was appointed the first supervisor for 
Williamsburg township, and has been 
elected to fill the position every year since, 
except one, when he was called upon to 
represent the people of Phelps and Harlan 
counties in the legislature. He served in 
in the state legislature in 1887, and took 
an active part in the work of the session. 
He was chairman of the committee on 
labor and a member of the committees on 
library and privileges and elections. The 
railroad commission bill was passed that 
session and several others of almost equa 
importance. Mr. Marshall introduced a 
bill to prevent the negotiation of bonds 
held by the state as a permanent school 
fund in case of loss or theft or otherwise. 
The measure passed without opposition in 
either house. 

Mr. Marshall has 320 acres of good land 
on which he has made valuable improve- 
ments from time to time. He is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic Fraternity, United 
Workmen, Alliance and Grange. 

Both he and his estimable wife are 
members of the Pi'esbyterian church. He 
is a republican in politics and a man of 
considei-able force and influence in local 
affairs in the county. He has always dis- 
charged every public duty with the utmost 
regard for the intei'ests of his constituents 
and he is one of the best known and most 
highly esteemed men in the county. 



OPvLANDO B. BALYEAT, one of 
the most enterprisingyoungfarm- 
ers of Williamsburg township, 
Phelps county, Nebr., was born in Van 
Wert county, Ohio, November 9, 1853. 

His fatiier, Aaron Balyeat, also a 
native of Ohio, was born March 15, 
1827, and is a farmer b\' occupation. He 
has been deacon in the Baptist church 
for many years, and has always lived an 
honest, u])right life. The mother of the 
subject of this sketch bore the maiden 
name of Martha La Rue, and she, too, 
was a native of Ohio, having been born 
in 1828. She was a member of the Bap- 
tist church and died in 1864 in full confi- 
dence of the faith she professed. 

The paternal grandfather, Jonas Bal- 
yeat, was a Pennsylvanian by birth, and 
emigrated to Ohio in an e&vly day, set- 
tling in Richland county. He removed 
to Van Wert county, Ohio, where he 
died in 1886, aged ninety -one years. His 
wife lived to the age of eighty-four, and 
was the mother of eighteen children, fif- 
teen of whom were reared to manhood 
and womanhood. The Bal^'eat family 
are of German extraction and are a veiy 
hardy race of people. 

Mr. Balyeat remained with his parents 
until he became of age. He attended 
the common district school during the 
winter months and became quite profi- 
cient in the common branches. In 1S7S 
he attended the Lebanon (Ohio) Normal 
School for one year, and then taught four 
terms in Van Wert county. 

Mr. Balyeat came to York county, 
Nebr., in July, 1881, remaining in the 
town of York for some time ; be then 
engaged in farming for about two years. 
In 1883 he came to Phelps county, Nebr., 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



707 



and purchased a farm in Williamsburg 
township. The first county seat was 
located near where lie settled, but had 
boon moved to Phelps Center a short time 
before. 

Mr. Balyeat was married, July 10, 
1880, to Miss Nancy Webber, a native of 
Van Wert count}', Ohio, who was born 
April 2(), 1853. Her parents are both 
natives of Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Bal- 
yeat have been born three children — 
Leola, born August 29, 1882; Mary, born 
February 2, 1884 (deceased) ; May, born 
February 28, 1890. 

Mr. Balyeat has a farm of one hundred 
and sixty aci'es well improved, which 
yields an abundant crop each year. 

lie is an active member of Mount Pleas- 
ant Gi'ange, No. 27, and is a firm believer 
in a close union among farmers, lie has 
served as assessor of his township four 
3'ears in succession, which is a good evi- 
dence that he is the right man in the 
right place. He was appointed post- 
master April 25, 1887, and is yet perform- 
ino- the duties of that office. 



LUCIUS D. MULLEN was born in 
Noble county, Ind., February 3, 
_^ J 81-1. His parents, David and 
Mary (Wolfe) Mullen, came from Pennsyl- 
vania and located in northeastern In- 
diana in 1S43. The senior Mullen was a 
blacksmith by tratle, and an honest, in- 
dustrious man. He died in 1851, and was 
followed by his wife in 1882. Both were 
members of the Methodist p]piscoj)al 
church and were earnest christian people. 
Lucius D. Mullen, the subject of this 



sketch, was left an orphan when a small 
boy, and has made his own way through 
life unaided since he was nine 3'ears old. 
Though young he was honest and indus- 
trious, and always found emplo\Mnent. In 
1S6G he went to Gratiot county, Mich., 
where he was employed for three years in 
a woolen mill, and in 1869 came to Cass 
county, Nebr., and took a homestead. 
The country was quite new, and he was 
among the first to settle in the western 
part of the county. He remained there 
eight years, and then concluded that he 
could better his condition by going to 
York county, where he accordingly 
located, and purchased a piece of land, 
but worked on the B. & M. E. R. most 
of the time during the seven years he was 
there. 

The time of Mr. Mullen's arrival in 
Phelps county was in the spring of 1884; 
consequent!}', he is not regarded an early 
settler, although the country has been de- 
veloped wonderfully since he located here. 
He pui'chased a farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres, which he is improving rapidly, 
and from which he has harvested good 
crops since he began to cultivate it. 

Mr. Mullen was married, August 22, 
1872, to Miss Mary E. Logan, who is a 
native of Ohio, born June 24, 1851. To 
this union have been born six children, 
viz. — Lafayette, born June 17, 1873 ; 
John, born March 22, 1877 ; Orphia. born 
January 18, 1881; Thomas, born March 
15, 1883 (deceased), and Jesse, born May 
22, 1885. 

As Mr. Mullen was a soldier in the late 
Civil war it would not be out of ])lace to 
call tlie reader's attention to some of the 
main features of his military exi)erionce. 
He enlisted October 14, 18()2, in the First 



708 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



Indiana cavalry, and his first experience 
in battle was at Vicksburg, and later lie 
was in an engagement at Fort Cotton, on 
the Yazoo river, in Mississippi. On the 
fonrth of July, 1863, he was in a hot 
skirmish at Helena, Ark., and was also 
present at the capture of Little Eock, 
Ark. Some of the principal encounters 
following this were Duvaull's bluffs, Clar- 
ington, Columbia, Tenn.; Franklin, and 
the two days at Nashville. He was mus- 
tered out at Nashville, Tenn., in June, 1864. 



WILLIAM S. WOLFE is a na- 
tive of Ashland county, Ohio, 
and was born March 26, 1843. 
His parents, Martin and Elizabeth 
(Clause) Wolfe, were both natives of 
Pennsylvania, were married in Ohio, and 
moved to Michigan, and subsequently to 
Indiana, where they lived for some time. 
In 1871 they emigrated to Cass county, 
Nebr., where they lived lill the senior 
Wolfe's death, which occurred in 1875. 
He was a carpenter by trade, was justice 
of the peace for some time in Ohio, and 
was a member of the German Eeforra 
church. 

William S. Wolfe began life as a farmer 
in Steuben county, Ind., where he re- 
mained one year. He removed to Lena- 
wee county, Mich., and worked at the 
carpenters' trade for some time. He emi- 
grated to Cass county, Nebr., in the 
spring of 1871, where he took a home- 
stead. He was one of the pioneer settlers 
of that county, and remained there for 
eleven yeai-s. He next located in the 
thriving little city of York, and kept a 



livery stable for some years, coming to 
Phelps county in the spring of 1884, and 
purchasing land on which he has since 
lived. 

Mr. Wolfe was married October 1, 1872, 
to Miss Rebecca Logan, who bore him 
four children, as follows — Martin (de- 
ceased), Viola, Sherman and Horley. His 
wife died June, 1883. He married again 
November 15, 1886, Miss Mary McCutchen, 
who is a native of South Carolina. To 
this union has been born one child — 
Vira G. 

Mr. Wolfe has a good record as a sol- 
dier in the war of the rebellion, and it is 
proper that mention should be made of 
some of the main features of his military 
career in connection with this brief bio- 
graphical memoir. He enlisted August 
2, 1862, in the Seventy-fourth regiment, 
Indiana volunteer infantiT, and partici- 
pated in the Atlanta campaign, and was 
also at Chickamauga. He was seriously 
injured a day or so before his engagement 
at Resaca, which rendered him incapable 
of performing duty for some time. His 
brigade was detailed to guard a supply 
train, and while in discharge of his duty 
a comrade fell on him striking him in the 
small of the back with his knee. He was 
sent to the hospital at Chattanooga, and 
subsequently to a convalescent camp, 
where he was detailed to guard prisoners. 
He was soon after detailed to drive cattle, 
but jumped the train and joined his regi- 
ment at Atlanta. The Seventy-fourth 
regiment, along with others, were ordered 
to follow General Hood back to Nashville. 
It was at this time that Mr. Wolfe was 
captured by a l)and of rebel guerrillas 
while out forafiing. He was taken to the 
prison at Millen, Ga., and while en route 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



709 



to that place they marched one hundred 
and twenty miles in four days. He was 
oxAx there a short time when he was re- 
moved to Savannah, and hence to Thom- 
asville and from there to Andersonville, 
where he was compelled to suifer the in- 
describable horrors of that rebel hole from 
the twenty-fourth day of December, 1864, 
till the seventeenth day of April. 18G5. 
He was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, 
in June, 1865. While he was in prison 
lie went entirely blind during the night 
and has had trouble with his eyes since. 

Mr. Wolfe has a pleasant home and one 
hundred and sixty acres of good land. 
He is highly esteemed by all who know 
him. 



OTIS A. RICHARDSON, one of 
the pioneers of Phelps county, 
was born in Fulton couniy. Hi., 
July 7, 1846. 

His father, Charles Richardson, is a 
native of Virginia ; he came North, how- 
ever, in an early day and is now a resi- 
dent of Nebraska. He is a carpenter by 
trade and a quiet anil industrious man. 
The mother of the subject of this sketch 
is a native of Illinois and a woman be- 
loved b}' all for her many admirable traits 
of character. 

Otis A. Richardson was one of a family 
of eight children and received only such 
educational advantages as were afforded 
in the common district schools of Illinois. 
He enlisted November 1, 1862, at the age 
of eighteen, in the Thirty-third Illinois 
volunteer infantry, but was discharged, 
however, on account of phj'sical disability 



June 18, 1862. He was afflicted with 
chronic rheumatism and was sent to the 
hospital at Keokuk, Iowa. The only im- 
portant engagement he was in during his 
service was the battle of Shiloh, one of the 
most famous battles of the rebellion. 

After the war he was an employee on 
the steamer " Belle of Peoria," on the 
Illinois river for about one year. On 
July 13, 1865, he came to Saunders county, 
Nebr., and was the first man to take a 
homestead in township 15, range 9 east. 
After he had selected iiis claim he freighted 
for several months between Plattsmouth 
and Fort Laramie. The country was wild 
and he had an interesting and varied ex- 
perience on his trip across the '' great 
plains." He spent two years on the Otoe 
reservation near Beatrice, where he min- 
gled occasionally with the " Red men." 

Mr. Richardson came to Phelps county 
in September, 1880, and filed on a timber 
claim in Williamsburg township. There 
were comparatively few settlers then at 
that time and it was not an uncommon 
thing to see a herd of antelope grazing on 
the Platte bottom. He has seen and ex- 
perienced some of the hardships of tne 
pioneers of Nebraska, and knows what it 
is to go hungry, as well as to encounter a 
band of hostile Indians. Mr. Richardson 
was married October 30, 1866, to Keziah 
Tarpening, who is a native of Indiana 
and was born February 3, 1850. Her 
parents. Perry and Elizabeth (Russell) 
Tarpening, are natives of Ohio and both 
live in Saunders county, Nebr. 

The ha]ipy union of Mr. and Mrs. Rich- 
ardson has been blessed with six children, 
viz. — Charles, born December 3, 1868; 
Olive, born January 10, 1870; Estella 
E., born September 16, 1871 ; Willie Y., 



born June 9, 1875; Earl E., born February 
23, 1885 ; Delta V., born March 13, 1888. 
Mr. E. has one hundred and sixty acres 
of improved land which lies in the fertile 
Platte valley, and yields an abundant 
crop each year. He is a member of the 
G. A. li. and of tiie Grange and enjoys 
the hio-h esteem of all who know him. 



JOHN W. GREENAMYER is one of 
the rising young men of Phelps 
county. He is a native of Ohio, and 
was born January 8, 1856. 

His father, Eli Greenamyer, is also a 
native of Ohio, and is a shoemaker by 
trade. He served three years in the 
war of the rebellion, and received an hon- 
orable discharge. 

John Greenamyei", the subject of this 
sketch, is one of a family of eight chil- 
dren, and enjo3'ed no educational privi- 
leo-es other than those afforded in the 
common district school. He began work- 
in o- out at the age of twelve and has 
'•hoed his own row" ever since. 

Mr. Greenamyer was married, Decem- 
ber 25, 1879, to Mary Balyeat, daughter 
of Aaron and Martha Balyeat. She was 
born in Van "Wert count}', Ohio, April 20, 
1859. They have five children — Lala, 
born September 20, 1880; Minnie, born 
March 12, 1882; Charles, born August 31, 
188J:; Lotta, born July 13, 1886 (deceased), 
and Flossie, born July 12, 1888. 

Mr. Greenamyer removed with his 
family to York county, Nebr., in the 
fall of 1882 and remained there one year. 
He came to Phelps county in the fall of 
1883 and purchased land in Williamsburg 



township, where he now lives. He now 
owns one hundred and sixty acres of 
splendid land in one of the best localities 
in the township. He is an extensive raiser 
of cattle and has almost three hundred 
head. He is a breeder of Short-horn 
cattle and is the owner of several fine 
specimens of this popular family. He is 
also a breeder of the famous Ohio Imported 
Chester hogs, and is the only man in the 
township who is making a specialty* of 
this choice breed of swine. He has been 
treasurer of his township, and was also a 
member of the count\' board of super- 
visors at one time. He is a member of 
Mt. Pleasant Grange and is a stanch 
republican in politics. 



JOHN JOHNSON, one of the earliest 
settlers of Phelps county, Nebr., was 
born in Sweden, in 1831, and is a son 
of John Christenson, who was a na- 
tive of the same countrj', born in 1794, was 
a prosperous farmer, and in 182i married 
Nellie Christianson, who bore him five 
children, as follows — Betsey, who died in 
1890; Mrs. Ellen Hawkinson (now de- 
ceased); John, our subject; Hannah and 
Olof. 

John Johnson came to America in 
1854, and first took up his residence in 
Chicago, 111., where he remained twelve 
j'ears, part of the time driving an ex})ress 
wagon and part of the time working in 
car-shops ; thence he went to Altona, and 
for four 3'ears was employed in a flouring 
mill ; from Altona he came to Nebraska 
in 1872, and settled in Phelps county, on 
section 24, township 7, range 19. On his 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



711 



settling at this point tliere was not a 
neighbor to be found within miles of his 
place, and his nearest trading place was 
Kearney. He put up one of the first sod 
houses in this county and for many years 
suffered all tlie inconveniences and priva- 
tions incident to the life of the pioneer. 
Among the other incidents of the early 
days through which Mr. Johnson and his 
family passed was that of seeking refuge 
during the Eastern storm of 1873, in the 
cellar of Mr. Dalilstrom's house with a 
number of others, the whole party com- 
prising eighteen persons, but has happily 
withstood all privations and is now one of 
the most prosperous farmers of the county. 

The marriage of Mr. Johnson took 
place in 18.54, and Carrie, his wife, has 
born him seven children, as follows — 
Ralph, a book-keeper in Gothen burgh, 
Dawson county, Nebr., and married to 
Ellen Brunsbui'g ; Nels Emile, clerk in 
Norris' drug store, in Holdrege; Hilda 
Mrs. Davidson) ; Justice, George W., in 
Cheyenne; Ida and Robert. The parents 
are consistent members of the Lutheran 
church and stand ver\' high in the es- 
teem of their neighboi'S. 

]\[r. Johnson has held a number of pub- 
lic offices, among them those of justice of 
the peace, county supervisor and assessor. 



JOHN M. DAIILSTROM, one of the 
earliest settlers of Phelps county, 
Nebr., is a native of Sweden and 
was born in 184i. His father, Carl 
Carlson, was born in the same countr\' in 
1798, was a well-to-do carjienter and died 
in 1878, universally recognized as a good 



christian. The mother of our subject, 
Anna Carlson, was married in 1843 and 
bore her husband two children — John M., 
our subject, and Alexander, who died at 
the age of four years. 

John M. Dahlstrom came to America 
in 1868, and for two years worked on a 
farm in Henry county, 111., after which he 
rented a ])lace, which he farmed for five 
years, coming next to Nebraska and locat- 
ing on section 12, township 5, range 15, 
Kearney count}^, and thence coming to 
Phelps count}', where he now resides, on 
section 23, township 7, range 19 west, he 
being the first settler on the divide. 

When Mr. Dahlstrom came to Nebraska 
he had cash and personal property valued 
at $2,000, having been induced to come 
by land agents of Illinois who were send- 
ing out a colony of ten families. This 
colony, of course, encountered all the perils 
and unpleasant circumstances attendant 
upon the settlement of a new country, be- 
sides the extra infliction of the grasshop- 
per plague and hail and drought. During 
tlie noted Easter storm of 1873, two fami- 
lies, comprising eighteen persons, were 
sheltered in Mr. Dahlstrom's cellar for a 
number of days; devastation prevailed all 
over the surrounding country. Corn had 
to be hauled from Riverton, sixty-five 
miles away, as well, also, from Kansas; 
there were no broken roads across the 
prairie, and on one occasion our subject 
traveled twenty-six miles, guided by the 
wind ; seed, wheat and corn, as well as 
eatables, had all to be brought from a dis 
tance, and this condition of things lasted 
for six years. Many of the colonists be- 
came disheartened and left, but Mr. Dahl- 
strom had faith in the future of the county 
and stood fast, and it was owing to his 



712 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



steadfastness that the settlement finalh' 
succeeded. 

The marriage of Mr. Dahlstrom took 
place in 1870, and by his wife, Mary, he 
is the father of ten children, viz.- — Charles; 
Almeda (deceased); Elmer; Almeda; Fred- 
die, Melvin, Harry and Freddie (all four 
deceased); Hannah and Josie. 

Mr. Dahlstrom is a self-made man, hav- 
ing begun for himself at the age of four- 



teen 3'ears. He is now the owner of four 
hundred and eighty acres of choice land 
well improved and stocked with thorough- 
bred cattle and horses. In ])olitics he is 
a republican, and in religious matters he, 
with his wife, affiliates with the Free 
church. He has served as an assessor for 
a number years, school treasurer, and for 
two years justice of the peace. His stand- 
ing in the community is in the front rank. 







>!a ^^ 




BIOGRAPHICAL. 



PETER BERGQUIST is a native of 
Sweden, and was born November 
8, 1856. He accompanied his 
parents to America in 1865. They lo- 
cated first in Henry county, 111., and after 
a few years removed to Webster county, 
Iowa, where he remained for about ten 
years engaged in farming along the Des 
Moines river. In the spring of 1875 the 
senior Bergquist removed to Harlari 
county, Nebr., where he spent the remain- 
der of his life. Shortly after settling in 
Harlan county, Peter Bergquist took a 
timber claim in Albany township, and in 
1879 homesteaded a quarter section. 
When the Bergquist family landed in Har- 
lan county, the country was new and wild; 
no settlement had yet been effected. The 
prairie was fairly alive with antelope and 
buffalo, and many a one has Mr. Berg- 
quist chased as well as ca])tured. Houses 
then were few and far between and man\' 
inconveniences had to be endured. He 
passed through a portion of the grasshop- 
per raid and knows what it means to be 
almost eaten out of house and home. 

On June 23, 1880, Mr. Bergquist was 
married, the lad}'- of his choice being 
Miss Annie Nordbloni, a native of Swe- 
den, who came to the United States in 
1861. Her parents located first in Henry 
county, 111., and subsequently in Iowa. 



The congenial union of this couple has 
resulted in the birth of three Ijright and 
intelligent children, as follows — Emily, 
Madora and Wesley. Mr. Bergquist owns 
an estate of four hundred and eighty 
acres of good land and engages in raising 
nearly all kinds of stock. He is a mem- 
ber of the Farmers' Alliance, and has 
held various local offices in his township. 
He is an ardent temperance man and 
both he and his wife are devoted mem- 
bers of the Swedish church. Mr. Berg- 
quist is quite extensively engaged in the 
manufacture of brick on his farm. The 
quality of clay to be found there being 
especially well adapted for that purpose. 



G 



EORGE F. SHELBURN is one of 
the rising young men of Harlan 
county. He is at i)resent aprosper- 
ous farmer in Albany township, where he 
owns three hundred and twenty acres of 
good land, one hundred and eighty of 
which are broken and under a good state of 
cultivation. The subject of this notice 
was born in Warren county, Iowa, No" 
vember 8, 1858. He is a son of William 
T. and Sarah A. (Spurgin) Shelburn, the 
former a native of Indiana and the latter 



715 



716 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



of Kentucky. They came to Harlan 
county, Nebr., in 1879, where they still 
reside. The country between the Republi- 
can and Platte rivers, known as the great 
"divide," was just being settled, when 
Geo. F. Shelburn put in an appearance. 
The country presented a somewhat wild 
and desolate appearance, but he had faith 
in its ultimate development anti made up 
his mind to stay by it. He took a home- 
stead on section 17, and a timber claim of 
a quarter section on section 18. His first 
house consisted of a dug-out and he beoan 
farming on a small scale. He worked for 
a neighbor a day in exchange for the use 
of his team for a day, to break witli. In 
this manner he managed to get along until 
he was able to purchase a team for himself. 
Mr. Shelburn was married April 17, 
1882, to Ambrosia Whittacer, a native 
of Iowa and born March 24, 1858. She is 
a daughter of Josiah and Margaret Whit- 
tacer, who lived in Iowa several years 
previous to 1877, the date of their settle- 
ment in Nebraska. In politics Mr. Shel- 
burn is a firm believer in the principles of 
the democratic party, and is well posted in 
the doctrine of that organization. He was 
elected assessor of his township in 1889, 
and performed the duties of that office to 
the entire satisfaction of all interested. 



CAEL BLOOM was born in Ger- 
many, February 11, 1844r. His 
father, John Bloom, was a com- 
mon laborer. His mother died when he 
was quite small and he has little recollec- 
tion of her. 



He came to America in the fall of 1865 
and located in Marathon county. Wis., 
where he hired out and for seven years 
was engaged in the saw-mills and woods 
of the neighboring country. He came 
fi'om thei'e to Harlan county, Nebr., in 
March, 1871, and was one of the first to 
locate in tiie Republican valley. He 
homesteaded his present place, in section 32 
township 2, range 18 west, on which he 
built a log cabin, 18x24 feet, and in which 
he lived for fourteen years. The country 
at the time of his coming was alive with 
buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, though he, 
not being a hunter, killed but one buffalo. 
The first few years, with tlie exception of 
the second, his crops,on account of drought 
and grasshoppers, were almost total fail- 
ures and in consequence thereof he had a 
hard time, like many other early settlers, 
to make a living for himself and family. 
He occasionally got a job of hauling 
freight from Kearney, and with this 
money thus earned and the practice of the 
most rigid econom\', he managed to get 
along and keep soul and body together. 
In 1876, on account of his brother's death, 
he fell heir to 160 acres of land in the 
same section as that of his own and has 
since prospered and purchased additional 
land until he owns nearly 400 acres, which 
is finel}' improved. He has raised and 
dealt in cattle and horses considerably, and 
notwithstanding the hardships of his early 
pioneer life, has amassed considerable of a 
fortune. 

He was married in September, 1870, to 
Anna Bartell, who is of German descent 
and was born in Wisconsin in June, 1855. 
Their happy union has been blessed with 
the birth of five children as follows — 
Aurora, born April 29, 1871 ; Wm., March 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



717 



4, 1874; Otto, November 20, 1877; Mary, 
January 16, 1883 and Carl, November 25, 
1883. The entire family are members of 
the Lutiieran church. Politically, he is 
independent. 



MRS. MARY R. MORGAI^ is tlie 
editor and manager of tlie 
Valley Beacon, published at 
Alma, Harlan county, Nebr. The paper 
was organized in 1888 and its first issue 
was April 6, that year. It is now in its 
third volume. It is published in the inter- 
est of prohibition and has done much in 
the furtherance of that cause. The finan- 
cial standing of the paper is A No. 1. 
Mrs. Morran is the wife of J. F. Morgan, 
an old soldier and most estimable citizen, 
who owns and manages a lai'ge stock farm 
in the southwest part of the county. He 
and his wife came to Nebraska in 1878, 
settling in Alma, Harlan county, where 
they have since resided. 

Mr. Morgan entered the Union arm}^ 
November 14, 1861, enlisting in Company 
A, Sixty-sixth Ohio. He was in tiie fol- 
lowing battles, in addition to many less 
important engagements — Port Republic, 
Va., June 9, 1862 ; Cedar mountain, 
August 9, 1862; Antietam, September 17, 
1862 ; Chancellorsville, May 1, 2 and 3, 
1863; Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863 ; 
Lookout mountam, November 25, 1863 ; 
Missionary ridge, November 26, 1863; 
Ringgold, November 28, 1863; Resaca, 
May 2, 1864; and all the fighting around 
Atlanta. He was severely woundetl at 
Antietam, being shot tii rough the neck 
and tlie riglit shoulder. After he recovered 
sufficiently to take his place in the field. 



he was promoted to first duty sergeant 
and later to first-lieutenant of his company. 
He was honorably discharged at Louis- 
ville, Ky., July 20, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. 
Morgan were married November 14, 1865. 
Mrs. Morgan was su|)erintendent of 
the public schools of Harlan county, from 
1881 to the close of 1887. She is now 
serving her second term as president of 
the Woman's Relief Corps, G. A. R., of 
Nebraska. Mr. Morgan is a member and 
past commander of Van Meter Post, 
G. A. R., No. 94, at Alma. Both are 
active and efficient workers in their respect- 
ive organizations. 



WILLIAM 0. SHIPMAN was 
born January 4, 1840, in 
Northumberland county. Pa., 
and is a son of James and Susanna 
(Thomas) Shipman, who were also natives 
of Pennsylvania, the father being of 
German extraction and the mother of 
French. Mr. Shipman's parents moved to 
Ogle county. 111., in 1861, where the 
mother died in 1873, and the father in 
1880. They were pious christian people, 
and their lives blossomed with the best 
fruits of the faith they possessed. The 
subject of this sketch was reared on the 
farm, leaving home, however, when a 
young lad and living out as a common 
laborer, turning his wages over to iiis 
father in order to enable him to support 
the large family of which he was the 
head. Tlie son preceded the [)arents to 
Illinois, settling there in 1859. He was 
there when the great war of the rebellion 
broke out, and, with an alacrity born of 
the patriotism within his breast, he offered 



718 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



his services to the Union soon after the 
first call was made for volunteers. lie en- 
listed in August, 18C1, entering the Fourth 
Illinois cavalry. He was first under 
fire at Fort Henry, participating in the 
capture of that place, and also in tlie 
taking of Fort Donelson. He was in the 
battle of Shiloh, and then at Corinth, after 
which his regiment was assigned to duty 
as a body-guard to General Sherman, on 
his march to Memphis. Later he was in 
the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., and Holly 
Springs, Miss. His regiment was then 
ordered to Trenton, Tenn., where he was en 
gaged for some time in hunting guerrillas. 
He was in an engagement at Coifeyville, 
Tenn., about that time, but was shortly 
ordered back, and joined Grant's army ; 
was in the advance guard in the Vicks- 
burg campaign, and after the suri'enderof 
the city did scouting duty in that locality 
during the s]n-iiig and summer of 1863. 
Having enlisted for three years, his time 
was out in November, 1864, and he was 
mustered out of the service the third of 
that month at Springfield, 111. Keturning 
to Ogle county, he remained with his 
father a short time and then went to St. 
Louis, Mo., where he secured work as a 
common laborer and followed it for a few 
months. He next turned his face towards 
the East, returning to his native State of 
Pennsylvania, stopping successively at 
Pittsburgh and Northumberland county, 
and in tiie pine regions of Center and 
Clearfield counties. In January, 1867, he 
went again to the State of Illinois and 
engaged in farming until the spring of 
1872, when he came to Nebraska and 
settled in Harlan county. He thus became 
one of the pioneer settlers of that county, 
and as such he underwent all the hard- 



ships and privations common to the lot of 
the pioneer, passing through the grass- 
hopper seasons, the dry vears and all the 
times of trial incident to those years. But 
by industry and courageous self-denial he 
pulled thi'ough the pei'iotls of distress into 
which he was so frequentlj' thrown, and 
he has been rewarded by becoming one of 
the solid, substantial men of his com- 
munity. His affairs are in a prosperous 
condition, and he is one of the most highl}' 
esteemed men of his community. He 
owns four hundred and eighty acresof land, 
all of which is well "improved, furnished 
with all needful buildings for man and 
beast, ornamented with groves, stocked 
with good strains of cattle, horses and 
hogs, and in every respect is a most de- 
sirable place. 

Mr. Shipraan married on the twenty 
second day of Januarv, 1867, taking to 
share his fortunes Miss Laville Snyder, a 
daughter of Adam and Martha Snyder, the 
father of Mrs. Shipman being a native of 
Pennsylvania, and the mother a native of 
New Jersey. Mrs. Shii)man herself was 
born on January 22, 18il. Mr. and Mrs. 
Shipman have had born to them three 
ciiildren, as follows — Martha Bella, born 
October 18, 1867 (now deceased); James 
B., born March 23, 1870, and Dolly M., 
born May 19, 1876. Mr. Shipman is a 
member of the Farmers' Alliance, and in 
politics is a republican. He also belongs 
to the local post of the G. A. R. 



WILL DOWNS was born Sep- 
tember 28, 183-1. He is a son 
of David and Mary Downs, 
being one of a family of six children. His 
brothers and sisters are David, Charles, 



HARLAN COUNTY 



719 



Eosanna, now the wife of A. Sands, of 
Wisconsin ; Melissa, wife of W. Slieppard, 
of Indiana, and Julia, now Mrs. Hartman 
of Iowa. The sul)ject of this sketcii was 
left an or|)han at the age of six years and 
at the age of eleven he started out in the 
world for himself. His early educational 
advantages were necessarily very limited. 
He was too much absorbed in the bread 
and butter problem to give much time to 
acquiring knowledge. lie however got 
the rudiments of an ordinary English edu- 
cation and what he lacked in early advan- 
tages he made up by his zealous study in 
])rivate. On casting about for some pur- 
suit, his mind turned to railroading and 
he learned the business of an engineer and 
followed it successfully for some years. 
He was so engaged when the Civil war 
came on. When the first call was made 
for soldiers to defend the Union, like 
thousands of other patiiotic men, he quit 
his post of duty, for that which he deemed 
higher, and entered the Union Armj^, en 
listing in the Seventh Indiana volunteer 
infantry. His regiment was organized in 
Sejitember, 1861, and immediately went 
to the fi'ont. He bore a conspicuous part 
in the war, beins engaged in some of the 
bloodiest battles of the war, in all of which 
Mr. Downs acquitted himself witii credit. 
Mr. Downs followed the fortunes of the 
Seventh Indiana all through its service and 
helped to make for it the gallant record 
which stands opposite its name on the 
rolls. The principal engagements in which 
it took part were Winchester, Va.; Port 
Republic, Ya.; Cedar mountain, Md.; 
Thoroughfare Gap, Va.; second Bull Run, 
Va.; South mountain, Md.; Antietam, 
Md.; Fredericksburgh, Va.; Chancellors- 
ville, Va.; Gettysburg, Pa.; Rappahan- 



nock, Va.; Mine Run, Va.; the Wilder- 
ness, Spottsylvania court-house, North 
Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and the 
Weldon railroad. The Seventh lost, in 
killed and wounded on the battle field, 
one hundred and sixteen men, and from 
disease, accidents and in prisons two hun- 
dred and twenty-nine, making a total of 
three hundred and forty-five men. Mr. 
Downs enlisted for thi-ee years and he 
served his time exactly to an hour, enter- 
ing the arnij' at 2 p. m., on September 13, 
1861, and being mustered out at 2 p. m., 
September 13, 1861. After the expiration 
of his term of service he returned to North 
Salem, Ind., where he remained till 1868, 
at which time he deciiled to seek a home 
in the boundless West. He came to 
Nebraska that year and made his first 
stop in Plattsmouth; in 1870 moved to Lin- 
coln, Nebr. Two years later he moved to 
Harlan county antl took a homestead four- 
teen miles northeast of Alma. He lived 
on his homestead, engaged in a desultory 
warfare with the grasshoppers, droughts 
and hard times, till the fall of 1875, at 
which time he was appointed county clerk 
of Harlan county, and in order to assume 
the duties of his office moved into Alma, 
the county seat. He held the office of 
county clerk and gave his attention to the 
duties of that office till 1881. Going out 
of that office at that time he enmiired in 
the mercantile business in Alma and fol- 
lowed this till 1887. He was then elected 
clerk of the district court, a position he 
has since held. 

In 1859 Mr. Downs was married, tak- 
ing as a life companion Miss M. J. Cay- 
wooil, a daughter of Thomas Cay wood, 
of Kentucky. The wife of his vouth 
abides with him still, having: borne him 



720 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



the companionship he sought with her 
hand nearly a third of a century. Tiiis 
union has been blessed with three children, 
all daugliters, the two eldest being n(jw 
married. These are Lillie, wife of J. E. 
Schrack ; Hallie, wife of C. R. Fuller of 
Kansas and Jessie E., still with her parents. 
Harlan county has no better citizens 
nor has she ever had a better public ser- 
vant than Will Downs. " Honest," as the 
saying goes, '' as the days are long," dili- 
gent in his labors, kind and accommodat- 
ing, a man of thorough business methods, 
whom it is a pleasure to meet, a greater 
pleasure to do business with, and the citi- 
zens of Harlan count}' honor themselves in 
honoring him as they do. 



EDWARD R. TILLOTSON, one 
of the first settlers of Harlan 
count\', is a pioneer in the fullest 
sense of the word. He came to the 
county before the buffalo left, while the 
antelope were yet plentiful and the noble 
red man roamed the country in great 
force, and he knows what it is to endure the 
hardships of frontier life, its privations 
and many vicissitudes. He has lived in a 
sod shanty, has subsisted on short rations, 
has gone miles to market and mdes fur- 
ther to mill. He has grappled with the 
famous Nebraska blizzard ; has seen his 
fondest hopes, in the shape of a crop, 
disajipear before the ravenous grasshop- 
per, and has endured the scorching blasts 
of the hot wind. He has seen the country 
grow from a barren prairie, marked onlv 
by the hoof of the buffalo, into a never- 
ending stretch of farms and dotted all 
over with peaceful, happy homes. He 



has seen prosperous little villages spring 
up on every hand, furnisiied with all the 
necessaries and conveniences of modern 
metropolitan life, and each the center of 
a trade that would be the envy of many 
older places of twice the size in the East. 
Out of the chaos of frontier life lie has 
seen come the order that marks Nebraska 
as one of the most law-abiding common- 
wealths of all the grand sisterhood of 
states. In the labor of bringing about 
these man\' changes, Mr. Tillotson has 
borne liis full share as a humble citi- 
zen, and he is therefore deserving of the 
recognition which he receives in this 
volume. 

Edward R. Tillotson was born in Me- 
dina county, Ohio, November 15, 182-i, 
and was reared in his native county, 
growing up on the farm and being 
tr,ained to the habits of industry and 
usefulness common to farm life. He 
resided in Medina countv, engaged in 
farming till 1847, when he moved to 
Dane, Dane county. Wis., continuing in 
agricultural pursuits there till 1873. Com- 
ing to Nebraska at that date he settled 
in Harlan county, taking a homestead, on 
which he located, and began the life of 
the pioneer. It is not necessary to go 
over in detail the man}' experiences 
tlirough which Mr. Tillotson passed dur- 
ing tlie earlier 3'ears of his residence in 
the county. These have been given to 
print as often as the life of an old settler 
has been written, and it will be sufficient 
to say in this connection that all that 
others saw and endured,, he saw and 
endured, " even unto the uttermost," and 
whatever praise is to be given the old 
settler for his fortitude and heroic bear- 
ing under the trials to which he was sub- 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



721 



jected may justly be bestowed upon the 
subject of this sketch individually. He 
is now one of the most prosperous far- 
mers of his community, as lie has always 
been one of its most highly esteemed citi- 
zens. He owns three hundred and twenty 
acres, all of which is susceptible of culti- 
vation, and yields well. 

Mr. Tillotson married October 2, 1846, 
taking to wife Jliss Betsie Santieson, who 
was born July 30, 1824, in Grand Isle 
county, Vt. Her parents were natives of 
Massachusetts and descendants of old 
Bay State stock. Mr. and Mrs. Tillotson 
have had born to them a family of seven 
children, as follows — Caroline, Erie, 
Amy, Marcia, Harriet, Zadock (now de- 
ceased) and Alonzo. Mr. and Mrs. Tillot- 
son are members of the Seventh Day 
Adventists' Society. 

In politics, Mr. Tillotson is a republi- 
can, although he does not dabble in poli- 
tics to the extent of allowing political 
pursuits to interfei'e with his own affairs. 



JOSEPH H. WILEY was born No- 
vember 2, 1857. He is a son of 
David and Catherine (Morris) 
Wiley, the father being a native of 
Pennsylvania and the mother a native of 
Ohio. The parents were married in Ohio 
in 1836 and moved afterwards to Iowa, 
in 1856. The father went to Nebraska in 
1879. There were eleven children in the 
family to which the subject of this sketch 
belonffetl — eight of whom are now livinir. 
Our subject received an ordinary common- 
school eilucation and also attended normal 
school at Chariton, Iowa. He resided on 
a farm and remained with his father till 



he became of ajie. He was eno'ao'ed 
mainly in buying and shipping cattle and 
hogs, at which he was fairly successful. 
In the fall of 1876 he came to Nebraska 
and settled in Alma township, Harlan 
county, where he took a homestead, built 
a sod house and, being unmarried, began 
the bachelor life of the West. The coun- 
try was new and very sparsely settled and 
Mr. Wiley experienced "life on the 
plains" in all its varying phases. He 
had man}' ups and downs, but, being alone 
and unincumbered with no thought for 
the future, he willingly cast his fortunes 
with those of the county, stuck to his 
home, improved it and began to prosper. 

On November 7, 1886, he married Miss 
Lizzie Richards, who was born in Macon 
county, Mo., September 28, 18G9, being a 
daughter of Morgan and Sarah Richards, 
who are natives of Wales and now resi- 
dents of Nebraska. This union has been 
blessed with two children — Elmer born 
October 4, 1887; and Edna, born Mav 
5, 1889. 

Mr. Wiley is recognized as one of the 
most intelligent and progressive farmers 
of Harlan county, being thoroughly alive 
to the best interests of his calling and in 
sympathy with every movement for the 
improvement of the condition of the 
farmer. He owns a large farm of four 
hundred and eigiity acres, which he has 
in a good state of cultivation, and deals 
largely in stock, cattle and hogs. He is a 
member of the Farmers' Alliance and 
a zealous supporter of that organization. 
In politics he is a republican, a stanch 
believer in the principles of his party; 
but he has never dabbled in politics and 
beyond a few local offices has never held 
any public position. 



722 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



JOHN L. EVERSON was born in 
Louisville, Ky.. November 10, 1838, 
and was reared in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
When a youth he learned the trade 
of a harness maker and followed his trade 
some time after growing- up. He was 
also engaged, when a young man, in boat- 
ins on the Ohio river. In 1870 he moved 
to Cedar Rajiids, Iowa, and in 1873 to 
Harlan county, Nebr. He took a home- 
stead at that date in Harlan county, 
where he settled, building a sod house and 
launching on the life of a pioneer. He 
went through all the vicissitudes incident 
to the opening of the country for settle- 
ment, and saw as much of the hardships 
and privations as any of the old settlers. 
Bv iiard work and good management his 
affairs have prospered, until today he is 
one of the best fixed farmers in the 
countv, owning live hnndred and sixty 
acres of land, three hundred acres of which 
he has in a fine state of cultivation, and 
on which he raises an abundance of farm 
products. In 1889 he raised seven thou- 
sand two hundred bushels of corn, one 
thousand two hundred bushels of wheat 
and two hundred and forty-eight bushels 
of barley. He has ids barn well stocked 
with a superior grade of stock. His farm 
is furnished with comloitable buildings 
for man and beast, and ornamented with 
beautiful groves, all the result of his own 
])atient laljor and commendable foresight. 
lie is credited with being one of the most 
intelligent and enterprising farmers of 
Harlan county, thoroughly in sympathy 
with all movements looking to the im- 
provement of the condition of the farmer, 
and exceedingly popular, not only among 
his fellow-farmers, but all citizens of his 
county. He is a member of the Alliance 



of Harlan county, is its treasurer, and is 
assessor of Alma township. 

In August, 1860, Mr. Everson married, 
taking to wife Miss Elizabeth Mitzger. 
This excellent lady died December 13, 
1882. after bearing her husband, for more 
than twent3--two yeai's, the com|)anion- 
ship besought with her han<l. Slie left 
surviving her, besides her husband, a 
family of nine children — Lotta, Edwin, 
John, Melissa, Annie, Phiii|), Susie, Wil- 
liam and Lizzie. Mrs. Everson was a 
devoted christian and died in the full 
faith of her i-eligion. She was a member 
of the Lutheran church. She was of Ger- 
man descent, having come from Bavaria 
to New York when only five years old, 
and from there to Cincinnati when 
thirteen. In tiie grasshopper yeai's of 
1874-5-6, in Harlan county — the starving 
3'ears, as they were called by most of the 
old settler.s — she never murmui'ed at the 
hard times, but for the sake of a home 
bore everything patiently and died at the 
age of forty, when pioneering in Nebraska 
was a thing of the past. 



JOSEPH SNYDER, the present treas- 
urer of Harlan c(Uinty, although a 
comparatively young man, is never- 
theless an old Nebraskan, and one of 
the first settlers of Harlan county, being 
a son of John Snyder, an old citizen of 
Mulally township. 

Joseph Snvder is a native of Indiana. 
He was born in Wells cnunty, that state, 
in 1852, and was reared thereto the age 
of fourteen. His parents then moved to 
Nebraska and settled in Nemaha countv. 



HA B LAX COUNTY. 



723 



He lived there till 1872, when he came to 
Harlan county, stopping in Republican 
City. He took a homestead in Mulally 
townsliip and lived on it and in Republi- 
can City till 1878, when he decided to go 
further west and moved tiiat year to 
Hitchcock county, tiiis state. He en- 
gaged in mercantile pursuits in the town 
of Culbertson, Hitchcock count}', for two 
years. Quitting this lie went into stock- 
raising, remaining in tiie county till 1883. 
He then returned to Harlan county and 
settled on his farm. He has been a far- 
mer and stock-raiser almost all his life. 
While in Hitchcock county he was elected 
superintendent of public instruction for 
the county and served in that capacity 
for four years, from 1879 to 1883. In 
November, 18S7, lie was elected treasurer 
of Harlan county, served one term ami 
was re-elected in November, 1889, in which 
election he was opposed by tlie labor union 
and proliibition candidates, but was elected 
by over eight hundred majority over both. 
He is a stanch republican and has always 
been elected on the republican ticket. The 
warmest political contest he lias had was 
at iiis first election. He had two com- 
petitors, a democrat and a prohibitionist. 
The latter took a good many votes he 
otherwise would have got, as the prohibi- 
tionists are between tiiree hundred and 
four hundred strong in the county and 
are drawn largely from the republican 
ranks. He was elected, however, by a 
safe majority. 

Mr. Snyder was quite a lad when he 
came to the state. He has grown up on 
Nebraska soil. He married in Harlan 
countv. May 27, 1883, the lady on whom 
his choice fell being Miss Marv L. Zumro, 
a native of Huntington county, Ind., 



whose jiarents came to Nebraska in 1878 
and settled at Republican City, where 
they now live. To this union have been 
born four children, viz. — Victor, Earnest 
Joseph, Lois and Addie. 

Nebraska and Nebraska people, particu- 
larly that part of it lying along the Re- 
publican valley, Mr. Snyder knows well. 
There is probably no man in Harlan 
county who can take more men bv the 
hand and call them by name than he can. 
Having come to the county in 1872, he is 
himself one of the original old settlers, 
and when the county was not so thickly 
settled as now, he had a good opportunity 
to know all of the old-timers. Havinf 
traveled about a good deal, he has kept 
up his acquaintance with these and has 
formed new ones. He never forgets his 
friends and, fortunately, has not many 
enemies. His hold, therefore, upon the 
peo])le of his county is secure. He is a 
diligent worker, a painstaking, faithful 
public official. He occupies the most re- 
sponsible office in the county and he fully 
realizes the fact. His official bond is $80,- 
000. To execute such a bond would alone 
put to its last test one's friendship and per- 
sonal popularity. But his fellow-citizens 
have known him long and well and have 
every reason to be satisfied with his integ- 
rity as well as with his l)usiness ability, 
In the administration of the affairs of his 
office Mr. Snyder has been fearlessly honest 
and faithfully exact. His books are open 
to the inspection of the public at all times 
and he is ever ready to make any explana- 
tions or render any assistance. Friend 
and stranger alike are treated with the 
utmost courtesy and their wants attended 
to with promptness and dispatch. Honest, 
courteous, neat and careful with his work 



724 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



and attentive to his duties, he is a capable 
and trustworthy public official, and in 
honoring him with office the votei"s of 
Harliui county honor themselves, for in 
so doing they display the wisdom, discrimi- 
nation and sound policy that should char- 
acterize an intelligent and upright people. 



LE. ALLEN, the present sheriff of 
Harlan county, located in the 
_^ county in 1877, and, with possi- 
bly one exception, there is not another 
man in the county who has been more 
frequently honored with office than he 
has. He was elected to a township office 
the same year he settled, and he has had 
somethinij to do with the administration 
of township or count}^ affairs in one offi- 
cial capacity or another almost continu- 
ously since. To complete the record of 
Harlan county's list of public officials, wo 
give an outline of his career. 

L. E. Allen was born in Elmira, N. 
Y., and reared there to the age of four 
teen, when he went into the Union army, 
enlisting in the Seventy-sixth New York 
infantr}' ; but, being too young to bear 
arms, was assigned to duty in the quar- 
termaster's de[)artment, where he served 
during the entire war. His regiment 
made a splendid record for gallant con- 
duct, and it will not be out of place to 
mention here a few general facts connected 
with its history as showing amid what 
scenes and exjieriences the subject of this 
sketch spent some of the earlier years of 
his life. The Seventy-sixth was recruited 
from Cortland and Otsego counties in 
1861 and arrived at Washington in Feb- 



ruary, 1862. It was assigned to Double- 
day's brigade. Hatch's division, and saw 
its first service at the first ilanassas. Be- 
ginning with that engagement it partici- 
pated in fifteen of the bloodiest battles 
fought in Virginia, Pennsylvania and 
Maryland, losing in killed, and wounded 
six hundred and fifty-four, out of an en- 
listment of one thousand four hundred 
and ninety-one men. It sustained its 
greatest casualties at Gettysburg, where 
it lost thirty-two killed, one hundred and 
thirty-two wounded and seventy missing, 
out of twenty-seven officers and three 
hundred and forty-eight men, whom it 
took into the fight. Its losses at the 
Wildei'ness were also heavy, as well as at 
Spotts\'lvania and Petersburg. It served 
out its full term of enlistment, being mus- 
tered out in Januar}', 1865. Those who 
re-enUsted and the recruits were then 
placed in the One Hundred and Seventy- 
sixth New York and served till the sur- 
render. 

At the close of tlie war Mr. Allen 
returned for a short time to Elmira, N. 
Y., but, having been reared in the fam- 
ily of a stranger, liis parents having died 
when he was young, he had no connec- 
tions or associations to liold him tliere, 
and in the fall of 1866 he started West 
to see what there was in store for him in 
the land of plenty and promise. He 
stopped at Indianapolis, Iml., for some- 
thino: over two vears, during which time 
he was variously engaged, and then, in 
the spring of 1869, he took up the line of 
travel again towards the West and pulled 
up in Wyoming Territory, that year, 
where he remained for some time. He 
came, in May, 1875, to the Ilepublican 
valley counties of Nebraska and spent 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



725 



two or three years along the valley and 
across the line in Kansas, and finally re- 
turned, in 1877, and located permanently 
in Harlan county, since which time he 
has continued to live tliere. He took a 
homestead on Sappa creek in the south- 
west part of the county, a beautiful piece 
of land which he improved and wiiere he 
lived till lie sold it twoyears later, buying 
other land in the same vicinit}', on which 
he moved Mr. Allen was engaged in 
farming and sheep and cattle raising for 
some years. He was unfortunate in his 
ventures with sheep and lost heavily, but 
at farming he was successful and contin- 
ued at that till 1887, when he moved into 
Alma to assume the duties of the office of 
sheriff, to which he was that year elected. 
Mr. Allen's first public office in the 
county was justice of the peace of Sappa 
township. In the fall of 1883 he was 
nominated by his neighbors and friends 
in Sappa township, for county commis- 
sioner and township supervisor — the 
former if the commissioner's system contin- 
ued and the latter if the supervisor svstem 
was adopted by the vote at that election. He 
was elected as both, but, the latter system 
being adopted, he qualified as supervisor. 
He served one year as supervisor of Sappa 
townsliip, was then elected chairman ot 
the board, and served as such for the 
three following years. He was elected 
sheriff of the county at the November 
election in 1887, served out his term, and 
was re-elected in November, 1889. He is 
a stanch republican and has always been 
elected on the republican ticket. In 
each of his races for the sheriiT's office 
he had opposition, the race being hotly 
contested the first time. In this race 
were three other candidates besides Mr. 



Allen, who was the regular republican 
nominee. These were Patrick Gibbon, 
the democratic nominee, W. F. Dale, pro- 
hibitionist ; and Charles H. Brown, who ran 
on an independent ticket. Mr. Allen was 
elected by thirty-seven votes. In the 
election of 1889 he was opposed by J. W. 
Edwards, the prohibitionist candidate, 
and W. H. Kellogg, the democratic nomi- 
nee. He was elected over them by about 
one thousand one hundred votes, having 
something of a walk over. 

Mr. Allen is a popular man and de- 
servedly so, for he is a competent business 
man, an honest and faithful officer, and a 
kind and accommodating gentleman. He 
gives to the duties of his office his un- 
divided attention, and it is but stating the 
simple truth to say that his office is ad- 
ministered with wisdom, discretion and 
with faithful exactitude. The majority 
given him at his last election may be 
taken as some evidence of the satisfaction 
with which his official conduct has been 
received by the citizens of the county. 
Could he have been as fortunate in the 
management of his own personal affairs 
as he has been in the management of those 
of the public which have been en- 
trusted to him, he would have been able 
to retire long before this from the public 
service and from active affairs generally. 
It may be, however, that in the manage- 
ment of the public's interests he has been 
more circumspect than in the management 
of his own, for his official conduct has been 
marked not only by the greatest diligence 
but by the most scrupulous care and 
caution. 

Mr. Allen married in February, 1877, 
just prior to taking up his residence in 
Harlan county, so that his wife is also 



726 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



one of the early settlers of the county, 
shared with him his labors in the ear- 
lier years, and is therefore deserving of 
this mention as one of the women 
who braved tiie hardsliips and privations 
incident to those times. At time of her 
marriage she was a resident of Rock 
Island county, 111., her parents having 
moved there from western Pennsylvania 
some years previous. She was born in 
Westmoreland county. Pa., and was 
reared there to young womanhood. She 
bore the maiden name of Anna Brady, 
and was a daughter of James Brady, a 
descendant of an old Pennsylvania pioneer 
family, distinguished in the early annals 
of the country as frontiersmen and Indian 
fighters. 

Mr. Allen is devoted to his home and 
family, being of a quiet turn of mind and 
decidedly domestic tastes. He has a large 
circle of friends, and finds, also, not the 
least of his enjoyments in mingling with 
them. He probably knows as many men 
in Harlan county as any other man in it, 
and has for them all and for the stranger 
who comes his way a pleasant greeting 
and a hearty grasp of the hand. 



ED. L. WILLITS. Two of the 
first settlers in the town of Alma, 
Harlan county, two of its most 
active business men and two who have 
been as largely interested in its general 
growth and prosperity as any other two 
men of the place, are "Wells and Ed. 
L. Willits, father and son. Their business 
relations and interests have been so inti- 
mate that it is impossible to write of them 



separately, and we shall therefore embody 
in this sketch the facts concerning both, 
premising what we shall say of their set- 
tlement in the town and their business 
interest there by some general facts of 
their early histoiw, which will be in keep- 
ing with the purpose of this volume as a 
memorial record. And to make the writ- 
ing as well as the understanding of the 
narrative as easy as possible, we shall 
begin at the beginning. 

The name Willits is of German 
origin — " Pennsjdvania Dutch" is the 
designation given it in the traditions of 
the famil}'. The man who brought the 
name from Pennsylvania to the West was 
Jesse Willits, grandfather of Wells and 
great-grandfather of Ed. L. Willits. He 
moved to central Ohio at an early date 
and settled on the Hocking river, where 
he lived some years ; thence, in 1812, he 
moved into what is now Wayne county, 
Ind.. and thence, in 1833, to western Illi- 
nois, settling within about four miles of 
the Mississippi river. There he died, well 
advanced in years. As these facts show, 
he was of a restless disposition, inclined 
to ramble and kept well on the frontier all 
his life. Like thousands of others who 
started with the great tide of immigration 
that poured through the mountain gorges 
of western Pennsylvania and Virginia 
and spread out about the beginning of 
this century over the rich bottoms of Ohio 
and the fertile prairies of Indiana and Illi- 
nois, he found it hard to take up his per- 
manent residence in one place and tie 
himself down to the uneventful business 
of farming, once having tasted the pleas- 
ures of pioneer life and been fascinated 
with its dangers. He was a typical Amer- 
ican pioneer, such as has passed into our 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



nt 



literature and fiction. His son, however, 
Eli Wiilits, father of Wells Willits, and 
grandfather of Ed. L. Willits, was a man 
of different disposition, although he knew 
much of i)ioneer life and it may be pre- 
sumed had some taste for it. He was 
born on the Hocking river, in Ohio, but 
in exactly what locality can not be told, 
and was I'eared there to the age of eleven 
or twelve, when, as already stated, 
his father moved to Wayne county, Ind. 
There the younger Willits grew to man- 
hood, married and settled down and spent 
his life. The lady whom he married was 
a native of Ohio, being a daughter of one 
of the first settlers of the central part of 
the state and of Welsh extraction. These 
pursued the peaceful paths of agriculture, 
living the life common to their calling, 
being plain, industrious, useful citizens 
and succeeding in a worldly way reason- 
able well, in accordance with their means 
and opportunities. The father died in 
1856, having reached the fii't}' -sixth year 
of his age, and the mother died some 
years later. Among their children was 
Wells Wiilits one of the subjects of this 
sketch. 

Wells Willits was born in Wayne 
count}', Ind., in 1827, and was reared on 
his father's farm to the age of twenty-one, 
when he moved to Mercer county. 111., 
took an academic course in Knox College 
at Galesburg, and then began clerking in 
a store. He clerked till 185-lr, when, with 
what he had saved during this time, he 
was enabled to go into business for himself, 
and accordingly opened a store at New 
Boston, Mercer county, that year. He 
was engaged in the mercantile business at 
that place for twenty-one years, during 
eighteen years of which time he 



carried on a pork-packing establish- 
ment wliich he started, and for 
more than twelve years a milling 
business, which he also started during 
the time. He closed out his interests 
there in 1878 and came West with a view 
of investing and locating. Going to Alma 
in July, 1878, when the town consisted of 
only a house or two, he traded for all the 
vacant lots which had not been given 
away, these being about 275 in number, 
and decided to locate <ind make that his 
home. He took up his ])ermanent resi- 
dence in Alma in December of that year 
and about the same time bought forty 
acres of land lying on the north side of 
the town, which he platted in the spring 
of 1879 and began selling off along with 
those previously purchased in the original 
town site. The town, it will be remem- 
bered, took its start to grow in the spring 
of 1879, and during that and the following 
year, Mr. Willits sold a large part of the 
real estate he had purchased. He took a 
homestead in Harlan county about that 
time and began tradintj considerablv in 
lands, continuing even to the present time. 
In 1881 he took an interest with his son 
in the mercantile business in Alma, becom- 
ing a member of the firm of Willits & 
Co., which interest he still retains. He 
has considerable fanning and stock inter- 
ests in Harlan counts^, and although past 
his sixtieth \'ear still leads an active life, 
personally superintending all his own 
affairs. 

Mr. Willits was married while still a 
resident of Wayne count}', Ind., his wife 
before marriage being Miss Eachel C. 
Lair, a native of Fayette county, Ind. ; 
her parents, being Kentuckians by birtli, 
moved into Indiana soon after the War of 



728 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



1812, leaving the south on account of the 
institution of slavery, which they were 
unwilling to help perpetuate. Of this 
union onl}^ one child now survives — Ed. 
the L., pioneer merchant of Alma. 

Ed. L. Willits was born in New Boston, 
Mercer county, 111., in 1854, was reared in 
his native place, and after finishing his 
primary education went into his father's 
store at the age of eleven. Leaving there 
wiien his fatlier did, he went to Iowa 
and came from there to Nebraska in 1879, 
locating in Alma in March of that year, 
and embarked at once in the mercantile 
business. At first he was alone, but 
shortly afterwards he sold an interest in 
his business to L. B. McManus, now j)resi- 
dent of the First National Bank, which 
interest, after about two years, he bought 
back and then sold to his father. The 
firm is now, and has been for some years, 
Willits & Co., the general supervision and 
practical management of the house and its 
business being entirely in the hands of 
Ed. L. Willits. Willits & Co. are the 
proprietors of the "People's Store," one of 
the old landmarks of the town of Alma, 
and headquarters for everything in the 
line of general merchandise. They have 
sold from this establishment and from the 
one it succeeded, thousands and thousands 
of dollars worth of goods in years gone by 
and tlie full stock of bright new eroods 
wiiich now line their shelves, is evidence 
that there is no falling off in their trade — 
no abatement in the confidence of the 
buying public in their square dealing. 
Willits & Co. are also proprietors of the 
Alma creamer}', a home industry' started 
by them in 1887 and which has been run- 
ning successfully since. 

Ed. L. WiUits was a voung man when 



he came to Nebraska. lie is not an t)ld 
man now, but he was then unmarried, 
having just passed his twentj' -fourth year. 
He married in May, 1882, the lady whom 
he took to wed being Miss Blanche Conk- 
lin, daughter of T. J. Conklin, one of the 
first settlers of Harlan county, coming 
ffom Illinois, near Chicago, where Mrs. 
Willits was born. 

The foregomg facts will serve to show 
what the gentlemen mentioned in this 
sketch iiave done as men of business. It 
remains only to be said that they have 
borne as active a part in the general 
development of their adopted town and 
county as could reasonabl}' be asked at 
their hands, giving up their means and 
lending tlieir own efforts to every enter- 
prise or interest of a commendable sort, 
which has sought favorat their hands. 



GEOEGE McCLELLAN BROWN, 
editor of the Alma Trihiunc, is a 
native of Panora, Iowa, was born 
June 25,1864, was reared in his native place, 
and received an ordinary common-school 
training and entered upon the active 
duties of life as a teacher at the age of 
eighteen. In 1855 he was deputy post- 
master under his father, Daniel Brown, at 
Panora, and in 1887, in partnership with 
his father, he leased the Guthrie Vidette 
at Panora, Iowa, and began his news- 
paper career. In March, 1889, he came 
to Nebraska and the following month 
bought the Alma Trihune, of Alma, Har- 
lan county; in August, 1889, he sold a 
half-interest in the paper to J. H. Moore, 
the firm becoming Brown & Moore, but 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



729 



subsequently bought back Mr. Moore's in- 
terest. ]\rr. Brown is a ]iractical newspaper 
man, familiar with all tlie ins and outs of 
the business, a good scholar, ready writer 
and fluent conversationalist. He possesses 
good taste and discriminating judgment, 
and realizes the responsibilities as well as 
the possibilities of his calling, and he uses 
the power of his position with discretion 
and sound intelligence. Mr. Brown has a 
family, having married in his native place 
and the lady \yhom he selected for his 
life's companion being one whose tastes 
are in harmony with his own and who is 
admirably fitted to bear him the compan- 
ionship he sought with her hand. Mr. 
Brown also has with him as members of 
his household his aged father and mother, 
each now past their three score and ten, to 
whom he is devotedly attached and whose 
declining years he is watching over with 
the tender care and solicitude of an affec- 
tionate son. 

Mr. Brown is giving to the people of 
Alma and Ilarlan county a pa])er worthy 
of their patronage and earnest assistance, 
and it is gratifying to learn that the Tri- 
hane is meeting with the encouragement 
it deserves. It is the official organ of 
Harlan county, has a large and constantly 
increasing circulation ; it has built up a 
job dejiartment which receives a liberal 
patronage and turns out work of superior 
quality. 



ED. J. MOCK was born in Fort 
Wayne, Ind., March 26, 1870, 
and is therefore twenty years of 
age. His life has been nuirked l)y being 
allowed well-to-do advantages. Early in 
life he evinced a liking for literature and 



his school learning showed rapid progres- 
sion. His valedictoi'ian address was de- 
livered April 4, 1888, at the liigh school 
in Leesburg, Ind., and was afterwards 
published in several local jiapers. 

His first venture in amatuer journal- 
ism was a small 2ix3-inch four-page 
paper, known as the AltmHor. After this 
quaint little local paper had been adrift 
half a year an exchange of a similar size 
and nature opened a new desire, a fond- 
ness and a knowledge of other instincts 
than his own in miniature journals. The 
information in this exchange presented 
a fact hitherto unknown — that other 
papers of similar character were in exis- 
tence. A direct correspondence en- 
lightened him to a correct understanding 
of amatuer journalism. The person most 
concerned in disclosing this fact was Harry 
F. Thompson, formerly of Indianapolis. 
From the exchange list of Mr. Thompson, 
Mock soon introduced his i¥b?«'<o?' to the 
members of the different associations and 
to amateur journalists in general. Rapitl 
advancement and improvement soon 
placed his paper among those of a general 
classification. From the first insight Mr. 
Mock desiretl to become a printer of these 
miniature journals, and when opportunity 
at last gave him the pleasure, he equipped 
a medium sized office and hied himself 
unto the far West. From this stand- 
point he published the Monitor in eight- 
page Centufy-m.e form, and it was at once 
recognized as a capable paper. 

He located in Ahna, Nebr., then the 
most influential amateur center in the 
West. Since then he has become ama- 
teurdom's most pretentious publisher. The 
Monitor has been abandoned on account 
of so much work brought about bv the 



730 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



amount of job printing. He does print- 
ing for many prominent amateurs, besides 
placing Our Knight Errant before us as 
a model amateur paper. 

As a professional newspaper man. he is 
proving a success. lie is the leading- 
opinion moulder in his county. Author- 
ity gives him the distinction of being the 
j'oungest editor in the great state of Ne- 
braska, and his Harlan county Times 
compares favorably with the best country 
weeklies of the state. 

Harry C. Mock is a junior partner of 
the firm known as Mock Bros., and as a 
firm in its infancy they are to be congrat- 
ulated on their success. 



JOHX T. PETTEYS is a prominent 
and influential farmer of Antelope 
township, Harlan county, and is a 
native of Xew York, his father, Valen- 
tine Petteys, and his mother, Eliza (Young) 
Petteys, being both natives of the Empire 
State. His jiarents were married in their 
native state and moved to Illinois in 1857, 
where the father lived three years, when 
he returned on a visit to York State and 
died, the mother still surviving and being 
a resident of that state. The father was 
a farmer and passed all his years ' in the 
peaceful pursuit of agriculture. He was 
an industrious, useful citizen, liighlv re- 
spected by all who knew him, and a man 
who discharged his dut}' to his neighbors 
in an earnest and faithful manner. The 
mother is a daughter of Phillip Young, 
who was a native of New Y'ork State, a 
lawyer by profession and a man of exten- 
sive interests and some public note. To 



Valentine and Eliza (Young) Petteys were 
born a family of five children, the subject 
being the eldest, the othei's being — James, 
Saloma J., Stephen P. and Nancy. 

John T. Petteys was born in Oneida 
county, N. Y'., May 3, 1833, and was 
reared on the farm and received a good 
common-school education. In 1858 he 
married Miss Lurana E. Field, a daughter 
of Elihu and Elvira Field, natives of New- 
Hampshire, and in 1861 moved to Illinois 
and located in Henry county. There he 
purchased a farm and was engaged in 
farming for twent3'-four years, coming in 
1885 to Nebraska and locating in Harlan 
county. Here he bought a right to a 
homestead and homesteaded the northeast 
quarter of section 23, township 4, range 
17. When he purchased his homestead 
there had been some breaking done on it, 
but there was no building; yet by industry 
and carefid management he has made it 
one of the best farms in the county. He 
now has a fine house, good barn and gran- 
aries, implement sheds, groves and a 
splendid orchard. He raises mixed cro])s 
and has one hundred and twenty acres 
under cultivation. In addition to his ex- 
tensive farming he has made stock-raising 
a very prominent branch of business, giv- 
ing his attention to horses, graded cattle 
and hogs. To Mr. and Mrs. Petteys have 
been born six children, as foUuws — Frank 
A., Willard A., Isabel, Jennie, Hattie and 
Mina. 

Mr. Petteys is a thorough business man 
and prominent in his community. He 
has tilled a number of local offices, the 
duties of which he has discharged with 
credit to himself and entire satisfaction to 
his neighbors. He has been justice of the 
peace of his township for one term, assessor 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



731 



one term, and is now serving his third 
term as supervisor. In itolitics he is a 
republican, being a warm sujiporter of the 
principles and methods of his part}', is of 
influence in the councils of his party, and 
when occasion demands an efficient worlver 
at the jiolls. He is a member of the Far- 
mers' Alliance of Harlan county and a 
stanch advocate of all measures looking to 
the relief of the farming community. 
Mr. Petteys and his excellent wife are 
both members of the Methodist church 
and zealous workers for the cause of 
christianitv. 



JOSEPH n. HERNDON, farmer, was 
born in Mahaska countj% Iowa, No- 
vember 14, 1844. He is the third of 
a family of six children born to 
George W. and Rhoda (Jones) Herndon, the 
former a native of Kentuck}' and the latter 
a native of North Carolma. His parents 
moved from Kentucky to Indiana and 
thence to Iowa ; remaining there a short 
time, they went back to Indiana. In 1855 
they moved to Missouri, settling in Daviess 
county, where they still live, engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. 

Joseph H., the subject of this sketch, 
moved with his parents to Missouri, there 
grew to manhood, and spent his boyhood 
days attending school and laboring on the 
farm. Upon reaching his majority he was 
marrieil to Miss Amanda E. Palmer, a 
native of Owen count}'. Ind., daughter 
of William and Charlette Palmer, who 
moved to Missouri in 1855. Mr. Palmer 
died while serving in the Union army in 
1865. 

In 1883 Joseph II., our subject, sold his 
farm in Missouri and came to Nebraska, 



locating in Antelope township, Harlan 
county. He homesteaded the northwest 
quarter of section 20, township 4, range 
17, and with steady energj'and pluck pro- 
ceeded to make of it a farm. He has also 
added to his original homestead another 
quarter section by purcluise, making a half 
section of good land, and now has 
two hundred and fifty acres under 
cultivation and raises mixed crops. In 
addition to general farming he has 
quite engaged extensively in dealing in 
stock, and has on his farm at present a 
number of Cl\'desdale horses, graded cat- 
tle and hogs, and has a large frame resi- 
dence, two good barns and a fine orchard. 
Mr. Herndon is a successful farmer, a 
thorough-going business man, and every- 
thing on his place gives evidence of the 
good management that jii'evails there. He , 
has served his township as road supervisor 
for five 3'ears and as school director three 
years. He is a member of the Farmers' 
Alliance of Harlan county. In politics he 
is a republican, and takes an active inter- 
est in the part}'. 

Mr. and Mrs. Herndon have had born 
to them eleven children, eight of whom 
are now living— Rhoda F., George W., 
Clara A., Estella E., Hattie L., Gracie 
Jane, Edward E. and Roy P. 

Mr. Herndon and his estimable wife are 
both members of tiie Baptist church and 
liberal contributors to all charitable pur- 
poses. 



ELIHU FIELD, one of the most 
prominent farmers and pioneers 
f of Harlan county, Nebr., was 
born in New Hampshire March 9, 1816. 
His father. Prentice Field, also a native 



?32 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



of that state, married Maiy A. Mitchell, 
of Haverhill, Mass., and moved to York 
State, where both died in 1S65. Tiieir 
family consisted of eight children, only 
three of whom are now living, viz. — Elihu, 
Frederick M. and Mary N. 

Elihu Field, whose name heads this 
sketch, was reared on the farm and re- 
ceived a good common-school education. 
After reaching his majority he learned 
the blacksmith's trade and folhnved it to 
some extent. He was united in marriage 
to Miss Elvira, a daughter of Lemuel and 
Eachel Scott, of Richmond, N. H. Her 
paternal grandparents were natives of 
New Hampshire and of Scotcii descent. 
From New Hampshire Mr. Field removed 
to New York State, where he resided 
about eighteen years, engaged in the 
lumber business. He went from York 
State to Henry county. 111., at which place 
he remained about seven years, coming 
thence, in 187i, to Nebraska, and settled 
in Harlan county, Antelope township, and 
locating a homestead and timber claim on 
the west half of section 24, township 4, 
range 17 west. He afterwards sold the 
timber claim, yet retaining the homestead. 
He at first built a dug-out, tlien a sod 
house, and lived here about four years be- 
fore bringing his family, all the time im- 
proving and making preparations for their 
coming. He, of course, endured all the 
hardships and privations of pioneer life. 
For about six months he had to haul all 
the water he used a distance of ten miles, 
and all his trading had to be done at 
Kearney, a distance of over thirty miles. 
After four years of toil and patient wait- 
ing his famil}' joined him in his new home. 
When Mr. Field settled here there were 
only a few families in the township, and 



all had come poor and were unable to 
assist one another, consequently each man 
had to dej)end on his own exertions, but 
settlers kept coming until the entire gov- 
ernment land was claimed. Nature had 
done its part in making this one of the 
most beautiful places in the state, and now 
Mr. Field is surroumled with gooil neigh- 
bors, with well improved farms, all in the 
enjoyment of home and comfort. He 
lived in his sod house until 1SS5, when he 
built and moved into the comfortable 
frame where he now lives. He has his 
place well improved, having all the neces- 
saiy outhouses, a good stable, granary and 
groves, has one hundreil and twenty acres 
under cultivation and raises mixed crops, 
and in addition to general farming has 
engaged quite extensively in dealing in 
stock. For the first few years he had his 
crops destroyed by grassho]ipers, but he 
did not let this discourage him; having 
two willing hands and a stout- heart he 
toiled on and has succeeded well, mostly 
raising good crops since. He has now 
reached the ripe old age of seventy-four, 
and is \Qt hearty and full of push and 
does good work on his farm. Mr. Field 
attends strictly to his own business, is 
industrious and economical, and eveiy- 
thing on his place gives evidence of good 
management. No citizen of the county 
commands in a higher degree the confi- 
dence and esteem of his fellow-men. He 
is ever straightforward and honorable, 
and is known as one having the interest of 
the county at heart, and willing to do his 
share in forwarding all projects tending 
to its material or moral advancement. In 
politics he has alwaj's been a stanch 
democrat. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Field have been born 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



733 



two children — Liirana, now wife of J. T. 
Pettis, and Lucretia, who died in New 
Hampshire December 12, 18i3. Mr. Field 
is a member of the Masonic fraternity and 
also of the Farmers' Alliance of Harlan 
county. 



Rf)SS T. AVALKER, farmer, was 
born at Terre Haute, Ind., July 
. 22, 1845. His father was a na- 
tive of Ohio, moved to Indiana and 
resided there several years, engaged 
in farming and stock-raising. He mar- 
ried Miss Mary Eoss, daughter of 
Thomas and Betsey Ross, both natives of 
Ohio. His family consisted of eight chil- 
dren, three of whom are now living, the 
subject being the youngest. The father 
died at Terre Haute, Ind., when our sub- 
ject was only eighteen months of age, and 
the mother returned to Ohio. Thomas 
Ross, the grandfather, was a farmer, a 
public-spir^ted man and very prominent in 
his community. He served three terms in 
the legislature of Ohio, dying in Brown 
county, that state. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on 
a farm and received a common-school edu- 
cation. In 1862, when he was only seven- 
teen years of age, he entered the Union 
arm}', enlisting in Company II, Second 
Ohio heavy artillery. His command 
served with the armies of the southwest, 
mainly the armies of the Cumberland. He 
was in all the battles participated in by 
his coinniaiid, and was mustered out at 
Columbus, Ohio. 

At the close of the war he returned to 



Clermont, Ohio, and in 1868 went to Ver- 
million county, 111., rented a farm and 
farmed one year. In the fall of 1870 he 
married Miss Betty, a daughter of John 
and Easter Norton, of Maine. He then 
returned to Ohio, rented a farm and was 
engaged in farming till 1873. That year 
he came to Nebraska and located in Tur- 
key Creek township, Harlan county, re- 
maining there one year. He then came 
to Antelope township, located a home- 
stead and lived on it four years, then 
traded for a farm on the southwest quar- 
ter of section 26, township 4, range 17, 
where he now lives. When he bought his 
present farm, it had no improvements 
and only thirty-five acres broken, but he 
now has a good residence and all neces- 
sary outbuildings, and has one hundred 
and fifteen acres under cultivation, all 
under fence, and raises mixed cro]is, never 
having a total failure. In addition to 
farming, he has given much time and 
attention to stock raising. When Mr. 
Walker came to the state he iiad only 
$300, but by industry and careful man- 
agement, he now has one of the finest 
farms in Harlan county. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Walker have been born 
eigiit children, viz. — Everett, Roy T., John 
C, Stanley, Zeruah, Betsey, Viola and 
Clara E.; six of whom are now living and 
all at home. 

Mr. Walker has served as assessor of his 
township anil director of his school dis- 
trict, and is also a zealous member of the 
local organization of the Farmers' Alli- 
ance. In politics, he is a republican and 
a warm supporter of the pi'inciples and 
measures of his part}'. He and his excel- 
lent wife and one son are members of the 
Methodist church. 



734 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



JAMES H. CARROLL is of Irish ex- 
traction, his parents both being 
natives of the Emerald Isle. He is 
the fourth of a famih' of twelve chil- 
dren born to Richard and Mary (Clark) 
Carroll. His father came to America in 
1854 and settled in AVisconsin, where he 
continued to live till 1888, coming in that 
year to Nebraska and locating a home- 
stead in Prairie township. Phelps county, 
where he and his wife now live. He is 
known as a thoroughlv upright man and 
a valuable citizen, and both he and his 
wife are highly esteemed for tiieir many 
good traits of character. Mr. and Mrs. 
Carroll are the parents of twelve children, 
ten of whom are now living. 

James H. Carroll, the subject of this 
brief biographical sketch, is a native of 
Wisconsin and was born February 12, 
1860. He was reared on his father's farm 
and received an ordinary common-school 
education, being trained to the habits of 
industry and usefulness common to farm 
life. Before he reached his majority he 
started out to make his way in the world, 
and came in 1880 to this state and settled 
in Harlan county, locating at Orleans. 
He found his first employment as a laborer 
and resided there five years. In 1885 he 
went to Holdrege, where he secured em- 
ployment in the grain business, working 
in an elevator belonging to H. O. Barber. 
In 1888 he moved to Ragan in tlie interest 
of his employer and continued there in 
the grain business for little more than a 
year, when he, in connection with Frank 
W. Stevens, bought out the plant and 
franchise of his employer and embarked 
in business for himself. He has done a 
prosperous business, and his success and 
business methods give promise of a pros- 



perous career. He is a hard worker, and 
all that he has represents the labor of his 
own hands. Of steady habits and strict 
application to his own personal affairs he 
has the sure foundation of a successful 
life. Formerly, Mr. Carroll affiliated 
with the democratic jjart}', but since the 
rise of the liquor question he has cast his 
political foi'tunes with the prohibi- 
tionists, voting and working with them, 
and is zealous in his support of the men 
and measures of their part\\ He believes 
that in the sobriety of the people and the 
purity of home lies the success of all good 
government and the happiness of every 
people. A straightforward, enterprising 
and stirring man, Mr. Carroll is an im- 
]iortant factor in the growth and pros- 
perity of Ragan, and is rightly held in 
'high esteem b}' his fellow-citizens. 



GEORGE C. YAUGHAN, stock- 
dealer and farmer of Antelope 
township, Harlan county, ISTebr., 
was born in Washington county, N. Y., 
September 9, 1855, and is a son of Julius 
and Sarah (Stevens) Vaughan. Julius, 
also a native of the State of New York, 
was in early life a boatman on the Cham- 
plain canal, later became a farmer, and 
died about the j'ear 18C3, leaving a very 
small estate. Leonard Yaughan, father of 
Julius, was a farmer through life in New 
York State. To the union of Julius and 
Sarah Yaughan were born two children — 
G. C. being the elder and Herman the 
younger. Mrs. Sarah Yaughan is a daugh- 
ter of William and Clarissa Stevens, both 
New Yorkers, and the former somewhat 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



735 



of a local politician. She is now residing 
in Nebraska, on a farm adjacent to that of 
her son, George C, having come in 1884, 
and homesteading a quarter section of 
land. Herman Vaughan, subject's brother, 
drifted first to Rutland, Vt., passed a few 
years there as clerk in a hardware store, 
and then went to Boston, and in 1882 was 
transferred by his employers to New York 
cit}' and is still in the employ of the firm. 
George C. Vaughan was about eight 
years of age when he lost his father, and 
since that time has been compelled to take 
care of himself. lie acquired the use of 
tools and followed carpentering in 
New York State until 1878, when he came 
to Nebraska and was first employed by 
George M. Robei'ts, then attorney -general 
of the state and the owner of a ranch near 
Orleans, and on this ranch our subject re- 
mained about six months, when he came 
to Antelope township and homesteaded 
the northeast quarter of section 19, town- 
ship 4, range 17. At that time there were 
no improvements on the place, and Mr. 
Vaughan was compelled to haul water for 
domestic uses four miles, but after awhile 
wells were dug in his neighborhood, from 
which he obtained the needful fluid, and 
in course of time dug a well on his own 
premises. His first dwelling was of sod, 
and soon after he commenced farming, in 
1880-81, his crops were destroyed by the 
drouth, so that, in the latter 3'ear, he was 
obliged to seek employment at Kearney, 
where he was engaged in the post-office 
about a year, when he retuined to his 
farm and has ever since succeeded in rais- 
ing bountiful liarvests. About this time 
the Union Pacific Railroad Company built 
a branch of its road within a mile of his 
place, and the town of Ragan was also 



started, and these facts led to his engaging 
in stock dealing, which he has successfully 
pursued in conjunction with farming. He 
gives especial attention to the improve- 
ment of horses, and has now some high- 
bred fillies, from which he intends to 
breed better stock. His place is well 
supplied and adorned with orchards and 
groves, and his crops are of a mixed char- 
acter, and he is altogether prosperous. 

The marriage of Mr. Vaughan took 
place to Miss Emma Dailey, daughter of 
Warren and Sarah Dailey, who came from 
New York State in 1877 and settled in 
Franklin county, this state, and to this 
union has been born one child, Sarah E., 
a bright little Miss, now aged about nine 
years. Warren Dailey was a blacksmith 
by trade, aad died in Frontier county, 
Nebr., in 1889, in good circumstances. 
Politically, Mr. Vaughan is independent. 



JAMES TERNAHAN is one of the 
representative young business men of 
the town of Ragan, Harlan county, 
Nebr., and is a native of Iowa, having 
been born in Jefferson county, that state, 
July, 1859. He is the second of a family 
of seven children born to John and Ann 
(Paisly) Ternahan, natives of Ireland, but 
now residents of Iowa. His parents came 
to this country many years ago and set- 
tled shortly afterwards where they now 
live. The father in early life was a stone- 
mason, but in more recent years has fol- 
lowed farming. He and his excellent 
wife are industrious, hard-working people 
and have brought their cliildren up to the 



?3fi 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



habits of industry and usefulness common 
to their calling and country. 

The subject of this notice was reared on 
the farm and received only an ordinary 
common school education, being turned 
loose on the world at a conijiaratively 
early age, to make his way at whatever 
his hands might find to do. He came to 
Nebraska in 187S, making his first stop 
at Hastings, where he soon found emplo}'- 
ment as a common laborer in an elevator. 
He went to work with a will, and as an 
evidence of bis determination to build 
himself up and accomplish something, it 
may be stated that he held that one place 
for twelve years, working steadily, saving 
his earnings and establishing himself in 
the confidence and good opinion of his em- 
ployers and the public, generally. In 
1889, Mr. Ternahan went to Ragan, and, 
in connection with others, purchased the 
grain elevator which he now runs, and 
does an extensive business in handling 
grain. He has given his entire time and 
attention to his business, and this is, in 
reality, one of the secrets of his success. 
He is a young man of sound intelligence 
and good business judgment, steady in 
habits and thoroughly upright in all his 
dealings. No man in the community 
where he lives has made more friends in 
the same length of time than he has, and 
no man has demonstrated by his straight- 
forward course that he is better worthy 
of that friendship than he is. 

Mr. Ternahan is a single man, having 
been, as he says, too busy to think about 
marrying. He is a man of pleasant ad- 
dress, kind and accommodating, a firm 
friend and a good fellow in every way. 
He never dabbles in politics, but is a 
stanch demociat, believing thoroughly in 



the principles of his pai'ty, and standing 
by the men and measures of it with a 
lo3'ally that might be expected of a de- 
scendant of a patriotic Celt. 



JOHN HAWKSBY is a prominent 
citizen of the town of Ragan, Ante- 
lope township, Harlan county, Nebr. 
His father, George Hawksby, and 
his mother, Catherine Sharp, were both 
natives of the Emerald Isle, always lived 
there, and there also died. The father 
was a farmer and passed all his years in 
the peaceful pursuit of agriculture, living 
the industrious, useful life common to his 
calling. He died when the subject of 
this notice was only about three years 
old, and but little of his early history, 
therefore, has been preserved. The 
mother survived her husband some ^ears, 
dying in 1832 during the great cholera 
scourge. These were the parents of four 
children, of whom the subject hereof is 
the third in point of age. One sister, 
Mrs. Catherine Elliott, also resides in this 
county, being now well advanced in years. 
Our subject was born November 29, 
1817, in the county of Leitrim, Ireland; 
was reared on a farm until he was about 
fifteen years of age, when he was bound 
an apprentice to the boot and shoe making 
in the town of Manorhamilton, and at 
that trade he worked until he was twenty- 
two years of age, when he went to Dub- 
lin and joined the Metropolitan police 
force, and through the influence of his 
friend. Lord Enniskillen, was taken into 
the office of the chief superintendent, 
where he was employed in the statistical 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



737 



department, and after spending about fif- 
teen years there he resigned and was 
iininediately afterwards appointed station 
master at Dundall\, which position he held 
for about eleven years, when he resigned 
and went to Manchester, England, where 
he secured a place in a large establish- 
ment as book-keeper, which place he held 
till 1875, when his wife died, and, never 
having had any family, he felt lonely in 
the world and struck out for America, 
and spent two j'eai-s with friends in the 
city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, after 
which be joined his sister's family (the 
Elliotts) at Freewater, Harlan county, 
Nebr., and with them he remained until 
1887, when he erected the second build- 
ing that was put up in the new town of 
Ragan, and was appointed post-master, 
which position he still holds, and is much 
respected by the whole community. 



y^LLEN ELLIOTT. Harlan county 
/ \ has not within its borders a more 
J_ \. enterprising, public-spirited or 
more deserving citizen than the subject 
of this sketcii, who is a son of Patrick 
and Catherine (Hawksby) Elliott, natives 
of L'eland. The fatlier came to Nebraska 
in 1875, where he died tlie same year at 
the age of sixty -eight; his wife yet sur- 
vives him-antl is living in this state with 
her son, the subject of this notice, being 
now in her seventy -fifth year. 

Allen Elliott, the subject of this brief 
sketcii, was born in Ireland in June, 184-1. 
He immigrated with his parents to Can- 
ada, in 1848, but soon after moved to the 
State of New York, where he grew to 



manhood. He was reared on a farm and 
has been engaged in agricultural pursuits 
all his life. Wliile in New York he mar- 
ried Miss Georgianna Hall, a native of 
that state, and the same year (1873) he 
moved to Nebraska. Being without 
means he was compelled to stop and seek 
employment. He made his first stop in 
Clay county and remained tiiere one year, 
coming, in 1871, to Harlan county, where 
he has since resided. He, being among 
the first settlers, had his choice of the 
land, consequentl}' he made a good sec- 
tion, both for soil and location. He locat- 
ed a homestead and timber claim on the 
west half of section 14, township 4, range 
17, and after getting his land located and 
filed upon he at once began to make im- 
provements. The first thing he did was 
to build a sod house, in which he lived 
till 1887, when he erected the present 
two-story frame in which he now lives. 
He has since added by purchase another 
half section to his farm, making him a 
full section of land, three hundred and 
fifty acres of which he has under cultiva- 
tion. In addition to his farmin<j he e-ives 
much time and attention to stock-raising, 
having herds of well-graded cattle and 
hogs. His first efi'orts at farming proved 
a failure, his crops being destroyed by 
the grasshoppers and drouths, but since 
that time he has been very successful. 
His crops have been good and for the 
past five years his wheat has averaged 
fully fifteen bushels to the acre. He 
started in with very limited means, not 
being able to buy a team with which to 
begin work on his farm, but bv industry 
and good management he now has one 
of the best farms and is recognized 
as one of the most successful farm- 



738 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



ers in Harlan county. He has most 
of his farm under cultivation, as stated 
above, and has it well supplied with all 
necessary buildings, stock and imple- 
ments, and what he has represents the 
labor of his own hands. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Elliott have been born eight children, as 
follows — Claude, Hall, Willis, George, 
Mary, Georgianna, Edna and Harrison. 

Mr. Elliott has always been identified 
with the growth and development of his 
county. He has filled a number of local 
offices, serving as school treasurer many 
years, as county supervisor two terms, and 
is now a member of the legislature. He 
is also a member of the Farmers' Alliance 
and takes much interest in all matters 
relating to agriculture and stock- growing. 
In politics he is a republican, being a zeal- 
ous supjwrter of the teachings of his 
party. Mr. Elliott is placed among the 
most progressive and enlightened men in 
Antelope townshij), and is highly esteemed 
by all who know him. 



MARTIN V. WILCOX is a well- 
known citizen of Harlan county, 
is a native of New York, was 
born May 11, 1831, and is a son of Ros- 
well and Naoma (Bassett) Wilcox, the 
former a native of Connecticut and the 
latter a native of New York. His mater- 
nal grandfather, Bassett, was a native 
of New York, a Congregational min- 
ister of much note, and was devoted to his 
faith, having established many churches 
and devoted his life to the cause of Chris- 
tianity. 

Our subject, Martin Y. Wilcox, moved 



with his parents to Michigan when only 
two years of age, and there grew to man- 
hood. He married there in 1857, taking 
for a life companion Miss Eliza Osborn, 
daughter of Rev. W. H. Osborn. Mr. 
Wilcox continued to live in Michigan till 
the beginning of the late wai\ when in 
August, 1861, he offered his services to 
his country, enlisting in Company A, 
Eleventh Michigan infantry, and served 
two and a half years. He was then pro- 
moted to lieutotiant in the Fifteenth 
United States colored regiment, and 
served in that regiment two and a 
half years. He participated in a num- 
ber of battles, among them Stone 
river, Chikcamauga, Missionary ridge. 
Lookout mountain and others, and his ser- 
vices were mosth' in the Army of the Cum- 
berland. He was never taken prisoner 
and received only one wound. For a num- 
ber of months he had charge of the Nash- 
ville prison. In 1864, his wife and son 
Henry joined him at Nashville, his wife 
being employed by the chaplain to instruct 
the freedmen. Mr. Wilcox was mustered 
out in April, 1866, having been in the ser- 
vice almost five years. 

The war being over, Mr. Wilcox with 
his family returned to Iowa, where he en- 
gaged in the furniture business and re- 
mained there till 1874. That year he 
came to Nebraska and settled in Antelope 
township, Harlan county. He located a 
homestead on the southwest quarter of 
section 27, townshiji 4, range 17, and also 
a timber claim on the same section, all of 
which he now owns and has well im- 
proved. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox have been born 
three children, as follows — Delia (de- 
ceased) Henry and Frank N. Henry was 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



739 



one of the chief founders of the town of 
Wilcox, which is situated in Kearney 
county. He is a banker, progressive and 
enterprising, and in favor of all good pro- 
jects for the advancement of the county. 
Mr. AVilcox has gone through the tur- 
moils of war, and has suffered the hard- 
ships and privations of pioneer life, but 
has lived through them, has advanced him- 
self to an honorable place among the 
leading men of Harlan countv, and is re- 
garded as one of the best citizens of his 
township, being honored and respected 
by all. He affiliates with the prohibition 
party and is a stanch supporter of its prin- 
ciples. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox are both 
consistent members of the Congregational 
church and liberal contributors to ail 
charitable purposes. They have a pleasant 
home and a family of interesting children. 



MATTHEAV HAWKINSON is a 
jirosperous farmer of Nebraska, 
is a native of Sweden and was 
born in lSi4. He came to America in 
1854 with his parents, with whom he re- 
mained until seventeen years of age, 
when he began farming on his own ac- 
count. In 1876 he came to Nebraska, 
settling in Kearney county, on section 24, 
township 5, range 16 west. His wife 
Nellie (Lewis) Ilawkinson, whom he mar- 
ried in 1866, is also a native of Sweden, 
was born in 1848, and came to America in 
1853, settling in Illinois. To this union 
have been born eleven children, as follows 
— Urias (deceased), Edward, a young man 
now aged about twenty years and a resi- 
dent of Harlan county, having a good 



start in life due to his industry and sound 
business ideas; Eniil U. (deceased), Sarah 
M., Alfred, Martin E., Hattie C, Rosie 
E., Lillie E., Tilda Amanda and Nellie 
Mary. 

Hokey Peterson, the father of Matthew 
Hawkinson, was born in Sweden in 1789 
was a farmer by occujiation and came to 
America in 1854, settling in Illinois. He 
was a good, honest, trustworthy man, an 
active member of the Lutheran church, 
and in 1825 married Ena Moteson, who 
was born in Sweden in 1799. To this 
union were born nine children, in the fol- 
lowing order — Nils, now a farmer in 
Illinois; Ena, now Mrs. Christeferson ; 
Celia, now Mrs. Peterson ; Peter and 
Christine, twins ; Swan, in Kearney, Nebr.; 
Eiic, in Illinois ; Hannah, now Mrs. Holm, 
in Illinois, and Matthew, our subject. 



A 



H. COLE is a well-known citizen, 
throughout southern Nebraska 
being among the first settlers of 
Harlan countj% and having gained con- 
siderable distinction as a buffalo hunter. 
He hunted buffalo when they roamed the 
prairies in herds of many thousands and 
when it was not an uncommon thing to 
drop from twenty-five to fifty at a stand. 
He has watched their numbers grow less 
from 3'ear to year until they have entirely 
disappeared from the territory once known 
as the Great American Desert. A few 
years ago he killed one of a herd found 
near the head of the Republican river in 
Colorado, and estimates that he has killed 
fully one thousand since 1872. Mr. Cole 
has the distinction of being the onlv man 



740 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



in the state, and, with perhaps one or two 
exceptions, the only one in the United 
States, wlio lias a herd of tame buffalo- 
His herd is increasing each year, and he 
has succeeded in raising three half-breeds, 
which are indeed a real curiosity. 

A. H. Cole is a native of New York and 
was born in Putnam county, January 28, 
1838. He is a son of Horace and Betsey 
Cole, both natives of New York. They 
were married in York State and soon 
afterwards removed to Ohio, but returned 
to Putnam count}', N. Y., where he died 
in 1842. The mother of our subject came 
West and died in Wyoming in 1887. The 
boyhood days of A. H. Cole were passed 
on a farm in Ashtabula county, Ohio, 
where he obtained as good a common- 
school education as the times afforded. 
He remained at home farming the old 
homestead till 1864, when he came West, 
locating in Boone county, Iowa. In ISfiS 
he moved to Wyoming, and after shifting 
about for a few years finally located in 
Harlan county, Nebr., in the spring of 
1873. He located a homestead on sections 
7 and 8 in Emerson township and is now 
pleasantly locatetl near the thriving little 
city of Oxford. He built a sod house and 
prepared to live in true pioneer style 
passed safely through the grasshopper 
time, and has lived and prospered until 
he has become one of the well-to-do citi- 
zens of the county. 

Mr. Cole was married November 28, 
1872, the lady of his choice being Miss 
Nancy Dale, a native of Hart county, 
Ky., antl born March 20, 1851. Her par- 
ents are Abraliain and Martha (Master) 
Dale, both natives of Kentucky. They 
settled in Harrison county. Mo., in 1853, 
where they still live. Three children 



grace the household of our subject, namely 
— Jay. born April 24, 1874; Ray, l)orn 
September IS, 1878, and May, born May 
3, 1880. Mr. Cole has three hundred and 
twenty acres of fine land bordering on 
the Republican river, most of which is in 
a high state of cultivation. He is a rejiub- 
lican in politics and a man who stands 
high in the estimation of all who know 
him. 



JD. RENE AH, a resident of Fairfield 
township, Harlan county, Nebr., 
was born in Lynn count}', Iowa, in 
1858. His father, W. T. Reneau, is 
a native of Indiana, born in 1828, and 
moved to Lynn county, Iowa, and thence 
to Nebraska in 1878. In 1856, he mar- 
ried Miss Nancy Harkness, who was born 
in Ohio in 1833, and who bore five chil- 
dren — J. D., our subject ; J. L., at home ; 
Mary E., in Harlan county ; L. E., in 
Chase county, Nebr., and W. A., at home. 
The father of this family is a Master 
Mason and is held in high esteem by all 
who know him. 

J. D. Reneau grew to manhood in iiis 
native county, and from there went to 
Kansas, where he resided five and a half 
years ; thence he went to Iowa, and in 
1879 came to Nebraska, settling on section 
30, township 1, range 20, in Harlan 
county. He has been dependent on his 
own exertions since he was twenty -one, 
and really began his business life with 
nothing. He now owns a good, well- 
stocked farm, and enjoys tlie reputation of 
being a rising young man of sterling 
worth. For some years he has been en- 
gaged in teaching, and his continuing the 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



741 



profession in the same district is sufficient 
evidence of his efficiency. In politics, he 
is a prohibitionist, and lie lias l)een en- 
trusted witii several positions of honor by 
his fellow-townsmen, serving at present as 
county supervisor. 



JOSHUA BEEMAN, one of the old- 
est settlers now living on Spring 
Brook, Harlan county, Nebr., was 
born in Erie county, N. Y., April 2, 
1S49, and is the son of Jesse and Esther 
(Root) Been] an, the former of whom is a 
native of New York, was born in 1807, 
and a farmer by occupation ; the latter, 
also a native of New York, was born in 
the year 1810. There were ten children 
in the family — seven boys and three girls, 
of whom our subject was next to the 
youngest. Joshua lived at home in Erie 
county until twenty-one years of age, 
attending school during the winter and 
laboring on the farm in the summer. At 
this age he began doing for himself and 
moved to Dodge county, Nebr., settling 
twelve miles northwest of Fremont, where 
he jmrchased fort\' acres of railroad land 
and constructed a sixteen b}' twenty foot 
frame dwelling. Here he continued to 
live and cultivate his small farm for a 
period of five and a half years, when, on 
account of a desire to get more land, he 
moved in Ma}', 1876, to Harlan county, 
Nebr., settling on Spring brook and filing 
claim on the northwest quarter of section 
29. He erected a sod house twelve by 
sixteen feet, in which he lived for two 
years, after which he made an addition of 
sod, making it sixteeQ by twenty-four 
feet. The country' at this early day was 
sparsely settled, and the few settlers who 



had come previous to his time were 
located south and east of his claim, along 
the creek and in the bottoms. Tlie coun- 
try teemed with wild antelope, deer and 
occasionally an elk would be seen, though 
by no means plentiful. He had brought 
with him from Dodge county a flock of 
three hundred and seven sheep, but as the 
winter of 1876 was a severe one and he 
could get no feed, they all starved ;ind 
froze to death before spring opened. He 
also lost one of his horses about this time, 
which left him in rather poor circum- 
stances, with but one horse and a feeble 
old cow with no teeth. He traded about 
and finally got another horse, making 
him a team, with which he freighted, off 
and on, for five years to and from Kear- 
ney, a distance of sixty-five miles, thus 
making- a living for his familv. The first 
year he broke eighteen acres of sod and 
put in corn and smaller vegetables, but 
lost all by the grasshoppers, which were 
so numerous that year. At one time, 
being out of food, he went to Long Island 
to mill for flour, and, on account of high 
water, was compelled to swim the stream, 
Prairie Dog creek, above the dam. where 
it was about one hundred feet wide and 
very deep. The first fall his wife traded 
a sheep and lamb for ten bushels of 
potatoes, and a settler living near Repub- 
lican Cit}' gave them three squashes and 
two pumpkins; these, with a few fish Mr 
Beeman was able to catch along the creek, 
furnished the bill of fare for the family 
that winter. Circumstances like the above 
show to some extent at least the disad- 
vantages under which the early settlers 
of Harlan county had to labor in their 
efforts to settle and develop the countr}'. 
Better times came, as they always do 



742 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



after a series of depressing years, crops 
began to thrive, and tlie settlers prospered 
in propoi'tion, until ilr. Beeman lias ac- 
cumulated sufficient competency to enable 
him to live in comparative! \' comfortable 
circumstances the remainder of his life. He 
has a most romantic place for a residence, 
with the creek, lined on both sides by 
large and thrifty trees, wending itscrooked 
way through his yard and between his 
spacious frame residence on the one side 
and his barn and stock j^ards on the other. 
Another attraction, and one that is rarely 
found in Nebraska, is a carp]iond near his 
residence, which teems with the finny 
tribe and is continually supplied with fresh 
water from running springs on the west 
side. 

Mr. Beeman was married August 9, 
1876, to Ithoda Hufton, who was born in 
Lorain county, Ohio, February 7, 1856. 
Their union has been blessed with the 
birth of six children, namely^Esther E. 
(deceased), Earnest, Walter, Lizzie and 
Albert, and one that died in infancy. Po- 
litically, Mr. Beeman is a democrat, but in 
later j'ears he has been more or less inde- 
pendent and is inclined to the views 
adopted by the Farmers' Alliance. He is 
the present superintendent of Lewisbui'g 
township, elected in 1888. He joined the 
Farmers' Alliance April 5, 1890, and has 
since been an active member of that body. 



T 



aiOMAS RUSSELL is a prosper- 
ous farmer and an earh^ settler of 
Harlan county. He was born in 
Tuscarawas county, Ohio, December 21, 
1838, and is the second child in a family of 
fourteen children — seven only of whom 



are now living — born to David and Marga- 
ret (Gorey) Russell. His father was a 
native of the State of Ohio and followed 
farming throughout life, dying at the age 
of sixty-two years. His mother was born 
in Washington county. Pa., and is still 
living and enjo\'ing the fruits of a long 
and well-spent life. 

Thomas, our subject, was reared at 
home on the farm in Ohio, until twenty- 
one 3'ears of age, when he assumed the 
responsibilities of life and soon after, in 
1860, emigrated West and located on a 
farm in Montgomery county, Iowa. Here 
he remained until August 2, 1862, when, 
the war of the rebellion being under full 
headway and the demand for reinforce- 
ments urgent, he responded nobly to the 
call of his countiy for aid, and laying 
aside his implements of husbandry en- 
listed in Company F, Twenty -third Iowa 
regiment, shouldered an army musket 
and was soon on his way to the scene 
of the conflict. He served his country 
faithfully for a period of three years, 
participating in battles at Champion 
Hill, Black River, Milliken's Bend, A^icks- 
burgh ; Fort Esperanza, Tex., and Forts 
Spanish and Blakesly. He was mustered 
out and discharged at IIarrisl)urgh, Tex., 
Jul}' 26,1865. The war being over, he 
returned to Iowa, where he lived and 
farmed until Ma}' 10, 1878, when he came 
to Harlan county, Nebr., and homesteaded 
a quarter section in section 3, township 1, 
range 19, on which be at once constructed 
a log dug-out and began life in the manner 
of early pioneers. The country in the vic- 
inity of his claim was scarcely settled and 
wild deer and antelope still abounded in 
the neighboring hills and draws and along 
the timber-lined ci'eeks, When Mr. Rus- 



HARLAN CO UN 'J Y. 



743 



sell landed in Harlan county, he had a 
team, two cows and but $40 in money, and 
although he sa\r some hard times in the 
]iioneer days of the county, lie has since 
])rospered and is at i)resent in very com- 
fortable circumstances. 

He was married December 24, 1860, to 
Rebecca Martin, a most estimable lady, 
who was born in Maryland, July 2, 1842, 
and is the \'oungest of seven children born 
to Philip Martin and wife, the former a 
native of Germany and a caipenter by 
trade. One child has been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Russell, Charlotta, by name, born 
October 23, 1861. Politically, Mr. Russell 
is a republican. 



IEWIS RIFENBURGH was born 
in Schoharie county, N. Y., July 
^ 1, 1828, and is the son of George 

and Anna (Talardy) Rifenburgh, both 
of whom were born in New York State ; 
the former, a farmer, lived to be eighty- 
four years of age and died in 1887; the 
latter is still living in apparently good 
health. Lewis lived in New York State 
until twenty-tive years of age and resided 
at home, attending school and helping 
about his father's farm until fifteen years 
of age, after which he lived out on a farm 
and began life on his own account. In 
1856 he moved to Oconto count}'. Wis., 
and for four years was engaged in clearing, 
farming and lumbering. lie then moved 
back to New York State, and October 21, 
1861, responded to his country's call and 
enlisted as a private in the war of the 
rebellion in the Sevent^'-sixth New York 
volunteers. He was mustered into the 
United States service at Albany, and was 



soon afterwards on duty up the Potomac 
river and participated in the first battle 
of Petei'sburgh. His regiment was after- 
wards detailed on duty to lay pontoon 
bridges, at which they were engaged until 
July, 1862, when he was taken sick and 
sent to the hospital at Philadelphia and 
then transferred to the convalescent camp 
at Fairfax, Va., and later back to Phila- 
delphia, where he was discharged in 1864. 
He returned home for a few weeks, and 
in August, 1864, re-enlisted for another 
year's service. He was in the second 
battle of Petersburgh and was captured 
and sent to prison at Salisbury, N. C, 
where he was confined for five months 
and ten days, and witnessed the starving 
to death of hundreds of Union soldiers, 
and is thankful for the fact that he 
escaped with life. Food was so scarce that 
he frequently paid as high as $1 for a 
single potato in order to keep from starv- 
ing. The happiest day of his life was the 
day he was put aboard the cars and taken 
to Richmond and exchanged back to the 
Union arm}'. He was weak and emaci- 
ated from want of food and was at once 
sent to the hospital at Baltimore, Md., 
where, after two weeks of careful nursing, 
he was given a furlough and sent home to 
the Albany hospital, where he remained 
until September 4, 1865, when he was dis- 
charged. 

He moved back to Wisconsin and was 
engaged in farming and lumbering there 
until he came to Nebraska, Harlan coun- 
ty, in November, 1873, and homesteaded 
a claim in section 15, township 1, range 
19 west. The country was new, settlei"s 
were few, and wild game, buffalo, elk, 
deer and antelope were plentiful. He 
killed several buffalo the following season 



744 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



and for several years had jilenty of their 
meat for table use. Tiie first few years 
tlie grasshoppers and drought was so dis. 
asterous to the crops that he raised but 
little small grain and comparatively no 
corn at ail, but after 1870 crops flourished 
and an era of jirosperity dawned upon the 
hitherto despondent settlers. In 1880 he 
erected a large saw and grist-mill, now 
standing, at a cost of .«!8,000. For several 
years he was engaged in the mercantile 
business across the state line at Woodruff, 
Kans., but he has recently disposed of that 
and now devotes his time to milling and 
looking after his land, of which he owns 
tliree hundred acres in the creek bottom. 
Politically, he is a republican and was 
treasurer of Harlan countv in 1875 and 
1876. 



HON. GEORGE W. BURTON. 
Hon. George W. Burton, state 
senator from the Twenty-ninth 
senatorial district, president of the First 
National Bank of Orleans, Harlan county, 
and one of the leading men of central 
and southwestern Nebraska, is a native 
of Indiana, having been born near the 
tow^n of Stinesville, Monroe county, that 
state. He is a descendant, however, of 
Southern ancestors, and comes mainly of 
Scotch-Irish stock. His father's people 
were Virginians; his mother's, North Car- 
olinians. His paternal grandfather emi- 
grated from Greenbrier county (now 
West) Virginia, to Kentucky in 1783 and 
settled in what is now Bath county, and 
there lived till 1819, when he moved 
across the Ohio river and settled in Indi- 



ana, where he died. Mr. Burton's father, 
Henry W. Burton, was born near the 
present town of Bethel, Bath county, 
Ky., and was taken when a child in 1819 
to Indiana. He is still living, being a 
resident of Bird city, Kans., and well 
advanced in years. He has been a farmer 
all his years and has led the plain and 
uneventful life common to his calling. Mr. 
Burton's mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Martha McDaniel, was born in 
the town of Statesville, Iredell count}', 
N. C, and was taken Avhen a child by 
her parents to Bell brook, Ohio, and after- 
wards to Spencer, Owen county, Ind., 
whei'e she was mainl}' reared and where 
she met and was married to Henry W. 
Burton. She died in 1850 at Goodenow, 
Will county, 111., leaving five children, of 
whom the subject of this sketch is the 
youngest. The others were — John Mc- 
Daniel Burton, now proprietor of the 
Rawlins County Bank, of Atwood, Kans.; 
Miss Mar}' F. Burton, assistant cashier of 
the First National Bank of Orleans. Har- 
lan county, Nebr., and Reuben Henry 
Burton, who died in the United States 
service during the late war as a member 
of Com]iany D, Fort3'-second Illinois 
volunteer infantry ; Martha, who died in 
1856, at the early age of six years. 

George W. Burton was born December 
20, 1847, in Monroe county, Ind., and was 
taken, two years later, to Goodenow, 
Will county, 111., and in 1855 to Waldron, 
Kankakee county, that state, where he 
was brought up on his father's farm. At 
the age of sixteen he enlisted in the 
Union army, first entering Company G, 
One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Illinois, 
and afterwards Company A, One Hun- 
dred and Fifty -sixth Illinois. He served 




GEO, W. BURTON. 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



747 



in these two regiments till the close of 
the war, and tlien returned home, where, 
after a few years spent on tiie farm and 
in local schools, he prepared himself for 
college, and entei'ing Asbury (now De 
Pauw) Universit\% of Greencastle, Ind., 
he gradmited in 1871. In April, 1872, he 
started "West, coming to Nebraska. Pie 
was for some time United States deput}' 
surveyor, engaged in surveying govern- 
ment land on the frontier in Nebraska 
and Dakota. He studied law in the law 
department of the Iowa State University, 
and located as an attorney in October, 
1875, at the town of Wahoo, Saunders 
county, Nebr., where he was successfully 
engaged till February. 1880. He then 
removed to Orleans, Harlan county, and 
there established the Harlan County Bank, 
of which he was sole proprietor until 
May, 1883, when he sold an interest to 
ilr. A. E. Harvey, who is still associated 
witii him in business. In May, 1885, he 
organized the First National Rank of 
Orleans, of which he is pi-esident. He 
resided on his farm adjoining Orleans 
and is one of the largest farmers in Har- 
lan county. He has been largely engaged 
in the live stock business, and owns sev- 
eral thousand acres of land in Harlan and 
adjoining counties. Since locating at Or- 
leans his lirm have lent over $2,500,000 
of Eastern funds on approved real est.ate 
in southwestern Nebraska ami north- 
western Kansas. 

In 188i Mr. Burton was a delegate to 
the Bepublican National Convention at 
Chicago. In 1887 he was chairman of 
the Republican State Central Committee, 
and in November, 1888, he was elected 
state senator for the twent\'-ninth sena- 
torial district, composed of the counties 
of Kearne\', Phelps and Harlan. 



Mr. Burton has traveled extensively in 
our own country and abroad. He is a 
student of men as well as of books. He 
is a man of quiet tastes and the most un- 
obtrusive habits. The public positions 
which he has held he has been called to 
because of his recognized fitness for them, 
lie has never sought office to gratify j)er- 
sonal ambition. Indeed, he is, and prefers 
to be known as, a man of business. 

Mr. Burton married, November 26, 
1885, Miss Alma Ilolman, of ludianapohs, 
Ind. His wife is a daughter of William 
Holman, formerly of Indiana, now of 
Minneapolis, Minn. She was born and 
reared in Noblesville, Ind. She is a grad- 
uate of De Pauw University, and has 
spent several years abroad. Her training 
has fitted her to bear her husband the 
true companionship which every man 
seeks in matrimony, entering actively as 
she does into all his business pursuits and 
diversions, and rendering him efficient aid 
in the practical management of all his 
affairs. Two children have been sent to 
the care and guardianship of this couple, 
whom they have named George Wm., Jr., 
and Martha. 

Mr. Burton resides on his farm of nearly 
two thousand acres, adjoining Oi'leans, in 
sight of his bank, half in cultivation, 
balance in pasture, through which runs 
Flag ci'eek for nearly two miles. The 
stream never runs dry. Standing in 
his observatory on top of his house he 
can see up and down the Republican val- 
ley. The bluffs can be seen beyond Re- 
publican city, twelve miles east. Oxford 
can be seen thirteen miles northwest, and 
Furnas county can be seen up the Sappa 
valley, ten miles west. The depth of soil 
is almost inexhaustible. 



748 



HARLAX COUNTY. 



ELIAS FEEAR, one of the early 
settlers of Mulallj township, Har- 
lan county, Nebr., was born in 
Warren county. Pa., in ISiO. His father, 
Simeon Frear, ^vas a native of New York, 
born in 1798. Thence he moved to Penn- 
sylvania, where he engaged in lumbering, 
and through good management and hard 
work became immensely wealthy. He 
owned three farms, comprising one thou- 
sand one hundred acres in all, and valued 
at S>^0,000; he had also a controlling in- 
terest in wliat was known as the " Pitts- 
burgh & Warren Turnpike." He served 
through the War of 1812 from beginning 
to end and was in every sense a true 
American. He was a very active member 
of the Presbyterian church, but, neverthe- 
less, was genial, social and jovial, and was 
highlj' respected by the people of his 
neighborhood. His wife, Maria (DeWitt) 
Frear, was born in New York State in 
1797, and was likewise a devoted member 
of the Presbyterian church. She bore her 
husband eleven children, as follows — 
Lear (deceased), DeWitt, Catherine, 
John, Cornelius, Stephen, Eachel, Baker 
(deceased), Lawrence, Diana (deceased), 
and Elias, the subject of this sketch. 

Elias Frear was reared a tanner, which 
trade he followed until 1862, when he en- 
listed in Company I, Fourteenth Penn- 
sylvania cavalry. He took part in tlie 
engagement at Gettysburg, Winchester, 
Fisher's Hill and Salem, having had his 
shoulder dislocated while with Sheridan 
on his ride from Winchester to Fisher's 
Hill. He was mustered out at Alexan- 
dria, Va., in 1865, and returned to War- 
ren county. Pa., where he worked at 
lumbering until he came to Nebraska in 
1874. Here he settled on section 19, 



township 2, range 17, Harlan county. He 
then had about $1,000, but is now the 
owner of half a section of land, two hun- 
dred acres of which are under cultivation, 
and he has, besides, money at interest. 
When he came here he found the people 
in a rather destitute condition, but many of 
them are now wealthy. He had to go forty 
miles to mill, and in 1875 had to go fifty 
miles for seed potatoes ; but Mr. Frear 
had been dependent on his own resources 
since eleven years of age, and was equal 
to the emergencj'. 

In 1862, Mr. Frear married Miss Efiza 
McKee, a native of IVLissachusetts, born 
in 1843. Three children have been born 
to this union, namely — Charles, George 
K., and Melviu G., the latter having died 
in infancy. Mr. Frear is a devout Meth- 
odist, was a class leader and superintend- 
ent for eight years, and was largely in- 
strumental in erecting the Scott Hill 
church in Pennsylvania. In politics he is 
a prohibitionist. 



RE. PATE. The official position 
whicli one occupies, however un- 
important, is always some evi- 
dence of his character as well as a tribute 
to his honesty and ability. This is so be- 
cause a man will not suffer himself to be 
thrust into a position tliat is wholly dis- 
tasteful to him and for M'liich he has not 
the slightest qualification, nor is one's 
fellow-citizens at all likely to do such a 
thing. Tiie men who plod, who are capa- 
ble of hard work and great endurance, 
who can do what others plan, who are 
steady in their habits, jn'ompt at their 
posts, clean and neat in the mechanical 



HARLAX COUXTY. 



W.) 



execution of their work, always fill the 
clerical positions. Men of clear heads, 
strong wills, keen insight and great activ- 
ity are usually to be found in offices 
where the duties are chiefly executive. 
And especially are these distinctions ob- 
sei'ved in this live, progressive Western 
country, where the prosperity of a town 
or community depends so largely upon 
the intelligence and executive ability of 
the man or men who aie placed in execu- 
tive positions. 

R. R. Pate is the official head of the en- 
terprising town of Orleans, Harlan county. 
He is an Indianian by birth, a descendant 
of two eavh' settled families of the "Hoo- 
sier" State, and was born in Dearborn 
county. His father, John Pate, was also 
a native of that county and lived always 
in that and in the county of Ri])ley adjoin- 
ing. He was an extensive stock man and 
cattle shipper, led an active, useful and 
successful life, and died where he had 
spent the most of his maturer years, in 
Ripley county, in 1874, having passed his 
forty-eighth year. Mr. Pate's mother, 
who bore the maiden name of Susannah 
Jarvis, was born and reared in Riple\' 
county and died there in January, 1SS4-, 
at the age of fifty-eight. Besides the sub- 
ject of this sketch, John and Susannah 
Pate were the parents of six otliei' chil- 
dren, all of whom became grown and are 
now living and settled off in life. These are 
Jeremiah M., who is a I'esident of Ripley 
county, Ind.; James E., of Harlan county, 
Nebr.; John R., of Furnas county, Nebr.; 
Virginia P., wife of John K. Arford, of 
Furnas county, Nebr.; Marvin L., wife of 
W. R. Wycoff, of Del Norte, Colo., and 
Mrs. Mattie McGee, widow of James A. 
McGee, of Orleans, Harlan county, Xebr. 



Randell R., who is the third of the 
family of children alluded to, and who is 
the subject of this notice, was born Febru- 
ary, 1851, and was reared in his native 
county. He received an ordinary common- 
school training, working on his father's 
farm and going to school during the win- 
ter months. Taking kindly to books, he 
decided to have an education, and as soon 
as he could conveniently do so he sat 
about in the usual way to secure it : that 
is by teaching district schools and with 
the means so obtained paying his way 
through college. After completing his 
education Mr. Pate taught several terms, 
but finally abandoned school-room work 
and entered the mercantile business at 
Center Grove, Jefferson county, Ind. He 
left that county in the fall of 1878 and 
came to Nebraska, settling in Spring 
Grove township, Furnas county, where he 
took a homestead. Mr. Pate was a resi- 
dent of Furnas county for five years and a 
half, moving in the spring of ISSi to Or- 
leans, Harlan county, where he now re- 
sides. During the first two years of his 
residence in Orleans he was engaged in 
the coal business. Closing this out he 
went into real estate, loans and insurance, 
at which he is now engaged. He has 
served as justice of Orleans precinct for a 
number of terms, holding that office now; 
he has been mayor of the town of Orleans 
for two years past. Mr. Pate is a plain, 
straightforward, matter-of-fact business 
man, and is progressive in his views and 
liberal in his methods. He is for what- 
ever is for the good of his community and 
lends a helping hanil as far as lies in his 
power. 

Mr. Pate was married in Jefferson 
county, Ind., in October, 1874, the lady 



750 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



on whom his choice fell being Miss Ellen 
E. Buchanan, a native of that county. 

This union has been blessed with five 
children, four of whom are living, 
namely— Nellie, Walter, Merle, Holman. 
Evie died September, 1886, at three years 
of age. 

Personally, Mr. Pate is a pleasant gen- 
tleman. He is deservedly popular with 
his fellow-citizens. 



DE. W. H. BANWELL was born in 
the town of Ashtabula, Ashta- 
bula county, Ohio, September 10, 
1832, and is the only child born to Plenry 
and Hannah (Castle) Banwell, natives 
of North Hamptonshire, England. His 
parents came of English stock from 
time immemorial. His father was a silk- 
stocking weaver and his mother a lace- 
maker, and belonged to the sturdy, in- 
dustrious and useful class of their coun- 
try. They immigrated to America in 
1831, not long after their marriage, and 
settled in Ashtabula county, Ohio, where 
the father died in 1834 at the age of forty. 
The mother struggled on as best she 
could in a new country and reared her 
son, giving him as good education as her 
means and opportunities would permit. 
In 1857 they moved to Clark count3^ Ohio, 
and the son that year began reading medi- 
cine under Dr. James S. Hazzard, having 
decided to adopt medicine as his profes- 
sion. His progress in his studies was 
impeded by his lack of means, he having 
to do like most young men who make 
their way alone in the world : carry their 
studies along hand-in-hand with their 
labors. The war put a sudden end to his 



reading, for he promptly obeyed the call 
for volunteers, enlisting on April 23, 1861, 
at Springfield, Ohio, in Company E, Six- 
teenth Ohio volunteer infanti-y. After 
a service of four months he was dis- 
charged, but soon after opened a recruit- 
ing office at Springfield, Ohio, and assisted 
in organizing the Forty-fourth Ohio in- 
fantry', commanded by Col. S. A. Gilbert, 
enlisting himself for three years. He was 
soon elected second lieutenant of his com- 
pany, afterwards promoted to first lieu- 
tenant, and still subsequently to captain. 
He served the three years out, and at the 
end of that time was appointed to a posi- 
tion in the United States detective service, 
at Nashville, Tenn. He held this position 
till March 1, 1866, when he quit the public 
service and returned to Sjiringfield, Ohio, 
and set about again to finish his education 
and enter upon the practice of his profes- 
sion. AVhile in the detective service he 
was instrumental in the capture of and in 
bringing to trial the noted guerrilla chief. 
Champ. Ferguson, who was subsequently 
sentenced to death by a court-marlial for 
murder, and hanged. It was proved on 
his trial that Ferguson had killed over one 
hundred Union men with his own hand. 

Di\ Banwell's two half-brothers, 
George C. and Henry Stevens, were also 
in the army. George C. was a member of 
the same company with the Doctor, and 
Henry was captain in the One Hundred 
and Tenth Ohio, losing his life in battle 
April 2, 1865. 

November 14, 1867, he married Miss 
Lucina E. Sprague, daughter of Darius 
Sprague, a prominent farmer of Clarke 
county, Ohio. He grad uated from the Cin- 
cinnati College of Medicine and Surgery in 
June, 1870, and located at once in Clarke 



HARLAN COUNTY 



roi 



county, Ohio, to practice his profession. 
He was actively engageil in the practice 
there till 1883, when, on account of ill- 
health he was compelled to reliiupiish his 
calling and tr\' a ciiange of location. He 
moved to Nebraska that year and settled 
at Orleans, Harlan county, where he soon 
afterwards opened a furniture store, and 
has there since i-esided, continuing in that 
business. He has built up a good trade in 
his line, and has an establishment which is 
a credit to his town and a monument to 
his industry and attention to business. It 
was his purpose on embarking in the 
mercantile business to give up the practice 
of his profession entirely, but this he has 
been unable to do. Old friends and those 
who know of his knowledge and skill as a 
physician still press him into service. He 
is also a member of the United States Pen- 
sion Examining Board, resident surgeon 
of the Burlington & Missouri River Rail- 
road Company, and is frequently called in 
consultation with local physicians. He 
keeps up his interest in the literature of 
the profession and contributes occasionally 
to the journals. During his residence in 
Ohio he was a me;nber of the county and 
state medical societies, and took part in 
their meetings and discussions. He is a 
zealous member of the benevolent orders, 
and his charitable impulses take the prac- 
tical turn inculcated by these. Having no 
taste for politics, he has held but few public 
offices, yet takes an active interest in 
public questions, is well posted on matters 
of general concern, and has affiliated with 
the republican party since its organization, 
being a stanch advocate of its principles 
and methods in dealing with state and 
national questions. He and his estimable 
wife are both members of the Methodist 



church and liberal contributors to all 
charitable pui'poses. They have an in- 
teresting family of children, tiiree in num- 
ber, around whom now cluster the chief 
hopes and ambitions of their lives. These 
are two daughters and one son, the 
youngest in his fourteenth year. The 
oldest daughter. Miss Jessie Banwell, is 
assistant principal of the high-school at 
Alma, Harlan county; the other two — 
a daughter, Ollie, and a son, Hayes — are 
still in school. To his family Dr. Banwell 
is particularly devoted, and the names of 
his parents he holds in the tenderest re- 
membrance. 



GW. COOK, the subject of this 
sketch, is a merchant of Orleans, 
Harlan county, Nebr., and was 
born in Susquehanna county. Pa., in 
June, 1846. He is the elder of two sons, 
now living, born to Leonard and Betsie 
Cook, both natives of Pennsylvania, the 
other son being Almond B., now a resident 
of Carbondale, Pa. The father died in 
his native county of Susquehanna, Pa., 
when the subject of this sketch was but 
ten years of age, and the mother, who 
bore the maiden name of Gellatt, being a 
daughter of Collin CTcllatt, died also in 
Susquehanna county in 18G0, after which 
sad events our subject was compelled to 
dependupon his own efforts foraliveliliood. 
At the earl}' age of fifteen he entered the 
United States army in the fall of 1861, 
enlisting in Company A, Fifty sixth Penn- 
sj'lvania infantry, and after a service of 
three months was discharged for disabil- 
ities. Returning home he remained there 



70'^ 



HARLAN COUNTY 



until tlie summer of 1S63, when he again 
enlisted in the arm\', entering Com panj' H, 
One Hundretl and Forty-fourth New York 
infantry. Ilis regiment was placed in 
Hatch's division, department of South 
Carolina, and saw the most of its service 
along the South Carolina coast. It 
sustained its heaviest losses at John's 
Island, James Island, siege of Wagner, 
Deveraux Neck and Honey Hill, its total 
loss being 217, most of which occuri'ed in 
the last-named engagement. 

"When the war was over, Mr. Cook re- 
turned to Susquehanna county, Pa., where, 
in September, 1866, he married Miss Alma 
L. Steenback, daughter of J. B. Steenback 
of that county, his wife being a native of 
Susquehanna county and a neighbor girl 
whom he had known from childhood. 
Soon after his marriage, Mr. Cook began 
farming, which vocation he followed for 
about a year, when he engaged in the 
lumbering business as an employe of 
Bennett & Co., of Susquehanna county, 
at which he continued for about two j'ears. 
After this he worked as a stone-mason 
until coming West. In this section of the 
country he first located in Shelby county, 
la., where for a year he was agtiin engaged 
in farming. Thence he came to Adams 
county, Nebr., but later took up a home- 
stead in Furnas county, this state, and 
then returned to Adams county, where for 
another year he engaged in farming. His 
next move was to Arapahoe, Furnas 
county, Nebr., where he worked in a liv- 
ery-stable for six months, at $20 per 
month, on which sum he was expected to 
board himself and wife and two children ; 
but this brave lady, seeing her husband's 
earnings were not sufficient to make both 
ends meet, proved herself to be worthy 



j by taking in washing and sewing and thus 
I assisted in meeting the family expenses. 
1 From Arapahoe, Mr. Cook moved to Cam- 
bridge, Furnas county, where he conducted 
the Cambridge Ilouse, a hotel which for a 
I 3'ear met with popular favor under the 
i management of its genial landlord. From 
Cambridge he came to Orleans, Harlan 
county, and for a year was landlord of the 
Orleans House, now known as the Gard- 
ner House; next he returned to Cambridge 
and resumed the proprietorship of the 
Cambridge House, but six months later 
came back to Orleans (in 1887) and en- 
iragedinthe confectionery business with 
a capital of $100, and this business he 
has raised to its present proportions, carry- 
ing a stock that invoices S-1,0U0, and gain- 
ing trade every day. Eecently Mr. Cook 
has taken into partnership Mr. M. T. 
Stowell, the fii-m name being Cook & 
Stowell, and each holds a half-mterest in 
the business. For the successful ])ursuit 
of the mercantile business Mr. Cook is 
well qualified. He is a careful, conserv- 
ative man, and is attentive to business 
and watchful of the public wants. As a 
citizen, he is progressive and public-spir- 
ited. He takes hold of local enterprises 
with a will and helps to push them as 
vigorous!}' as he does his own affairs. He 
has never been an aspirant for public 
honors, but has filled the usual number of 
town and township offices such as all good 
citizens are expected to fill when called 
on. 

Mr. Cook is a member of Whitehead 
Post, No. 114, G. A. K., Orleans, having 
been a member of the G. A. E. ever since 
1867, and has done as much as any man 
to build up the organization. When the 
fact is recalled that Mr. Cook began the 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



753 



battle of life when a mere lad, his industry 
and tact in business will be appreciated 
for all it is worth, and when it is further 
added that, after ari-iving in Nebraska 
from Iowa, with onl}' a pony team and $7 
in cash, which latter was taken to file a 
homestead claim, still more credit will be 
awarded him. 



HT. FERGUSON was one of 
the first men to engage in busi- 
ness in Orleans, Harlan county. 
He came to Orleans in March, 1879, began 
business there at that date and has been 
actively at it since. He came from 
Osceola, Iowa, but is a native of New 
York. He was born in the town of 
Owego, Tioga county. N. Y., January 13, 
18-15. He comes of New York par- 
entage, his father, Hiram Ferguson, 
being a native of New York city 
and his mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Rachel Stedman, being a native 
of Tioga county. He is the second of a 
family of four children who reached 
maturity, the others being Albert, now a 
resident of Dixon, III.; Arazi M., a resi- 
dent of Elmwood, Nebr., and Hannah, 
wife of Clifton Brown, of Freetown Cor- 
ners, Courtland county, N. Y. Mr. Fer- 
guson's father died in New York State 
in 1853, in middle life. He was a manu. 
facturer, a man who was reasonably suc- 
cessful in accordance with his means and 
opportunities. Mr. Ferguson s mother is 
still living. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
in his native ])lace to the age of ten, when 
he was taken to Dixon, 111., by his parents, 
and there grew up to manhood. He 



I'eceived an ordinary common-school 
training and entered the Union army at 
the age of eighteen, enlisting in the faUof 
1803. He enlisted in Battery F, First 
Illinois light artiller^^ and served in the 
Fifteenth (Logan's) army crops. Entering 
the Atlanta campaign in the fall of 18(53, 
he was in all the engagements down to 
Jonesboro, Ga. From that place his, 
with nine other batteries, was sent back 
to Nashville to hold that point in antici- 
pation of Hood's raid into Tennessee, and 
was in the fight at Nashville and remained 
there for some time after the dis]iersion 
of Hood's forces. He was mustered out 
at Chicago in July, 1865, and returned to 
his home in Dixon, 111. He went to Iowa 
in 1870, settling in Osceola, where, after 
engaging in other pursuits for some time, 
he engaged in the drug business, follow- 
ing it successful!}' for some years. During 
his residence there he married on May 31, 
1876, Miss Sadie Glasser, then a resident of 
Osceola, but a native of Pennsj'lvania and 
reared in Illinois. Coming to Nebraska 
in March, 1879, and settling in Orleans, he 
engaged a month later in the hai'dsvare 
business as a member of the firm of H. C. 
AVilliams & Co. After a year and a half 
he sold his interest to A. M. Barker and 
purchased of Manning Bros, a stock of 
drugs and embarked in this line. He has 
conducted a drug and book-store since that 
date and now has the best equipped es- 
tablishment of the kind in the town of 
Orleans. In connection with his drug 
and book tratle, Mr. Ferguson has been 
conducting a loan and insurance business 
for some j'ears, operating on his own 
funds and meeting with marked success. 
Mr. Ferguson is a trained business man 
and has made the pursuit of his own per- 



754 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



sonal concerns the exclusive object of his 
life. He has never held public office nor 
dabbled in politics. Being a man of broad 
views and generous impulses, he has taken 
considerable interest in the liberal frater- 
nities and his feelings for his kind have 
taken the practical turn inculcated by 
these associations. 



JUDGE LEWIS H. KENT, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, is a pioneer set- 
tler of Harlan county, a leading 
business man of the town of Orleans, 
and one of the best known citizens in the 
Republican valley. Coming to Nebraska 
when a 3'oung man, fresh from his books, 
ambitious, full of enthusiasm and with a 
boundless confidence in the future of the 
country, he threw himself at once into 
the current of events, and the part he has 
taken in the development of the state of 
his adoption is well attested by the mani- 
fold interests with which his name is 
associated as well as by the esteem in 
which he is held by those who know of 
him and his labors. Judge Kent's bio- 
graphy can not fail to interest the readers 
of this volume, and to many young men 
who are just starting on the road over 
which he has come thus far so successfully 
it will afford matter for encouragement. 

Judge Kent is a descendant of the New 
Jersey family of Kents, there being, ac- 
cording to tradition, two branches of the 
family — one in New York and one in 
New Jersey, originating from brothers, 
natives of England, who settled in this 
country in colonial times. His father, 
John Kent, was born in New Jersey in 
1816, moved West when a young man and 



settled in Illinois, where he has since 
lived, being a resident now of the town of 
Morrison. He has spent his life in the 
peaceful pui-suit of agriculture, living the 
steady, sober, industrious, useful life com- 
mon to his calling. 

Judge Kent's mother was a native of 
New York State. She was born in 1818 
and died at Morrison, 111., in 1876. She 
bore the maiden name of Mary Jeffries. 
She was a pious, good woman, who, like 
all good mothers, centered her love and her 
affections on her home and famih\ 

Judge Kent is the fifth of a family of 
six children. He was born in the town 
of Morrison, Whiteside county. 111., June 
11, 1854. He was reared on his father's 
farm near that place, and received his 
preliminary education in the district 
schools of Whiteside county. He took a 
collegiate course in Fulton College at 
Fulton, III., graduating in 1871. He read 
law with Frank Ramsey at Morrison, 111., 
and spent some time acquainting himself 
with the detail of office work and in get- 
ting something of a practical knowledge 
of the preparation and management of 
cases. Entering the law department of 
the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, 
he graduated from there in 187(3 and 
came at once to Nebraska, settling in 
Nebraska City, Otoe county, for the prac- 
tice of his profession. A year later he 
moved to Orleans, Harlan county, which 
he decided to make his future home and 
where he has since lived. It is hardly 
necessarv to say that the town of Orleans 
was a mere trading point at that time. 
The traditional dug-out with its roof of 
sod rose here and there over the cheerless 
prairie, while the more pretentious frame 
"shack" had not made its appearance 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



755 



except ill tlie few straggling towns. "With 
a keen .ap|)reciation of his advantages and 
unbounded confidence in tlie future of 
the country, lie set about to acquire as 
much hind as possible while it was clieap. 
He also practiced his profession in the 
local courts and before the United States 
land office, then at Bloomington, in Frank- 
lin county. In 1879 he was elected judge 
of the Harlan county court, and was re- 
elected two terms, serving till 1885. In 
February, 1885, he started the Bank of 
Orleans, with which he is still connected, 
and wliich he practically controls. In 
June, 1889, lie assisted in organizing the 
Orleans Flour and Oatmeal Milling Com- 
pany, taking a large share of the stock 
and becoming secretary and treasurer. 
He has been a member of the school 
board of the town of Orleans for years, 
and has taken an active interest not onl}' 
m school matters but in all matters of 
public concern. Judge Kent is a hard 
worker. He believes in the gospel of 
labor — the philosophy of things done — 
and he has brought to the discharge of 
his duties as a citizen and as a public 
official the same direct and busmess-like 
methods which he has practiced in the 
management of his own affairs. His 
support of any enterprise is a guarantee 
of its success. Besides his other interests 
he owns several thousand acres of land 
lying in the Republican valley, and is 
actively identified with the farming and 
stock interests of his section. And this 
has all been made in the last twelve or 
fourteen years. Hard work and good 
management are the secret of it all. 

Judge Kent married in 1883, the lady 
whom he selected for a life partner being 
Miss Eva L. Coats, of Boscobel, Grant 



county, Wis. In his pleasant home in 
Orleans he finds relaxation from his 
many labors and responsibilities and he is 
never so happy as when surrounded l)y 
his many friends, by whom he is greatly 
respected and admired. 



GEORGE F. GEHLEY, a farmer 
and early settler of Orleans 
township, Harlan county, Nebr., 
was born in Prussia in 1845. His father, 
Frank Gehley, also a native of Prussia, 
filled out his allotted time in the army of 
his native country, and while in the service 
received a medal for marksmanship. He 
came to America in 1856, passed two or 
three years in Mississippi, and in 1859 
moved to Lee county, Iowa. In 1871 he 
came to Nebraska and settled on his pre- 
sent farm on section 25, township 3, range 
20. In 1830 he married Elizabeth Harlan, 
who was born in 1810, and to this mar- 
riage were born no less than thirteen 
children, as follows — Mrs. Mina Lusk, of 
Hancock county. 111.; Elizabeth (deceased) ; 
John, a resident of Harlan county, with 
whom the father is living; Casper, in 
Illinois ; Ferdinand, in Blooiiiington, 
Iowa ; Frank ; George F., our subject ; 
Mrs. Kate Dich, residing in Kansas City, 
Mo.; Mrs. Setonia Figart, in Iowa ; Mrs. 
Christena Harold, in Nebraska, and three 
that died in infancy without names. The 
parents of these chiklren were steadfast 
adherents of the Catholic church. 

George F. Gehley came to America 
with his parents in 1850, and with them 
resided in Mississippi, until the}' all went 
to Iowa. From this latter state, at the 



756 



HA RLA N CO UNTY. 



breaking out of the late war, he entered 
the volunteer service as teamster, and at 
the close of the struggle found himself in 
New Mexico, whence he returned home in 
1867. In a few months he went to St. 
Clair county. 111., from which place, in 1871, 
he came to Nebraiika, and settled on sec- 
tion 9, township 2, range 19 west, Harlan 
count3', where he has since lived. 

March 17, 1871, Mr. Gehley married 
Miss Anna Scheppel, who was born in 
Prussia in 18-18, and came to America with 
her parents in 1868. To this marriage 
eleven children have been born, as fol- 
lows — George, a book-keeper in Wyoming; 
Ferdinand, also in Wyoming ; John F.; 
Matilda; Anna; Albert; Leo; Mary; 
Joseph (deceased) ; Claia and Eddie. In 
politics Mr. Gelde}' is a democrat, and in 
religion he and his family are Catholic. 



CAPT. J. M. LEE, postmaster at the 
town of Oxford and a prominent 
citizen of Furnas county, is a na- 
tive of Bartholomew county, Ind., and was 
born September 21, 1828. He is a de- 
scendant of pioneer stock on both sides of 
his house, his paternal and maternal grand- 
parents being among the first settlers of 
Ohio. His father's parents, who were 
Virginians by birth, emigrated to Ohio 
at the beginning of this century and set- 
tled in what is now Warren county, near 
the present city of Cincinnati, when that 
place was a mere boat landing. There his 
father, David R. Lee, grew up, married 
and moved into Indiana, settling in Bai-- 
tholomew county. He moved to Iowa in 
181:6, settling in Louisa county, where he 
followed the pursuits of agriculture for ten 



years, moving afterwards to Warren 
county, that state, where he lived till his 
death, which occurred in the spring of 
1872, in his seventy-fifth year. Capt. 
Lee's mother, whose maiden name was 
Polly Payne, was a descendant of old 
Pennsylvania stock, she being born in the 
Keystone State. Her parents emigrated 
to Ohio over a half-century ago, settling 
near Cincinnati, where she was reared. 
She died in Warren county, Iowa, in 1887, 
at the age of eighty -one. 

The subject of this sketch, who is one of 
a family of fourteen children born to his 
parents, was reared in his native county 
in Indiana to the age of eighteen. He 
accompanied his father's family to Louisa 
county, Iowa, in 1846, and there, four 
years later, on December 31, 1850, he 
married Miss Sarah J. Wilson, of that 
county, and entered on the active business 
of life as a farmer. He enlisted in the 
Union army, August 13, 1862, in Company 
D, Thirty-fourth Iowa infantry. His regi- 
ment was assigned to dut\' in the Western 
department, and saw its principal service 
in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. He 
was in the Yicksbui'g campaign, at the en- 
gagement at Arkansas Post and on the Red 
River expedition under Banks. He served 
a little less than three j^ears, the term of 
his enlistment, and was mustered out in 
December, 1864. He entered the service 
as a private, was soon appointed second 
lieutenant, promoted to first lieutenant, 
and soon afterwards to the captaincy of 
his company, these several promotions 
occurring within six months after his en- 
listment. When the war was over, Ca])t. 
Lee returned to his home in Warren county, 
Iowa, and resumed farming. In 1871, he 
was elected to the legislature from War- 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



757 



ren county and represented that county 
one term, discliargino; Ids duty with fidel- 
ity to his constituents and credit to him- 
self. One fact connected with his legisla- 
tive career is particularly woithy of men- 
tion. His vote and another one which he 
controlled in the caucus secured the nom- 
ination of W. n. Allison for senator and 
started him on a career in which he has since 
achieved a national reputation. In May, 
1870, Capt. Lee moved to Nebraska and 
settled in Furnas county, taking a home- 
stead two miles north of the present town 
of Oxford. He engaged actively in farm- 
ing and stock-raising', and, barrin": the ac- 
cidents and misfortunes necessarily inci- 
dent to life in a new countr}^ he was fairly 
successful. Having learned the carpenter's 
trade when a voung- man and having fol- 
lowed it some time in Iowa, he engaged 
also aftei' coming to Nebraska in contract- 
ing and building. In 1SS2, he was elected 
to the legislature from Furnas county, 
was re-elected in 1854, and again in 18SS. 
He made a faithful public ofHcial, serving 
up to July, 1889, at which time he re- 
signed his seat in order to take charge of 
the postoltice at Oxford, to which he had 
previouslv received an ap]iointment. Capt. 
Lee is a deservedly popular man, a public- 
spirited citizen and a genial, affable gen- 
tleman. He has a pleasant home and an 
interesting famil}', being the father of 
eleven children, all of whom are grown 
and most of whom are settled off in life 
and doing for themselves. These are- 
Edward W., Stewart W"., Charles F., 
Emor^' E.,Waltei' S., John R., Dock, James 
W., Cora E., Dora and Fannie. Capt. 
Lee and all his sons are republicans in 
politics, and he and his seven eldest ones 
voted for Harrison and Morton at the last 



election. Capt. Lee's first presi<lential 
vote was cast for Taylor in 1848. He 
affiliated with the republican party on its 
organization and has voted the straight 
republican ticket since. He is a zealous 
member of the Gi-antl Army of the Re- 
public and takes much interest in all mat- 
ters relating to old soldiers. 



MG. HOOPER, a citizen of Or- 
leans, Harlan county, Nebr., is 
a native of Prmce Edward Is- 
land, Dominion of Canada, was born 
December 8, 1837, and lived with his 
parents till twenty years of age, when he 
left for St. John's, New Brunswick, and 
from there to Portland, Me., and then to 
Boston, then to New York, and left for 
San Francisco, Cal., in 1S60. He stayed in 
California and Idaho and Montana till 
1868, and after going home to see his 
parents came to Chariton and married 
Pocahontas Millan in December, 1870 and 
in 1872 came to Orleans, were he has 
resided ever since. 



JACOB WOLF was born in Prussia, 
October 13,1846, and came to America 
with his parents when seven 3'^eai's of 
age, locating on a farm in Erie county, 
Pa., where he lived for eight years, labor- 
ing on his father's farm and attending 
school in the neighboring district at odd 
intervals. At the age of fifteen years he 
moved with his parents to St. Clair 
county. 111., where he spent two more 
years of his life on a farm, and then 
moved to Effingham county. 111., where 



758 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



he resided and labored on a farm until 
June, 1872, when, actuated by a desire to 
come West and grow up with the country, 
he accordingly came to Harlan county, 
Nebr., and tiled claim under the home- 
stead laws on a quarter section of land in 
section 19, township 2, range 19 west. 
The settlers in Harlan county at that 
early time were indeed few and far 
between and were only to be found here 
and there along timber-lined creeks, and 
in the valley of the Kepublican river — the 
broad and grassy plain known as the 
Divide, which has since yielded its millions 
of bushels of golden grain and has been 
dotted over with palatial residences and 
spacious barn and granaries, being left 
for the buffalo and antelope to graze over 
in peaceful quietude. Mr. Wolf had little 
to begin with when he entered his home- 
stead in Harlan county, and the tales of 
hardships and privations endured durmg 
his early frontier life are, indeed, heart- 
rendering in the extreme. He first con- 
structed a 14 by 16 ft. dug-out, in which 
he lived for two and a half 3'ears, fre- 
quenth' being compelled to sleep under an 
umbrella within, during the hard storms 
of those early times, so fierce arid driving 
■were the winds and the rains that the roof 
of an ordinary dug-out affoi'ded but little 
shelter. The old dug-out did dut3' for a 
period of two and a half years, when it 
was replaced by a neat log cabin of simi- 
lar dimensions, which afforded shelter for 
three years, and was finally replaced by a 
frame store building which Mr. Wolf 
bought and moved from Furnas county, 
and converted into a residence. Wild 
game, such as buffalo, elk, deer and ante- 
lope, roamed over the hills and through 
the narrow valleys in herds numbering 



from a dozen up into the thousands, and 
afforded meat for the hungiy settler who 
was fortunate enough to possess a rifle 
and ability to handle it with the necessary 
skdl to bring down the game. Mr. Wolf, 
though not an experienced hunter, man- 
aged to kill buffalo and keep his own 
table well sujiplied with meat, and when- 
ever possible divided with his neighbors. 
Crops for the first eight years were any- 
thing but good, and it was a continual 
struggle with Mr. AVolf for existence. 
The grasshoppers and drought totally 
desti'oyed the crops some yeai-s and made 
farming an uncertain business. Many 
settlers became discouraged and left the 
country, but Mr. Wolf, with his charac- 
teristic pluck and industry, stuck to the 
old homestead through thick and thin and 
has since been richly rewarded for his 
many years of patient toil. He sold his 
original claim of Sappa creek in 1884 for 
$1,625.00 and purchased his present home 
in the Republican valley, south and east of 
Orleans, he has a fine tract of two hundred 
and sixty acres of well improved land. 

He was married April 2, 1S68, to Eva 
Coontz, who was born in Mainland, 
October 6, 1851. Their happy union has 
been blessed with three childi'en, only one 
of whom is now living. The first born, 
Lizzie by name, was bitten by a rattle- 
snake when but a few years old, from the 
effects of which she died; the second, a 
boy, Henr3' by name, died when young, 
and the third, Lena B., is a handsome and 
intelligent young lady of eighteen. Mr. 
and Mrs. Wolf are active members of the 
Presbyterian church, and Lena B. of the 
Methodist Episcopal- church. Policall}^ 
Mr. Wolf is a republican and has held 
several offices in his township. 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



759 



EJ. PEASE, proprietor of the 
"Pioneer Lumber Yard" at Ox- 
ford, Furnas count}', is a native of 
the town of Fairfax, Franklin county) 
Vt., and was born November 8, 18-i6. 
He is a descendant of two old New 
England families, being of English extrac- 
tion on his father's side and of Scotch- 
Irish on his mother's. His father's people 
were among the early settled families of 
Connecticut, and there are now traced to 
the first ancestor who came to this coun- 
try' over 6,000 descendants, residents of 
America. His mother's people were among 
the first settlers of Vermont. His father, 
Joel H. Pease, was born in the town of 
Johnson, Lamoille county, Yt., was reared, 
always lived and died tliere. He estab- 
lished the first butcher market in the 
place and was well known throughout 
the surrounding countrj' as an energetic 
business man of extensive interests. He 
died July 27, 1878, in his sixty -sixth year. 
His parents came from Stonington, Conn. 
Mr. Pease's mother bore the maiden name 
of Lucinda Murphy, and she was a native 
of the town of Swanton, Franklin county, 
Yt. 

The subject of this sketch was reared in 
his native place, and, in accordance with 
the New England idea of training the 
young, he received a good common-school 
education in the village schools where he 
was brought uj). He was placed in a drug- 
store when a lad for the pui'pose of learn- 
ing the business of an apothecary, and 
having mastered the arts of the calling he 
entered on the active duties of life on 
reaching his majority as a druggist. He 
followed the business for fifteen years in 
the towns of Cambridge and Fairfax, 
Franklin county, a))plying Iiimself so in- 



dustriously and so closely that his health 
gave way at the end of that time and he 
was compelled to seek a change of locality 
and calling. He decided to move West, 
and, closing out his interests in tlie fall of 
1878, he came to Nebraska, reaching 
Bloomington, then i\ii terminus of the 
Burlington and Missouri River railroad, on 
the sixth day of December, that year. He 
selected a location further up the valley 
on the east line of Furnas county, buying 
a tract of railroad land, part of which is 
now comprised within the thriving little 
town of Oxford. Mr. Pease's purchase 
consisted of two hundred and forty acres, 
all raw land, but susceptible of cultiva- 
tion. There he pitched his tent and 
began the serious and, to him, new and 
untried duties of farm life. It would make 
too long a story to tell all of his ups and 
downs during the first years of his resi- 
dence in the West. The life of the pio- 
neer, never too easy even to those inured 
somewhat to its hardships, was peculiarly 
trying to him. He had had no previous 
training as a farmer ; he was launched at 
once into a calling, concerning which he 
had the most limited practical knowledge, 
and that, too, in a remote community of 
the West, unsurrounded by any of the 
helps and conveniences common in the 
older communities of the East. To say 
that his eyes turned longingly many times 
to his old home in " the Green mountains " 
of Yermont and that he wished himself 
again amid the scenes of his childhood 
and surrounded by the friends of his 
youth, would only be stating what any 
one might readily guess he did as often 
as he looked across the lone and cheerless 
prairies, swept by the howling winds of 
winter or scorched bv the burning ravs of 



760 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



the sunimer's sun. Yet he never seriously 
entertained the idea during all timt time 
of returning to the East. He came West 
to stay and he steadily stood by his reso- 
lution. He continued at farming, and as 
he grew in practical experience of farm 
life the world, as he says, "seemed to 
swing around mo)'e his way," and he got 
on better each succeeding year. With 
the advent of the Burlington & Missouri 
River railroad, which ci'ossed the Furnas 
and Harlan county line in February, 1880, 
the outlook became more hopeful, immigra- 
tion increased, real estate rose in value and 
avenues for business pursuits began to 
open up. The town of Oxford was laid 
out on a portion of land belonging to E. 
J. Pease's farm, the balance belonging to 
the farm of J. G. Struber, and a tliriving 
business place at once sprang into exist- 
ence. At this time a large portion of the 
town is on his original purchase, and the 
land which he was the first to seam with 
a furrow is dotted over with comfortable 
homes and spacious grounds tastily ar- 
ranged and carefully kept. The change 
has been marked, rapid and, to one accus- 
tomed to the staid Eastern ways of doing 
things, wonderful. Through tliese changes, 
however, Mr. Pease has passed, gliding 
easily through them f i-om year to year, and 
having assisted in effecting many of them 
himself. Being engrossed with them in 
no small degree, he can not realize fully 
what has taken place, and the time seems, 
as he says, only a very few years. Re- 
taining his farming interests at all times 
Mr. Pease has, in addition thereto, been 
variousi}' engaged foi' the last ten yeai'S. 
He was with the Burlington & Missouri 
River Land Company in the capacity of 
topographical surveyor. Learning teleg- 



raphy, he subsequently took a position 
with the Burlington & Missouri Railroad 
as assistant station agent at Oxford. Then 
in September, 1882, he became the agent 
for the Frees & Hocknell Lumber Com- 
pany and had charge of their interests at 
Oxford and remained in this capacity till 
January, 1887. At that date he bought 
out his employer's stock, fixtures and 
good will, since which time he has owned 
and operated the yard himself, being the 
pioneer lumber merchant of the town of 
Oxford. Mr. Pease's career has been that 
of a business man strictly. He has never 
aspired to any public position. While he 
is a jolly, good fellow, has a host of 
friends and might, with considerable show 
of success, ask pulilic office, he has pre- 
ferred the cjuiet pursuits of private life, 
devoting his time and attention to his own 
personal affairs. He is largely interested 
in the town of Oxford and takes an active 
part in matters of general concern in con- 
nection with his town and community, 
having an encouraging word for any de- 
serving enterprise and giving liberally of 
his means for any industry looking to the 
upbuilding of the place. 

Mr. Pease has a pleasant home and no 
man on earth loves his home better than 
he does. He mariied in his native county 
in Vermont on December 23, 1871, the 
lady whom he selected to share his for- 
tunes through life being a neighbor girl 
whom he had known manv years. Miss 
Clara P. Danforth, a native of Franklin 
county, a daughter of Porter Danforth 
and a descendant of an old and honorable 
family of the "C4reen Mountain State." 
Mrs. Pease is one of a family of nine girls, 
and, like her husband, the pioneer of her 
family. Her sisters with but one excep- 



II A R LAX COUNTY. 



761 



tion all live within a few miles of where 
the}' were born and reared. If the men 
who came to this state at an earl}' day 
and remained heroically through all the 
har(lshi[)s and privations of pioneer life 
are to be remembered with biographical 
notices in connection with the history of 
tlieir adopted counties, what place should 
be assigned to the heroic women who, 
forsaking tlie homes of their childhood 
and the association of their younger 
years, the peace and comfort to which 
they were reared, have come to the wild 
and rugged West, to brave the dangers 
and disappointments of pioneer life? They 
should not only be remembered in the 
history of the localities which they have 
helped to make blossom as the rose, but 
they should and will live in the memories 
of a free, happy and grateful people, for 
whom the}', by their untiring industry, 
perseverance and courageous self-denial, 
have made possible what we now see and 
may still hope to see in tliis proud and 
prosperous commonwealth. 



EP. REICHARDT, senior mem. 
ber of the firm of lieichardt & 
Nissen, of Oxford, Furnas county, 
is a native of the city of Flenburg, 
Schleswig llolstein, Germany, and was 
born November 16, 1852. He was reared 
in his native country and lived there to 
the age of nineteen, coming to the United 
States in 1873. lie came direct to Ne- 
braska at that date, s[)ent a short time 
at Fremont and Omaha, and then went to 
W\'oming. He secured a position with 
the Union Pacific Eailroad Company in 



the car service at Green Brier, Wyo., 
where he learned the business and fol- 
lowed the trade there for five 3'ears. He 
was then transferred to Rock Springs and 
put in charge of the shops there as fore- 
man, which position he held I'oi- a period 
of six 3'ears, making his term of service 
with the Union Pacific eleven years. As 
evidence of tlie fait!) fulness with which 
he discharged his duties during this time 
it maybe mentioned that he never, during 
the entire eleven j'ears, missed a pa}' day, 
was never suspended, reprimanded nor 
criticised, and resigned his position, bear- 
ing with him the gratitude and best 
wishes of his employers and the respect 
and good will of all of those with whom 
he had had business relations or with 
whom he had come in contact. Although 
young in years and laboring under the 
disadvantage of having to master a for- 
eign language as well as begin life anew 
among strangers, and as a common 
laborer, he, nevertheless, became one of 
the best known men along the line of the 
Union Pacific railroad, and was universally 
popular, not only with the trainmen and 
traveling public, but with shippers, ranch- 
men, and the general citizens of the 
territorv. He was on the frontier, and 
saw the border towns in their palmy 
days ; he knew the boomers and learned 
of the ups and downs of the "Hush 
times ".of "the far West." Quitting the 
Union Pacific in 1884, he formed a })art- 
nership with AVilliam Ilolcomb and 
entered into tiie mercantile business, dry 
goods, clothing, boots and shoes, in Hock 
Springs, continuing at it some time. lie 
came to Nebraska in 1885, sto]iping at 
Oxford, July 10, that year. Soon after- 
wards he opened a general mercantile 



762 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



establishment, which he conducted alone 
till July, 1887, at which time his brother- 
in-law, J. H. Nisseu, joined him, the firm 
becoming Reichardt & Nissen. This is 
one of the largest and most successful 
houses in the Republican valley. They 
have a large two-story brick building with 
a basement, and it is lined from bottom 
to top with goods of every kind in demand 
in a country town. They carry a large 
stock and do an immense business. 
Messrs. Reichardt & Nissen are both 
young men full of energy and ambition, 
and possess a special aptitude for their 
calling. Their store is crowded the live- 
long day the year round. They are live, 
wide-awake men, thoroughly posted, and 
each an accomplished salesman. They 
employ no help, but with the aid of Mrs. 
Reichardt, who is in charge of the mil- 
linery and dry -goods department, they 
conduct the entire business of the firm, 
giving to every detail their own personal 
attention. 

Mr. Reichardt married in November, 
1878, the lady whom he selected to share 
his life's fortunes being Miss Annie 
Nissen, who was also born and reared in 
Flensburg, Germanv, and a lady whom 
he had known from early childhood. 
This union has been blessed with three 
bright little fellows, two boys and a girl, 
Charles, Elfry and Annie. 



BYRON II. CIIRISLER is an early 
settler of Harlan county, an en- 
prising and progressive farmer and 
an old soldier worthy of note. He is a 
native of New York, and was born in 
Madison county, that state, in August, 



1836. Unfortunately, through the loss of 
his parents at an early age, nothing has 
been preserved for him concerning his 
ancestral history. His father and mother 
died during the cholera scourge of 1838, 
and he, being the only child, was reared in 
the family of an uncle, and received such 
training as fell to him as a member of a 
large family, where there were others 
having better claims on the head of that 
family than he had. He married, in 1858, 
taking as a life companion Miss Louisa 
Fatherlas, a native of Germany. She 
came with her parents, Christo])her and 
Lena Fatherlas, to America, in 1847, being 
then only nine years of age. 

Mr. Chrisler settled on a farm in Wis- 
consin and industriously set about to make 
himself a home. He was .so engaged when 
the clouds of civil war burst upon his un- 
happy country, and he, like thousands of 
others, patriotically offered his services 
for the defense of the Union, entering the 
army July 16, 1861, enlisting in Company 
G, Si.xth Wisconsin infantry. His regi- 
ment served with the Army of the 
Potomac. He was in twelve battles and 
as many skirmishes. He was wounded in 
the battle of the Wilderness by a gun- 
shot through the thigh, and when the 
ambulance was carr\'ing him from the 
battle-field the team ran away and broke 
his arm. He was disabled from active 
service by reason of his wound for eight 
months, six of which he spent in the 
hospital. He was taken prisoner at the 
time he was wounded, but re-captured the 
same. dav. July \i, 1865, he was mus- 
tered out at Jefferson vi lie, Ind., getting 
his discluirge later at'Madison, Wis. His 
wife accompanied him throughout his en- 
tire term of service, as a volunteer hospital 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



763 



nurse. For nine months she was at Fair- 
fax seminary, Virginia, and also served at 
other hospitals, being thus one of the few 
women who gave to the cause of the Union 
four years of the best part of her life, and 
to tlie cause of suffering humanity an 
amount of labor and heroic devotion on 
which it is not possible to place a value. 

The war being over, Mr. and Mrs. 
Chrisler returned to Wisconsin and settled 
down to farming, and so continued till 
coming to Nebraska. He moved to this 
state in 1871 and settled in Harlan county, 
Prairie Dog township, and located a home- 
stead on the northeast quarter of section 
24, township 1, range 18 west, of which 
one hundred acres are under cultivation. 
He has a farm well stocked with high- 
grade cattle, good horses and improved 
breeds of hogs. All Mr. Ciirisler now has 
represents the results of his patient indus- 
trv and economical management; as, when 
he came to the county he had only a small 
sum of money, and this was soon used up 
in getting a start. During the first years 
of liis residence he met with many disap- 
pointments and endured manv hardships 
and privations in passing tlirough the well- 
remembered grassliopper season and the 
period of droutlis and hail-storms, all of 
which spread havoc right and left and en- 
tailed much suffering. Mr. Chrisler was 
reduced to the extremity of seeking em- 
ployment away from home in order to 
earn bread and butter for his family. In 
recent years, liowevei', he has had good 
crops and has met witii fair success 
otherwise. 

Mr. Chrisler lias a pleasant home, his 

log house having given way to a sod one, 

and that to a commodious frame. In tiie 

labor of building a home for himself on the 

45 



Western frontier he has been ably assisted 
by the good wife who bore him compan- 
ionship during the four years of his service 
in the army, she sharing with him his 
every toil and hardship, and entering 
actively into all his ]ilans and purposes. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cinisler are the parents of 
seven children, three boys and four girls — 
Eliza J., who died August 30, 1860, one 
yearokl; William A., who died May 24, 
1801, in infancy ; Belva, died in June, 
1882, age sixteen years, six months, eleven 
days; Ellen, died in 1875, four years; 
Emily L., Byron C. and Willie B. 

Mr. Chrisler takes no particular interest 
in politics, but votes the republican ticket. 
He has served as school director of his 
school district for ten j^ears, and has been 
zealous in the support of the educational 
interests in his community. He is a mem- 
ber of the Grand Army of the Kepublic 
and also of the Masonic fraternity, to 
each of which associations he gives his 
hearty sympathj' and encouragement. 



GILBERT R. PARISH, one of the 
earliest settlei'S and most prosper- 
ous farmers and stock-raisers on 
Prairie Dog creek, in Harlan county, was 
born in western Pennsylvania April 10, 
1842. His fatlier, William J. Parish, one of 
the pioneer settlers of Michigan, was born 
in England March 7, 1810, and was one of 
the lirst settlei's of northern Michigan and 
helped saw the lumber to build the first 
liuildings on the site where now stands 
the city of Grand Rapids. He was for a 



7b4 



HARLAN COUNIY. 



number of years engaged in the lumber 
business, but finally settled down to farm- 
ing, which business he carried on some- 
what extensively until his death, at the 
age of fifty-seven years, in 1874. The 
mother of our subject, Johanna (Rose) 
Parish, was by birth a native of New York 
State, born August 1, 1812. There were 
seven children in the paternal family. 
Gilbert R. Parish was taken by his par- 
ents, when one year old, to Trumbull 
count}', Ohio, where they resided for 
three years and then moved to northern 
Michigan, which was then a wild, wooded 
country, inhabited only b\^ Indians, wild 
animals of the woods and a very few 
white settlers. Afterwards he settled in 
Barry county. Here he continued to reside 
until fourteen years old, taking advantage 
in the meantime of the meager opportu- 
nities offered for schooling and spending 
much of his leisure _time in the lumber 
camp and among the Indians, which 
thronged the country at that time. The 
next move made b}^ the family was to 
Henry county. Ills., which was then the 
Western frontier. Here he resided with 
his parents one year, when, circumstances 
not favoring their remaining there longer, 
they emigrated still further west and fin- 
ally located in Black Hawk county, Iowa, 
at that time a wild, barren country, very 
sparsely settled. Here our subject spent 
the next five years of his eventful life en- 
gaged principally' in farming, and in 1860 
moved to Buchanan county, Iowa. He 
remained there two years when, the war 
of the rebellion having broken out and a 
call made for reinforcements, he enlist- 
ed August 13, 1862, in Company C, 
Twenty-seventh regiment Iowa volunteer 
mfantry. His first service consisted in 



guarding an Indian paymaster to a point 
in Minnesota, for the purpose of paying 
off the Indians ; was then sent South to 
guard prisoners on exchange. He was 
taken sick on this journej', but finally 
joined his regiment at Jackson, Tenn. 
His regiment started at once for the bat- 
tle of Corinth, but reached there too late 
to take an active part in the fight. Dur- 
ing the remainder of his service he par- 
ticipated in the battles of Little Rock, 
Ark., Tupelo and Old Town creek, at 
which latter fight he was shot in the left 
breast. His wound, at first reported fatal, 
proved to be only a flesh wound and kept 
him off dut}' onl}' four weeks. He next 
participated in the Meridian raid and later 
was in the Red River campaign, during 
which he did some hard fighting. He 
was through the Iron mountain campaign 
and in the skirmishes in western Missouri. 
He participated in the three days' fight at 
Nashville, Tenn., after which he went 
down the river with his regiment to New 
Orleans, and April 9, 1865, the day after 
the war practically closed, participated in 
the battle of Blakely fort. He was mus- 
tered out at Clinton, Iowa, August 8, 
1865, having served three years, lacking 
five days. He returned at once to Black 
Hawk county, Iowa, and rented a farm. 
He remained here but a short time, how- 
ever, when he removed to Buchanan 
county, Iowa, where he again engaged in 
farming. 

In the spring of 1871 he decided to go 
still further West and grow up with the 
country. He accordingly came to Ne- 
braska, reaching Harlan county, June 11. 
He at once pre-empted a quarter section 
in section 32, township 1, range 18 west, 
and homestead ed the same two years 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



765 



later. Prairie Dog creek, which wended its 
wa}' tlirough his claim and was lined with 
timber on both sides, furnished the logs 
for a fourteen by eighteen foot cabin, 
which he immediately erected and soon 
had his family quartered and living in 
true Western style. Prairie Dog valley, 
as it is commonly known, was a wild 
looking wilderness at that early day, and 
the only inhabitants were a few settlers, 
or rather a few campers, as they were 
then called, who remained but a* short 
time. Buffalo roamed over the adjacent 
hills and through the neighboring valleys 
in herds of thousands, and antelope and 
deer were not uncommon. The valley 
along the creek teemed with wild turkey 
and other small game, and many were the 
happy hunters who took from the vallej" 
their wagon-loads of spoil. Crop-raising 
proved unprofitable for the first few years, 
and Mr. Parish not unfrequently killed 
buffalo, elk, antelope and deer and dis- 
posed of the dried meat and hides for 
flour and otlier provisions for tlie family. 
Indians from Otoe, Pawnee, Sioux and 
Winnebago tribes roamed through the 
valley in the summer time on their hunt- 
ing expeditions and frequently camped on 
the banks of the creek near his place. 
Having lived among the Chippewa 
Indians in upper Michigan when a 
boy, and having leai'ned their habits 
thoroughly, he knew well how to deal 
with them, and in consequence was never 
molested or made afraid, beyond their 
begging and stealing trifles at odd times. 
The first years of his settlement Mr. Par- 
ish put out ai)Out iifteen acres of crop, 
including corn, potatoes, squash and 
melons, and was molested considerably by 
the Indians pulling off the corn tassels 



and sticking them in their hoi-ses' bridles 
for ornament and carrying off the melons 
and squash through curiosity. Mr. Parish 
had little or nothing to start with when 
he came to Harlan county, but by trading 
around, he managed to get a team, and, 
having a few cows, he sold milk at ten 
cents a quart and butter at forty cents a 
pound to the regular soldiers passing 
through. In this manner he managed to 
live. The first j^ear he had to go to 
Beatrice — a distance of one hundred and 
seventy-five miles — for his mail, requiring 
eight days to make the trip. He pur 
chased the first bill of goods ever bought 
in Republican City, and his son Harlan 
was the first white boy born in Harlan 
count}^ which bears his name. During 
the grasshopper years of 1874-76, Mr. 
Parish lost a good share of his crop, but 
after that disastrous blight prosperity 
dawned upon him and he is to-day the 
happy possessor of six hundred and forty 
acres of as fine land as can be found in the 
Prairie Dog valley, as well as large herds 
of cattle and horses. 

Mr. Parish was married to Margaret A. 
Gipe, who was born March 25, 1841, in 
Adams county, Pa. Their union has been 
blessed with nine children, namely — Jane, 
born February 22, 1863 ; Anson, born 
July 21, 1867 ; Byron, born September 6, 
1869; Harlan, born October 19, 1871; 
Verne, born August 22,1875; Jed, born 
February 13, 1877; Lee, born August 14, 
1881, and two that died in infancy. 

Politically, Mr. Parish is a republican. 
He was instrumental in the earh' organi- 
zation of the county, and was its first 
treasurer. He has also filled the office of 
justice of the peace for a number of years 
in his own township. 



76« 



HARLAN COUXTY 



A' 



NSON TEETER. Among those 
who came to Harlan county in an 
A \ early da\^ and have been identified 
with its settlement, growth and develop- 
ment, is this gentleman. He was born in 
Tompkins county, N. Y., June 12. 1830, 
and is next to the youngest chiki in a 
family of eighteen — seven girls and eleven 
boys — born to Elias and Eachel (Daven- 
port) Teeter, both of whom were natives 
of New Jersey. The former, a farmer by 
occupation, lived to be over sixty years of 
age, d^'ing in 181:9. Anson spent his boy- 
hood at home on his father's farm, at- 
tending school and helping about the place 
until he was twenty years of age, when 
he came West and located in Michigan. 
There he remained two years and was en- 
gaged in clearing land, including that on 
which Lansing, the state capital, is now 
situated. He then returned East to El- 
mira, N. Y., and for four j'ears was en- 
gaged principall}' in milling. His next 
move was to Aurora, 111., where he en- 
gaged in milling one year and then went 
to Shabbona Grove, and engaged in farm- 
ing. He left there in 1858, returning to 
Elmira, N. Y., and the following spring 
came to Jackson count}^ Mich., where he 
farmed until 1861, when he again changed 
his location to near Calumet, Porter coun- 
ty, Ind., where he farmed one year. His 
next move was to Kane county, 111., where 
he resided on a farm until the fall of 
1872, when he emigrated West and settled 
on his present claim in Prairie Dog town- 
ship, Harlan county, Nebr. He home- 
steaded a quarter section in section 35, 
township 1, range 18 west, September 12, 
1872, and at once erected a twelve by 
fourteen foot dug-out and brought the fam- 
ily out the following spring. At that day 



there were but few settlers in the Prairie 
Dog Valley, and the surrounding country 
looked more like the Arabian desert than 
a country that only needed to be tickled 
with a hoe to produce its millions of bushels 
of golden grain. Buffalo in herds of thou- 
sands were roaming over the neighboring 
hills and through the adjacent valleys, and 
presented a scene long to be remembered 
b}' the few venturesome settlers of that 
early day. Deer, elk and antelope were 
frequefitly to be seen, and wild turkey 
flocked through the wooded valley of the 
creek. The atmosphere was then so dry 
and the air so pure that wild game, 
when killed, could be hung up in the trees 
to dry, and would hang for months with- 
out spoiling. Mr. Teeter came to Harlan 
county with but little means, and the 
hardships he endured for the first few 
years are simply indescribable. He raised 
a small crop of corn and potatoes the first 
year, and was remunerated for his labor 
by getting $1.50 per bushel for his pota- 
toes and 85 cents per bushel for his corn 
at his own door, but this was about all he 
was able to raise for the next five years, 
the drought and grasshoppers playing 
havoc with the crops. The first twelve 
years of his life in Harlan county he 
farmed without a team, working three 
days for a neighbor for one da^'^s work 
use of a team. With the more I'apid set- 
tlement of the country, the drought and 
grasshoppers disappeared, and prosperit}' 
finally dawned, so that for the past seven 
or eight years he has raised good crops 
and has been generally prosperous. 

He was united in marriage June 6, 1861, 
to Louisa M. Tippets, by whom he has 
had four children, namely — Ilattie, Cora 
E., Isabell M. and George II. Politically 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



7G7 



Mr. Teeter is a strong believer in the prin- 
ciples of the democratic i)arty. Consider- 
ino; the manv disadvantages under which 
Mr. Teeter has had to labor, coming, as 
he did, to Harlan countv in an early day 
with practicall}^ nothing and having to 
start from the very bottom and build up, 
he is certainly worthy of great credit for 
the manner in which he has persistently 
toiled on and the success he has achieved. 
His name will long be associated with the 
history of Harlan county. 



GEORGE W. GIPE, one of the very 
earliest settlers in Harlan county 
and one of the most prosperous 
farmers in the Prairie Dog Creek valley, 
was born in Dark county, Ohio, February 
18, ISiS, and is the fifth child in a family of 
thirteen children boi'n to William and Ma- 
riah (Miller) Gij^e. Both the parents are 
natives of Penns\'lvania, the former being 
born in the year 1816 and the latter in 1812. 
The parents of our subject moved from 
Ohio to Black Plawk county, Iowa, then 
the Western frontier, when he was but 
four years old, and he, in consequence 
thereof, has little or no recollection of his 
native birthplace. He spent his boyhood 
days attending school and laboring on his 
father's farm until eighteen years of age, 
when his parents moved again, settling in 
Buchanan county, in the same state. Our 
subject, having accomjianied his parents, 
engaged in farming in that county and 
remained there until 1871, when, in June, 
he emigrated West and settled in Prairie 
Dog township, Harlan county, Nebr., pi-e- 
empting a quarter section in section 32, 



which he homesteaded two and a half 
years afterwards. The countty was 
thronged with buifalo, and herds number- 
ing up in the thousands were commonly 
seen during the summer months. Deer, 
antelope and elk, while not as plentiful as 
buffalo, were quite numerous. Wild game 
furnished the principal food for the first 
few years, and many are the buffalo that 
fell a victim to his deadly aim. He came 
to Harlan county with a Mr. Parish, 
whose sketch appears elsewhere in this 
work, and they lived together the first 
year. AVhen he left Iowa his worldly 
effects consisted of the clothes on his back 
and $1.50 in his pocket. Wheti he 
reached his destination he had 75 cents 
capital on which to start business on the 
wild Western frontier. The first j'ear he 
broke out six acres, but on account of the 
drought anil molestations by the Indians, 
who flocked through the country on hunt- 
ing expeditions, was unable to raise much. 
In 1874, he had twenty-two acres of crojis 
totally destroyed by thegrasshoppers,which 
were so numerous that year that they 
swarmed over the country like a thunder 
cloud, destroying all vegetation that lay 
in their way. So numerous were the\' in 
the valley, that they would settle in the 
tops of the trees so thick that the limbs 
would bend over and sometimes break en- 
tirely off. Although the hardshi^js of 
pioneer life were discouraging to Mr. Gipe, 
he has, through his indomitable courage 
and invincible determination,worked stead- 
ily on untiihe is to-day in comfortable cir- 
cumstances and enjoying that prosperity 
which comes only to the industrious 
worker. He now owns two hundred and 
forty acres of as fine land as laj's in tiie 
valley and has a good portion of it in a 



high state of cultivation. Mr. Gipe was 
married March 30, 1877, to Ella Moore, a 
most estimable lady, who was born in 
Schuyler county. 111., Januar\^ 10, 1859. 
Their union lias resulted in the birth of 
six chiklren, namely — Victor, born Janu- 
ary 20, 1878; Harry, born April 5, 1880; 
Essie M., born November 22, 1882 ; Eay, 
born March 20, 188-4 ; Leonard, born Sep- 
tember 10, 1885; Louisa, born February 
27, 1889. Politically, Mr. Gipe is a re- 
publican. He has filled the office of con- 
stable of his township two terms, that of 
road supervisor five terms, and that of 
treasurer four terms, which last named 
office he now holds. He is also secretary' 
of the Farmers' Alliance. 



JABEZ COBELDICK, an early settle 
and an honored and much respected 
citizen of Prairie Dog township, Har- 
lan count}', Nebr., was born in Eng- 
land, June 10, 1816, and is the son of Rich- 
ard Cobeldick, also a native of England and 
a shipwright in Her Majesty's ship yards. 
His mother, Betsie (Sloggett) Cobeldick, 
was born in England and lived and died 
in her native country. Our subject spent 
his early life at home, and up to the 
twenty-first year of his life attended school 
and served an apprenticeship under his 
father at the trade of shipwright. Arriv- 
ing at his majority and being of a some- 
what romantic turn of mind, and desiring 
to see more of the world than his native 
land, he set sail in 1838, for Australia. 
Arriving there he soon found employment 
at his trade and continued working and 
viewing the country for fifteen months, 



when he took passage by steamer, and, 
after a voyage lasting some days, con- 
cluded to land at Van Dieman's Land, 
where he worked nine months at iiis trade 
of shipbuilder. His next exploit was as 
carpenter on board a whale ship, bound 
for the China Seas. The voyage was a 
very successful one and lasted for three 
years and afforded him a great op])or- 
tunity, which he took advantage of, to 
study the customs and manners of foreign 
nations. Pie next landed at Swan river, 
in western Australia, where he built a 
schooner and repaired a broken ship, 
spending five \'ears there, and finally re- 
turned to England in tlie siiip he had 
repaired. After a sojourn in his native 
country of six months' duration, he em- 
barked for America,landing in this country 
in December of 1848. He first located in 
Cincinnati, but remained there only a short 
time, finally settling permanently at Anda- 
lusia, 111., where for nearly twenty years 
he ran a warehouse and bought and sold 
grain. Although well up in years at this 
time, he decided to come "West and settle 
on the frontier and grow up with the 
country, so to speak. He accordingly did 
so, landing in Harlan count}', Kebr., Feb- 
ruary 28, 1872. He at once homesteaded 
a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, 
lying half in section 25 and half in section 
26. He was among the earliest settlers, 
there being a few further up the creek. 
The country presented a drear\' appear- 
ance and looked anything but inviting to 
one who had almost circumnavigated the 
globe and lived in some of the most 
densely populated and most productive 
districts in the world. Wild buffalo were 
roaming over the unbroken prairie in herds 
of thousands, and deer, elk and antelope 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



rfio 



were almost daily seen along the creeks 
and within the draws of the neighboring 
hills. Plis success at farming, liketliat of 
every other settler in a new country, was 
somewhat varied, getting fair crops some 
years and again nothing at all. The 
drought and grasshoppers proved very 
destructive to the crops, and farming for 
the first five or six years was up-hill busi- 
ness, but, after the country became more 
generally settled, the rains fell oftener 
and more gently, and his crops graduall}^ 
increased until complaint on account of 
failure entirely ceased. Of late years Mr. 
Cobeldick has been devoting his time and 
attention to fruit growing and he now has 
twelve hundred ver}'^ fine, thrifty apple 
trees, just beginning to bear. 

Mr. Cobeldick was married November 
2, 1848, to Mary Ann Mitchel, a native of 
England, born February 24, 1810. Their 
happy union has been blessed with the 
birth of one child — Jabez S., born October 
11, 1849, who is married and owns and 
farms a place adjoining that of his fathers. 
Mr. and Mrs. Cobeldick are both active 
members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church at Republican City. Politically, 
Mr. Cobeldick is a proiiibitionist and a 
strong believer in the principles of his 
party. 



LEWIS J. POND, one of the early 
settlers on the Prairie Dog creek, 
J in Harlan county, was born in 
Hudson, Summit county, Ohio, March 1, 
1853. His father, Julius Pond, at one 
time an extensive farmer, was born in 
Summit county, Ohio, in 1827, and died 



there in 1870. The mother of Lewis J. 
was Sarah (Scott) Pond, a native of Ohio 
State, born in 1822. She came West in 
1872, after the death of her husband, and 
settled on a homestead on Prairie Doo- 
creek, where she still lives on a farm 
adjoining that of her son. The paternal 
grandfather, Preston Pond, was a native 
of Connecticut and a pioneer in that 
state. Lewis J. Pond lived in Summit 
county, Ohio, till August, 1871, attend- 
ing school in early life and laboring on 
his fatlier's farm. The death of his 
father and the attending circumstances 
of the family made necessary a change in 
the management of affairs, and it was 
thought best that the family seek a new 
home in the then far West. He accord- 
ingly set out, in August of 1871, on a tour 
of inspection through the West with a 
view of looking up a location for the 
family. After looking over diffei'ent sec- 
tions of the state, he decided on the 
present location on Prairie Dog creek, 
and February of the following year 
wrote for his mother and the rest of the 
family. His mother, on arriving, filed 
claim on the northeast quarter of section 
34, township 1, range 18 west. At this 
early day there were but few actual set- 
tlers south of the Republican river in 
Harlan county, there being a few squat- 
ters, who left the following year. Wild 
game — buffalo, elk, deer and antelope 
and thousands of wild turkey — swarmed 
over the country and presented a wild 
effect indeed. On July 4, of that year, 
the main herd of buffalo came in sight, 
and the prairie, as far as the eye could 
see, was literally black with them. Buf- 
falo frequently strolled through the same 
fields in wiiich he was at work. Tiio 



first house constructed and occupied by 
the family was a log cabin 14 by 18 feet 
in dimensions. The first few years the 
Pawnee, Otoe and Omaha Indians camped 
for weeks at a time along- the creek near 
their cabin wliile on hunting expeditions, 
and on account of their beg-o'inor' and 
stealing they were a great source of 
anno^'ance. The nearest trading point 
the first j^ear was at Grand Island, and 
later at Lowell, and he was able to earn 
some money the first few years freighting 
goods across the country from these two 
points. Crops for the first six or seven 
3^ears were practically a failure on ac- 
count of the grasshoppers and severe 
drought, and the family saw some pretty 
hard times. 

Lewis J. Pond pre-empted a quarter 
section across the state line in Phillips 
county, Kans., in 1873, and bought his 
present place, consisting of two hundred 
and forty acres of fine land, in 1880. 
There were one hundred and twenty-five 
acres broken when he bought it, but aside 
from this there was little improvement. 
He now has his farm well improved with 
good frame buildings, and he deals to a 
considerable extent in cattle and boss. 
He was married in November, 1874, to 
Miss Fannie Snidei', a most estimable 
lady, who was born in Milwaukee county, 
Wis., in 1857. Five children have blessed 
this happy union, namely — Winfield C, 
Eaymond R., Lottie, Atwood, and one 
that died in infancy. Politically, Mr. 
Pond is a strong adherent to the prin- 
ciples of the republican jiart}', and has 
held various offices in his township. Con- 
sidering the extreme youth of Mr. Pond 
when he settled in Harlan county, and 
the many disadvantages under which he 



was compelled to struggle, he is certainly 
deserving of great credit for the success 
he has achieved since coming to Ne- 
braslca. 



JOHN HOUK is one of the very early 
settlers of Harlan count}', Nebr., 
and one of the first few who settled 
in Prairie Dog townsiiip. He was 
born in Hamilton county, Ohio, Jul}' 15, 
1830. Though born in Hamilton county, 
the greater part of his early life was spent 
on a farm in Allen county, where he re- 
sided until twenty-two years of age, 
attending district school and obtaining as 
good an education as the advantages of 
the times atforded. In March, 1853, he 
went via the ocean to California with a 
company in pursuit of gold, and while 
there engaged in mining for nine years, 
when he returned via the ocean and set- 
tled again in Allen county, Ohio, his trip 
not having been much of a success in a 
financial sense. Four years later, in 1807, 
he moved to Benton county, Iowa, and 
farmed one year, and then changed loca- 
tions to Madison county, of the same 
state. Here he lived and labored on a 
farm till May, 1871, when he came to 
Harlan county, Nebr., driving through in 
a covered wagon. He homesteaded a 
quarter section, it being section 33, town- 
ship 1, range 18 west, on which he still 
lives. The country presented a wild and 
barren appearance and was thronged with 
buffi'lo in herds numbering up into the 
thousands. There were also some elk and 
deer and many antelope. Though not an 
expei'ienceii hunter, he killed a number of 
buffalo and antelope and always had 



HA EL A N CO UN TV. 



771 



plenty of tlieir meat for table use. Ilis 
first house was a log cabiu twelve by 
fourteen feet, with a dirt roof and ground 
fioor. Indians at that time frequented 
the creek on huntmg expeditions and 
would come to his cabin door half starved 
and beg for something to eat. The first 
few years he was able to raise fair crops, 
but during the grasshopper times, from 
1874 to 1876, lost all his corn and raised 
but little small grain. Of late j'ears he 
has raised uniformly good crops and has 
his farm in a good state of cultivation, 
with one hundred acres broken. In 1882 
he took his family and went to Texas, 
and remained one year and then returned. 
In like manner he made a trip to Walla 
Walla, Wash. Ter., in 1889, but after an 
experience of four montiis returned and 
settled on the original homestead, with 
the idea that Nebraska was good enough 
for him. 

Mr. Houk was married in Allen county, 
Ohio, October 8, 1862, to Miss Sarah 
Ulrey, who was born in Allen county, 
Ohio, May 9, 1839. Four children bless 
their home, namely — Catherine J., Silas 
M., Sylvia M. and Mina E. Politically, 
Mr. Houk is a democrat 



JOHN C. MITCHELL is one of the 
early iiioneer settlers of Harlan 
count}', and is therefore entitled to 
a place in this history. He was 
born in Piscataquis county, Maine, March 
29, 1850, and is one of the eleven children 
born to John and Charlotta (Littlefield) 
Mitchell, the former of whom, a farmer 
by occupation, was a native of Maine, 
born in the year 1800, and died after a 



long and useful life at the age of seventy- 
three. The latter was also a native of 
Maine and was born in 1803, and died at 
the age of seventy-two. 

John C. spent his boyhood days in 
Maine, working about on his father's 
farm in the summer and attending the 
neighboring district schools in the winter 
When about eighteen years of age he 
went to Upton, Worcester county, Mass., 
and for three years was engaged in farm- 
ing. He emigrated to Nebraska in 
March, 1872, stopping for a short time in 
Johnson county, and finally, April 6, 
landed in Harlan county, where he home- 
steaded the northeast quarter of section 
27, township 2, range 18 west. The first 
settlement made in the count\' had been 
the year jirevious, and the country nat- 
urally presented rather a barren appear- 
ance. Buffalo, deer, elk, antelope and 
wild turke\' Avere plentiful while actual 
settlers were few and hard to find. In 
the immediate vicinity of Mr. Mitchell's 
claim there were no settlers at all. He con- 
structed a dug-out, fourteen by eighteen 
feet, in which he kept " bach " for one 
year, when it accidentally took fire in tiie 
chimney and burned, together with all 
his household effects. This was indeed a 
severe blow and at a time when he could 
least afford it. In the beginning he had 
little better than notiiing to start with, 
and up to this time, crops having been a 
practical failure, he had made little prog- 
ress. He killed an occasional deer or 
antelope, which constituted the greater 
part of his living for the first few years. 
On account of the grasshoppers and the 
drouth he was not able to raise anything 
like a fair crop of grain for six years. 
One year, during the grasshopper raids, he 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



lost seventy-five acres of crops. He 
would hardly have been able to live under 
such circumstances had it not been 
for an occasional job of freighting fi'om 
Lovrell and Kearney, which paid him 
forty-five cents per hundred for a distance 
of fifty, railes. His crops have been fairly 
good since 1878, and he has prospered in 
proportion. In 188-i he sold his old 
homestead and is at present living in the 
Eepublican valley, just south of Alma. 
He is the possessor of eight hundred acres 
of land in different parts of the county, 
and deals largely in stock. He was mar- 
ried in June, 1874, to Lizzie Schrack, who 
is a native of Illinois and was born July 
16, 1854. Five children bless their happy 
home — Jessie E., Mabel E., Jasper E., 
Celia E. and Harry L. 

In politics Mr. Mitchell is a republican 
and a firm believer in the principles of his 
party. He is now serving his second tei'm 
as supervisor of Prairie Dog township, 
and is highly esteemed b}' all who know 
him. 



JOHN F. ZIEGLER was born in Han. 
over, Germany, March 6, 1848, and 
is one of a family of thirteen children 
born to John and Julia (Seabird) 
Ziegler, both of whom were natives of 
Germany. The former, a carpenter bj'^ 
occupation, was born in 1813 and lived to 
the ripe old age of seventy-four years. 
John F. Ziegler came to America with his 
parents when onl}' eight years of age, and 
though young has some recollection of 
his native countiy. The family first 
located at Iowa City, Johnson county, 
Iowa, in the fall of 1856, where they 



lived one year and then moved to Rock 
Island count}', 111., where they resided on 
a farm for five years. In the spring of 
1862, Mr. Ziegler moved to Wabasha 
county, Minn., where he lived until the 
spring of 1864. Our subject in the mean- 
time attended school in winter and worked 
on the farm in summer. The war of the 
rebellion being under full headwa}' at this 
time, and the call for recruits ver}" urgent, 
our subject responded, and in May of 
that year enlisted in Company E, Second 
Minnesota regiment. He paiticipated in 
the battles of Kenesaw mountain, Marietta, 
Atlanta and Jonesburgh, at which latter 
place he was severe)}' injured in tearing 
up a railroad track by having six lengths 
of iron rails and ties fall upon him in such 
a manner as to break his left leg, three 
ribs and severely sprain his spine. He 
was laid up in consequence thereof for 
many months, and was in hospitals at 
Chattanooga, Nashville, Washington, Lou- 
isville and Jeffersonville. He finally re- 
covered sufficiently to join his regiment 
April 1, 1865, at Raleigh, N. C, just pre- 
vious to Lincoln's death. He was at the 
grand review in Washington, and was 
mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July 11, 
1865. He returned to Minnesota and 
remained there one year, moving back to 
Rock Island county. 111., where he filled 
the capacity of foreman on the large 
stock farm of Win. Morris, until he 
emigrated to Nebraska in the spring of 
1872. He came West by rail as far 
as Sutton, Nebr., and then wallced up 
the Republican valley, looking at the 
country, and arrived in Harlan county, 
April 15th. He pre-empted a quarter 
section in section 32, township 1, range 
18 west, built a small dug-out, lived on it 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



773 



six nioiitlis, and then proved it up. Tiie 
country was new and barren and the set- 
tlers were few and far between. Buffalo 
were roaming about in great herds, and 
elk and deer, though not plentiful, were 
occasionally to be seen. lie devoted 
most of his time the first year to hunting, 
and killed one elk and fifty buffalo. He 
dried and sold the meat and hides and in 
this manner made quite a sum of money. 
In November of the first 3^ear he bought 
the right to a claim in section 32, on which 
he now lives, and later proved up on it. 
Crops were poor for a number of years on 
account of the grasshoppers and severe 
drought, but of late years he has had 
good crops and has prospered in a manner 
to enable him to improve his place in fine 
shape. His home is located in a romantic- 
looking spot on the banks of the Prairie 
Dog creek, and is surrounded with 
thrifty trees. 

He was married March 30, 1877, to 
Miss Mar}^ E. Moore, who was born in 
Schuyler county. 111., August 14, 1841. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Ziegler are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. Politic- 
ally, he is a republican and has held numer- 
ous local offices, serving as clerk of his town 
in 1884 and as member of the county 
board in 1885-86. He is at present justice 
of the peace in his township. 



A 



AEON NEWMAN, the subject of 
this memoir, is one the earliest 
settlers in the Republican valley, 
in Harlan township. He was born in 
Monroe county, Iowa, January 9, 1849, 
and is one of a family of twelve children 
born to Philip and Julia (Grouse) New- 



man, both of whom were natives of Penn- 
sylvania; the former, by profession a 
United Brethren minister, was born 
in 1803 and lived a long and useful life, 
dying at the age of eighty -four years. He 
moved to Iowa in an early day and there 
spent the greater part of his eventful life, 
riding over the then new country as an 
itinerant, and preaching the gospel and 



establishing churches. 



A few years 



before his death he was struck on the 
head by a piece of flying timber in a saw- 
mill and received a fracture of the skull, 
from which he never fully recovered. The 
mother of our subject was born in the 
year 1804 and lived a long and useful life, 
being noted for her christian piety and 
benevolent acts, and died at the aee of 
eight3'-five years. 

Our subject moved with his parents to 
Marion county, Iowa, when about one 
year old, where he lived until he came to 
Harlan count}^ Nebr. In early life he 
attended school in the district where he 
lived, and through assiduous application 
obtained a good education, considering 
the advantages at hand. When the war 
of the rebellion -broke out, he was but a 
stripling of a boy and too young to be 
taken into the service of his country ; but 
later, January 1, 18C3, he enlisted in Com- 
pany E, Eighth Iowa infantry, and was 
sent direct to Vicksburg, but arrived 
after the hardest of the battle was over. 
His next service was at Memphis, Tenn., 
where for nearly a year he did duty as 
provost guard. The regiment then went 
down the river to New Orleans antl across 
the gulf to Spanish fort. During their 
transit on the gulf they were in a four- 
days storm and at one time life was en- 
tirely despaired of. The ship was finally 



774 



HARLAN COUNTY 



landed on Dolphin Island, where for ten 
days the soldiers recruited, their only 
food being oysters which they caught 
along the shores of the island. From 
there the regiment crossed to Spanish 
fort, and in a twelve-day battle succeeded 
in capturing it. For a considerable time 
thereafter, our subject ditl duty as guard 
at Montgomery, Ala., after which he was 
on duty at Selma, Ala., and later, in Ma\', 
1866, was discharged and returned home. 
He engaged in farming in Marion county, 
after the war, until he came to Harlan 
county, Nebr., in Ma}', 1872, being one of 
the first settlers to file claim in the county. 
At that early day buffalo, deer and an- 
telope were plentiful, and his meat for 
the first few ^^ears consisted principally' 
of the same. He homesteaded a quar- 
ter section in section 29, township 
2, range 18 west, and constructed a 
12 by 16 foot dug-out, where he " bached" 
it until August 12th of the same year, 
when he returned and brought out his 
family. For the first four 3'ears his crops 
were successively destroyed by the grass- 
hoppers and drought, and as he had com- 
paratively little to begin with, he saw 
some very hard times. He was enabled 
to earn some money, however, for the 
first few years, by freighting goods from 
Lowell, distant about seventy miles to 
the north, and in this manner managed to 
live. He finally sold his farm and moved 
into town, and for several years ran the 
mail coach from Alma to Kearney and 
later to Holdrege. He afterwards pur- 
chased his present farm in tlie valley of 
the Republican, and has prospered since. 
He was mai-ried in Februar}', 1861, to 
Amanda Ferguson, a most estimable 
lady, by whom he has had fourteen chil- 



dren, eleven of whom are now living, viz. 
— Chas. T., John M., Nora, Rosa, Edward, 
Bertha, Franklin, Clarence, Thomas, 
Joseph, Nellie, Earl, Mary and Benjamin. 
Mr. and Mrs. Newman are both active 
members of the Free Methodist church. 
Politically, he is a prohibitionist, and since 
coming to Harlan count}' has held various 
local offices. 



K 



LBERT H. GOULD was born in 
Lincoln count}', Me., August 
4, 1842, and is one of four 
children, two boys and two girls, 
born to Joseph and Mary E. (Hamilton) 
Gould, bothof whom were natives of Maine; 
the former was born in December, 1815, 
and for many years was a lumberman in 
the states of Maine, New York and Penn- 
sylvania, and came to Harlan county, 
Nebr., in 1871, after which he farmed 
until his death. May 23, 1883. The latter 
was born in 1820, and after a long and 
useful life died April 2, 1887. 

The paternal grandfather was a lumber- 
man in Maine and was killed in the 
woods by a falling tree when the father 
of our subject was but five or six years 
old. 

When our subject was six years old he 
moved with his ])arentsto Handy Hollow, 
N. Y., where his father went into the 
lumber business for two years and then 
moved to Yeomans Mill, in Tioga county. 
Pa., where he lived for one year, and then 
moved to Tioga village and engaged in 
the lumber business." Their next move 
was to Jackson, same county, where they 
settled on a farm and later engaged in the 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



775 



lumber and saw-mill business, living here 
in all about eleven years. 

Albert H., our subject, enlisted in the 
war August IS, 1861, when but nineteen 
years of age, going as a private in 
Company E, Eighty-sixth regiment New 
York volunteers. He participated in the 
battle of Bull Run, lasting three daj'^s, 
after which he was affected with heart 
trouble and rheumatism to such an extent 
that he was sent to the hospital, where he 
was confined for some months and finally 
discharged April 2, 1863. He returned 
home and continued to reside in Tioga 
county until 1S68, during which time he 
was eno-ao-ed in farming'. He moved to 
Marengo, Iowa county, Iowa, and resided 
there two and one-half years on a farm. 
He came to Harlan county, March 28, 
1872, and homesteaded his present farm 
in section 1, township 1, range 18 west. 
He was one of the first settlers to settle 
in the Republican valle^^ The country 
teemed with buffalo, antelope and deer, 
with now and then an elk. He came to 
Harlan county in rather poor circum- 
stances, possessing at the time but one 
team and two cows ; the latter stra\nng 
away soon after, were never heard from. 
His crops for the first few years were 
poor, with the exception of the second 
year, when he raised seven hundred 
bushels of wheat. His first house was 
a 12 by 16 foot dug-out. He was mar- 
ried December 28, 1S61-, to Hettie A. 
Jewell, who was born in Pennsylvania, 
December 28, 1844. Their union has re- 
sulted in the birth of four children — Lydia 
E., Fred A., Laura B. and Burt R. 

Mr. Gould, though hard pressed by 
circumstances of an adverse nature in the 
first years of his life in Harlan county. 



has since prospered abundantly and is 
now the owner of a large landed estate 
with all the modern improvements and 
conveniences necessary to a comfortable 
life. 

Politicallj% he is a strong believer in the 
principals of the republican party. He is 
a member of Gould Post, G. A. R., at 
Republican City, it having been named 
after his father, who was in the same 
company and regiment as himself. 



CLARENCE A. LUCE, the popular 
and successful druggist of Repub- 
lican city, Nebr., had his birth 
place among the green hills of Lamoille 
county, Vt.. on May 27, 1847. He comes 
of good old JSew England stock, his father, 
Harvey, and his mother, Mary A., both 
being natives of Vermont. His father 
was a farmer and also followed the busi- 
ness of a contractor and builder. He died 
at the age of sixty -eight in Alhimakee 
county, Iowa, in 1887, to which place he 
had removed from Vermont in the spring 
of 1855. Mr. Luce's mother also died at 
the same place in the spring of 1873. Our 
subject was the oldest of six children, of 
whom Alice, now Mrs. Heustis, is at pres- 
ent living at Atchison, Ivans.; Clinton L., 
is in Albert Lea, Minn.; Philemon B., near 
McGregor, Iowa; Harvey L., at Hayes 
Center, Kans., and Jonatlian, the tliird 
oldest, is dead. 

Our subject removed with his jiarentsto 
Iowa when he was eight years of age, and 
passed his life on the Iiome farm until he 
was nineteen, receiving in the meantime a 
good common-school education. At this, 
time he engaged in the occupation of raft- 



776 



HARLAN COUNTY 



ing lumber down the Mississippi, taking 
it from the pineries in the north and dis- 
tributing it at various points along the 
river. This occupation he followed till his 
twent3^-fifth year, at which time he con- 
cluded to abandon river life and embark 
in the wood business at Eed House Land- 
ing, Iowa. This business he successfully 
conducted till 1878, when he sold out, 
and, removing to Eepublican City, Nebr., 
bought an interest in the drug store owned 
by his uncle, H. M. Luce. At the end of 
two years he purchased the interest of his 
uncle and has since continued the business 
alone. He now owns two drug stores, the 
onlv ones in Eenublican City, havinof 
bought the second in June, 1887. He has 
invested some of his surplus in realty, 
owning 320 acres of land in Harlan 
county, Nebr., and 160 in Decatur county, 
Kans. 

His fellow-citizens have not seen fit to 
allow him to concentrate all his splendid 
abilities on his private business, and in 
1885 sent him to Lincoln to represent the 
fifty-third legislative district, comprising 
Phelps and a pai't of Harlan counties. As 
a member of the legislature he was on the 
committee on towns and townships and 
also on the committee on federal relations. 
He has also been a member of the village 
and county board. He has taken a good 
deal of interest in social orders and frater- 
nities, being a Knight Templar and a 
member of the L O. O. F., having in the 
latter order passed all the chairs. He is a 
charter member of Home Lodge, No. 71, L 
O. O. F., and had the honor of being the 
first noble grand of that Lodge. He has 
also ijeen twice chosen to represent his 
lodge in the Grand Lodge. He has served 
as worshipful master in Republican Lodge 



98, F. & A. M., and has twice represented 
this lodge in the grand lodge of the state 
and is at present holding the office of 
worshipful master. 

Mr. Luce was married in December, 
1873, to Miss Harriet E. Dickens, of Clay- 
ton county, Iowa, daughter of Edward 
Dickens of that place. 



JOHN y. DOAK, the subject of this 
brief sketch, is a representative 
farmer of Republican City, Harlan 
county, is a native of Scotland and a 
descendant of Scotch ancestry from time 
immemorial. He is one of a family of 
ten childern born to William and Mary 
(Young) Doak, of whom only six are now 
living, these being three sons and three 
daughters. The father is living, he and 
his sons being residents of Nebraska, while 
the daughters are married and settled in 
the old country. The mother died De- 
cember 31, 1870. 

The subject of this notice was born near 
the town of Bath, in Ayrshire, November 
21, 181:8. He was reared in his native 
place, growing up on his father's farm 
and receiving in his 3'outh a good educa- 
tion and being trained to the habits of in- 
dustry and usefulness common to his coun- 
try and calling. After the death of his 
mother and tlie marriage of his sisters, the 
family became broken up, and the old 
home losing many of its attractions for 
him, he decided to leave his native place 
and seek his fortune in the new world. 
He came to America in November, 1878, 
or rather in December, taking sail from 
Scotland November 29th. He made his 
first stop in this country at New Orleans; 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



777 



but remained there only a short time, 
going thence to San Antonio, Tex., at 
which place and in that vicinit}' he re- 
mained for about two and a half years, 
eno-ased at work on the railroad. Return- 
ing East a short distance, he stopped in 
Alabama about six months, where he also 
worked on the railroad. He then came 
to Nebraska, and, purchasing a farm in 
the Republican valley a year after he 
arrived, he settled on it and went to farm- 
ing. He has continued farming since. 
His place lies about a mile and a half east 
of Republican City in Harlan county, and 
under his intelligent supervision has be- 
come one of the handsomest little places 
in that locality. When he took it there 
was only about ten acres of breaking done 
on it and no improvements had been 
made. He has put the entire place under 
fence, has eighty acres cultivated and well 
stocked, and has erected comfortable 
buildings. Mr. Doak is a stead^'-going 
man, attends strictly to his own business, 
is industrious and economical, and every- 
thing on his place gives evidence of intel- 
ligent management. He has taken much 
interest in the affaii'S of his community, 
being foremost in advocating all measures 
for the general prosj)eritv and public good, 
and has served as road supervisor in his 
township and as director of his school dis- 
trict. He has no children himself, being 
unmarried ; but he exhibits much interest 
in education notwithstanding, believing 
that public virtue lies in public intelli- 
gence. He has never dabbled any in poli- 
tics, being content to follow the even 
tenor of his way, finding therein liis great- 
est pleasure as well as highest reward. He 
votes the democratic ticket and usually 
stands squarely for the men and measures 



of his party. Having been reared in the 
Presbyterian church, he adheres to the 
faith of his fathers, exhibiting in his daily 
walk and conversation the jiractical value 
of those great ti'Uths which lie at the 
foundation of all religion, regardless of 
sects. 

Personally, Mr. Doak is pleasant. He 
is kind and accommodating, a good neigh- 
bor and a splendid citizen. The people 
of his township are proud of him, as they 
have every reason to be. 



GARVIN H. GOULD. The sub- 
ject of this sketch is one of the 
leading farmers of Harlan county, 
and although not an old man is neverthe- 
less an old settler. He is a native of 
Maine, as were also his parents, Joseph 
and Mary E. (Hamilton) Gould. His 
father, after residing successively in Maine, 
Pennsylvania and Iowa, moved in 1871 to 
Nebraska and .located in Harlan county 
where he died in 1882. He was a success- 
ful farmer and a highly esteemed citizen. 
He served witii credit in the late war, 
being a member of the Eighty-sixth New 
York volunteer infantry. He never aspired 
to anything like a public life, but filled 
some positions of prominence in connec- 
tion with the administration of local 
affairs. He was the first probate judge 
elected in Harlan county, but, owing to the 
unsettled condition of affairs, he, with 
most of the other officers, refused to 
qualify. A pleasing recognition of his 
worth and prominence may be found in 
the fact that Gould Post, No. 21G, G. A. 
R., of Republican City, was named in his 
honor. Mr. Gould's mother was a daugh- 



ter of James and Mary E. Hamilton, of 
Maine, the latter of whom was one of the 
first white women to settle in Harlan 
county. There were four children in the 
family to which the subject of this sketch 
belonged, he being the second one. 

Garvin II. Gould was born December 
19, 18-i5. He was onl^' about a year old 
when his parents moved to Penns\dvania, 
so that his earlier years were spent in the 
Keystone State. He grew up in a lumber- 
ing district and worked when a lad and 
young man in the lumber business. In 
1864 Garvin H. Gould entered the Elmira 
(N. Y.) Commercial College, from whicli 
he graduated April 5, 1865. He tlien, 
with ins brother, went into the grocery 
business, at Elmira, under the firm name 
of Gould Bros., and so continued until 
1869, when they disposed of their busi- 
ness, and Garvin H. Gould moved to 
Iowa, began farming, and lived in Iowa 
till the spring of 1872, when he took up 
the line of travel further west, moving at 
that date to Nebraska and settling in 
Harlan county, where he has since resided. 
On moving to Harlan county he took a 
homestead in the Republican valley, filing 
on a (piarter in section 6, township 1, 
range 17 west. He began in the usual 
primitive style, buihiing a dug-out and 
breaking up the sod preparatory to put- 
ting out a crop. He met with such draw" 
backs and endured such privations and 
hardships as fell to the lot of most of the 
old settlers, but he stood steadfastly by 
his choice and increasing years witnessed 
a gradual improvement in his condition. 
After improving liis homestead he was 
enabled in time to purchase other land 
adjoining, buying one liundred and si.xty 
acres, wliich liad some improvement on it. 



He now owns three hundred and sixty 
acres, most of which he has under a 
splendid state of cultivation and well 
stocked. He has lived on his farm most 
of the time since coming to the county, 
and has at all times given to it his personal 
attention. His ])]ace lies onlv about two 
miles from Republican City, being thus 
convenient to martet, schools, churches 
and the like. Mr. Gould clerked in a 
general store in Republican City for a 
number of 3'ears, but, as stated, has been 
interested in his farm at all times. He 
has taken no part in public matters, hav- 
ing no taste for the wranglings of political 
life, but has given his attention strictly to 
his own personal concerns and has met 
with the reward he has deserved by so 
doing. In politics, liowever, Mr. Gould 
affiliates with the republicans and is well 
informed on the general histor}' of the 
country as well as the history of the 
parties. He has been a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows for 
about ten years and has given consider- 
able attention to matters connected with 
that fraternity. During what was known 
as the grassho]iper famine of 1874—75, he 
was one of tiie disbursing agents for Har- 
lan county, appointed by the State Aid 
Society, having supervision of the east 
half of the couiit3\ 

Mr. Gould has been twice married. He 
first married Miss Laura B. Jewell, daugh- 
ter of Andi'ew C. Jewell, of Pennsylvania. 
She died December 2, 1873, leaving only 
one child, Stanton C, who was born 
October 11, 1870. Mr. Gould 'married 
the second time in 1876, taking to wife 
Miss Luella M. Skeels, a daughter of 
Samuel and Amanda M. Skeels, who are 
natives of Ohio and are now resitlin"' in 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



781 



Hepublican City, this state. To this union 
have been born six children as follows — 
Frank J., May, Ethel, Earl, Aggie and 
Harry. 

Mr. Gould has taken great interest in 
the public schools of his community, hav- 
ing served almost continuously', since living 
in the county, on the local school board in 
some caj>acity. He is a man of liberal 
views and sound ideas on educational mat- 
ters, and is enthusiastic in his support of 
educational enterprises. He is a public- 
spirited citizen and foremost of tiiose in 
his vicinity in advancing the welfare of 
all of that community. 



J A. PIPER is the veteran public 
official of Harlan count3\ of which 
he has been a resident for eighteen 
years and twelve of those j'ears 
have been spent in tlie service of tlie 
jieople. A man with such a record is 
deserving of more tiian a passing notice, 
ill a volume like this. 

J. A. Pi|)er is of German and English 
extraction — German on his father's side 
and English on his mother's. The family 
tradition as handed down from father to 
son concerning the origin of his paternal 
ancestrv in this country is that the origi- 
nal Piper on American soil immigrated to 
this country in colonial days and settled 
first in Massaciiusetts. Afterwards he 
went to Canada, and settled in what is 
now Oxford county, Province of Ontario, 
but which was then a wilderness. The 
place wiiere he settled was called Piper's 
Corners, and is so called to this day, being 
nuirked by two churches and a school 
46 



house, which have since been built on the 
site. There was established the seat of 
the subject's family. His paternal grand 
father lived there, his father was born 
there and so was the subject himself. 

Joseph B. Piper was the father of J. A. 
Piper, and, as he was for many years a 
resident of Nebraska and died leaving a 
number of childi-en in the state, it will lie 
worth while recording these facts con- 
cerning him. He came to Nebraska in 
1869, and settled in Nemaha county, and 
lived there some years, subsequenth' mov- 
ing further West to Red Willow county, 
with a view of getting out to where he 
could find cheap lands for his younger 
cliildren. He located and resided there 
till 1887, when, March 16tli of that year, 
he died at his home of heart failure, being 
then in the sixty-second year of his age. 
In his earlier years he was a teacher, but 
after settling in this state he devoted 
himself to farming and stock-raising. He 
led the plain and uneventful life common 
to his calling. If he was distinguished 
for one thing more than another, it was 
for his diligent application to his home 
affairs and his devotion to his faniilj'. 
" Wise in liis daily work was he, 

To fruits of diligence 

And not to faiths or polity 

He plied his utmost sense." 
Mr. Piper's mother bore the maiden 
name of Lucinda Ford. She is still living, 
being now a resident of Red Willow 
county, this state. She was born in Ox- 
ford county, Ont., Canada, and is a 
daughter of Robert Ford, a native of Ire- 
land, but himself born of English parent- 
age. He emigrated to Canada when a 
young man many years ago, and settled 
in Ontario, where he married and after- 
wards lived. 



;s2 



HARLAX COUNTY. 



Joseph B. and Lucinda Piper were the 
parents of eleven children, next to the 
eldest of whom is Joel Alfred, the subject 
proper of this biographical notice. He 
was born, as we have stated, in Oxford 
county, Ont., Canada, June 3, 1851. He 
was mainly reared in his native place and 
was educated partly in the public schools 
of Oxford county and ])artly at home 
under the supervision of his father. He 
was just turned into his eighteenth 3'ear 
when he came to Nebnaska. His iii'st 
3'ears in the state were spent in Nemaha 
county, on his father's farm, which is now 
covered by part of the town of South 
Auburn. Mr. Piper broke the first fur- 
row on that place, it being a raw prairie 
when his father moved there. As soon 
as he became of age so he could take up 
land, he came to Harlan county, settling 
here in June, 1872, and filing at that date 
on a homestead in Alma townsliip on tlie 
head of Methodise creek, about six miles 
northeast of the town of Alma. He took 
this place with a view of making it iiis 
permanent home, and began at once to 
make substantial improvements. He 
started in, as most young men do, in a 
new country, as the saying goes, on the 
bottom round of the ladder. He was in 
the county in time to get his full share of 
the grasshoppers and the dry years, and 
there fell to his lot the same experiences 
that fell to the lot of all the old settlers. 
He stood by his choice, however, con- 
tinued to improve his claim and in course 
of time proved up on it. 

He still owns it and has added to it by 
purchase, until he now has a section and a 
half in a block lying around it, well stocked 
with cattle, horses and hogs, being one of 
as heavy farmers as there is in the county. 



Mr. Piper's first public office in the 
county was that of sheriff. He was 
elected to this in the fall of 1875, and held 
one term. In the fall of 1879 he was 
elected to the office of superintendent of 
public instruction for the county and 
held that one term. Then in the fall of 
1881 he was elected county clerk and has 
since been reelected four terms, being now 
in tlie ninth year of his service in that 
capacity. Being a stanch republican, 
Mr. Piper has always, with one excejHion, 
been elected on the republican ticket. 
For tlie offices of sheriff and superinten- 
dent lie had little or no opposition. For 
the office of clerk he has always had more 
or less, that is at the polls. In his first 
race for the clerk's office lie ran on an 
independent ticket, there being no poli- 
tics in the contest, the election turning on 
the county seat question. In each subse- 
quent race he has been nominated by 
acclamation in convention and opposed at 
tiie polls by the nominees of the demo- 
cratic and prohibition ])arties. The sharp- 
est contest he has ever had was at the 
last election, November, 1889. Iiis ma- 
jority was small, but nevertheless safe. 
Sucli a record as this speaks volumes for 
Mr. Piper's personal popularit3\ The 
office of county clerk in Harlan county is 
one of the best offices in the county. 
There are men without numbers who 
would be glad to get it and many of them 
have tried. But he has held it against 
all opposition since first entering it up to 
to the present time. And tiiis he has 
done where there has been the strongest 
possible feeling, growing out of old eounty 
seat troubles. There is but one explana- 
tion of the matter ; that is, Mr. Piper's 
fair dealino- towards all factions and all 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



783 



parties. He has administered tlie affairs 
of liis office with absolute impartiality, 
and lias regarded his office as a public 
trust, and has conducted himself towards 
the i)eople as their trustee. He is 
thoroughly coni])etent, as all know, and 
he is fearlessly' honest. The other virtues 
of a successful public official he also pos- 
sesses. He is polite, attentive to the 
■wants of all, neat with his work, dispatch- 
ing it with promptness, and he is always 
at his post. It will be years before his 
recoi'd is ecpialled in the county, if indeed 
it ever is. 

Mr. Piper was married February 22, 
1877, to Miss Jennie E. Proctor, daughter 
of William and Maria Proctor, who were 
natives of England but came to America 
in 1856, when Jennie E. was four years 
of age. Thefaniil}' made their first stop 
for a short time at Guelph, Canada, and 
then moved to Kane county. 111., locating 
near Chicago. In 187-1, the}' came to 
Harlan county, Nebr., where they settled 
on a farm adjoining that of the parents 
of our subject. To the union of Mi', and 
IVErs. Piper have been born three children, 
named as follows — Jennie Lou, Helen M. 
and Elsie Ford. Both these parents have 
liresided in the school-room, Mr. Piper 
having begun to teach after he had 
entered his homestead, and also taught 
while serving as sheriff and while Riling 
the position of superintendent of public 
instruction. He taught in Alma, in 1876 
and 1877, receiving the highest salary 
ever paid to a teacher at that place up to 
that time. Mrs. Piper had taught in 
Illinois previous to coining to Nebraska, 
anil is at present engaged at the vocation 
in Harlan county, where she is looked 
upon as fully qualitied for her work. 



CHARLES W. EOSA, a prosperous 
farmer of Sappa township, Harlan 
county, Nebr., was born in New 
York, January 6, 1829, and is a son of 
George Rosa, also a native of New York, 
and born in 1802. From New York, 
George Rosa moved to Marion county, 
Ohio, and thence, in 1819, to Indiana, 
where he died in 1870. In 1824 he was 
married to Miss Filena Garnor, a native of 
Vermont, born in 1805. She migrated 
with her parents to New York, and in 
that state for a number of years was a 
school teacher. To her union with Mr. 
Rosa were born ten cliildren, as follows — 
Willard G. (deceased) ; Lucy P., now Mrs. 
Dr. Lawson, of Maiion county, Ohio; 
Charles W.; William W., a farmer of 
Tippecanoe count}', Ind.; James E. (de- 
cased); Edwin R.; Stephen W., who died 
in 1863 of quick consumption; George 
Riley, who was in the service, and died at 
St. Louis, Mo., of the mumps ; Helen M., 
now Mrs. Mallett, of Cedar county, Nebr.; 
and Caroline, who died when young. 

At the age of ten years, Charles W. 
Rosa was taken by his parents to Marion 
county, Ohio, where he resided until 1853, 
and then moved to Jasper county, Ind.; 
in 1858 he removed to Adams county, 111., 
remained until 1860, and then returned to 
Jasper county, Ind., whence, in 1876, he 
came to Nebraska and located his home- 
stead. With verv few exceptions he has 
had good crops, and at no time has the 
entire family been off the farm for four- 
teen years. 

Mr. Rosa has lieen twice married. His 
first wife was born in Ohio in 1826, and 
bore the maiden name of Barbara Cone. 
She bore two children — Maria Elizabeth 
(the deceased wife of a Mr. Ilite) ami 



784 



HARLAX COUNTY. 



Oren Franklin. The second marriage of 
Mr. Eosa was in 1861, to Mrs. Margaret 
Hiiney, who was born in Indiana in 1833, 
and to this union six children have been 
born, namely— Callie L., now Mrs. Lewis; 
Ada v., now Mrs. King, of Furnas 
county, Nebr.; Clara D., a teacher, at 
home; Samuel Newton, Zilpha Y., now 
Mrs. Tlule, and John W. Rosa. 

Mr. Rosa, although he began life with 
nothing, is now one of the most substantial 
farmers in Harlan count \'. In politics he 
is a democrat; has been justice of the 
peace a number of years, and has also held 
a number of other positions of trust. 



^^M ^ J. MALOY, surveyor and farmer 
I of Sappa townsh ip,IIarlan county, 
jI_ Nebr., was born in Washington 
county. Pa., April 19, 1846, and is of Irish 
and English descent. He was reared on a 
farm, but received a good education, and at 
the age of seventeen began teaching school, 
following the vocation in Washington 
county. Pa., and also at Lacona and Pal- 
myra, Warren county, Iowa, having left 
his native county in 1868. While thus 
engaged, he mastered Davis' System of 
Surveying, and later bought an instru- 
ment. In 1870, he engaged with John 
Hoyt, county survej'or of AVarren county, 
Iowa, and survej'ed one half the county, 
while Mr. Hoyt surveyed the other half. 
In 1871, Mr. Hoyt's official term expired, 
when our subject went to Chicago to study 
further the science of surveying under 
Avandernailen (Room 41 Reynolds Block), 
a graduate from a French institution. The 
tuition fee was $20 per month, and at 



the end of two months Mr. Maloy had 
completed his course. He then returned 
to Warren county, Iowa, \vas elected 
county surveyor and filled the office until 
March 4, 1873, when he resigned and 
came to Harlan county, IS'ebr., at the in- 
ducement of his former emjjloyer, Mr. 
Hoyt. He located on sections 11 and 12, 
township 2, range 20, and engaged himself 
in surveying for settlers. In 1877, he re- 
turned to Iowa and employed himself in 
teaching and farming at Indianola. In 
1881 he went into the grocery business, in 
which he continued until 1883, when he 
came again to Nebraska and settled on 
section 13, township 2, range 20, and en- 
gaged in farming. He was then worth 
$3,000 ; at the present he owns four hun- 
dred and eighty-six acres of good land, 
well stocked ami imjiroved, and is engaged 
in breeding thorough-bred Poland-China 
hogs. 

Mr. Maloy was married, October 22, 
1879, to Miss Nancy Shrewsbury', a native 
of Indiana, of Irish and English descent, 
born September 27, 1855, and to this union 
have been born four children, namely — 
Walter C, February 10,1881; Jeff.'L., 
August 19, 1882 ; John W., March 21, 
1884, and Mary M., May 22, 1886. Mr. 
and Mrs. Maloy are members of the Pres- 
byterian church. In politics he is a pi'o- 
hibitionist, and for four years after his 
arrival in Nebraska served as county sur- 
veyor, declining further election. On his 
first coming to the state buffalo were 
quite common and were frequently in 
close view of his cabin. During the mem- 
orable Easter storm of 1873, Mr. Maloy 
was attending to his official duties, sevent}'- 
five miles west of his home, when, with 
nine othei's, he was compelled to seek 



I 



HARLAN COUNTY 



785 



refuge in a log cabin, twelve by fourteen 
feet, where tiiree days were passed in 
telling stories, singing songs and discussing 
different topics to while away the monot- 
onous hours, and in devouring dried buf- 
falo meat and molasses to retain the life 
within them. 

Thomas Maloy, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, was of Irish descent and 
was born in Frederick, Va., October 10, 
1806. He was a farmer by vocation, and 
from his native state moved to Pennsyl- 
vania. In 1831, he married Miss Margaret 
Gregg, who was born in 1818, in "Wash- 
ington county, Pa., was of English descent 
and died in 1850. After marriage, 
Thomas Maloy moved to Warren county, 
Iowa, and there died, September 2, 1872, 
lamented by all who knew him and hon- 
ored for the life of integrity that he had 
lived. Tlie children born to Thomas and 
Margaret Maloy were seven in number, 
and were named as follows — Sarah (Mrs. 
Bundy), of Ackworth, a miller by occupa- 
tion, Warren county, Iowa, now deceased; 
James H., of Washington county. Pa., a 
farmer and teacher ; Elizabeth (Mrs. Es- 
sick), wife of a farmer in Harlan county 
Nebr.; John, who enlisted in Company K, 
One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania 
volunteers and fell in the battle of the 
Wilderness, in 1861; Margaret, in Des 
Moines, Iowa ; T. J., the subject of this 
sketch,and William,whodied December 10, 
1868. His ancestors were, as far as known, 
strong republicans, as well as himself. 
But, seeing the enormous political and 
moral evil growing out of the liquor trafKc, 
he has become an uncompromising foe to 
the present liquor law, and it is his earnest 
desire to see the prohibition amendment 
engrafted in every state in the Union. 



JOHN M. JOHNSON, one of the 
early farmers of Sappa township, 
Harlan county, Nebr., was born in 
Sweden in 1819, and was reared to 
farming. His father, P. Johnson, was 
born in 1828, and is still a resident of 
Sweden, where lie is engaged in farming. 
In 1870 he paid a visit to America, and 
was so much pleased with the country 
that he thinks of coming again. In 1818 
he married Guner Anderson, who was 
born in 1819, and who bore six children, 
namely — August, now a farmer in Har- 
lan county ; Harry, in Furnas county, 
Nebr.; Christina, now Mrs. Anderson, in 
Sweden ; Andrew, of Colorado, now on a 
visit to Sweden; Tilda, now Mrs. Bolin, 
in Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are 
both members of the Lutheran church. 

In 1869 John M. Johnson came to 
America and for two years worked by 
the month on a farm in Illinois. In 1871 
he came to Nebraska and settled on sec- 
tion 21, township 2, range 20, having a 
capital of $150. At that time there were 
only four or five inhabitants of Sappa 
township ; Kearney was the nearest post- 
office, and the trading post was sixty-five 
miles away. The country was full of 
hostile Indians, and three hundred or four 
hundred camped about a mile from Mr. 
Johnson's cabin. About three hundred 
soldiers, under Capt. Madden, of Fort 
Hayes, camped where our subject's barn 
now stands, and the soldiers' pit and 
target are still to be seen near the spot. 
Buffalo meat was the principal article of 
food, and buffalo moccasins took the 
place of boots. At one time Mr. Johnson 
had ten acres of corn tramped down by 
the buffalo, but he has had his compensa- 
tion in killing two of them for foot!. 



786 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



Sevei-al times he saw and met tribes of 
Indians, but no sei ious encounter occurred. 
One morning, in 1872, he heard a noise 
on the roof of tiie dug-out, and he got his 
gun out and ready to fire, thinking the 
noise was made by Indians, but it proved 
to be buffalo hoolcing the roof. Another 
time he witnessed a herd of five hundred 
mire in a creelc, and out of that number 
he got two. In the fall of 1873, Mr. 
Johnson, in company with three others, 
started out on a tour across the sand hills 
to Reckerce. Three days before Christ- 
mas they met a band of Pawnee Indians, 
who advised them to go back, as the 
country was full of Sioux. Utes and 
Clieyennes, but Mi'. Johnson and his 
friends went on and reached Keckerce 
after having been witiiout water for three 
davs for themselves and team. They 
killed four buffalo during those three 
davs. They went on to the Smoky river 
and came to a camp that looked as though 
white men had been there, and further on 
they found two men digging a grave for 
a companion named Brown that had been 
killed by the Cheyenne Indians the day 
before. They returned home safely with 
a load of buffalo meat. 

In 1885 Mr. Joimson was married to 
Amanda Anderson, a native of Sweden 
and born in 1850. She came to America 
in 1871, and located in Illinois, whence she 
moved to Nebraska in 1885, being at that 
time a widow. Two children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson — Edward 
in 1886 and Walter in 1888. The parents 
are constant attendants of the Lutheran 
church. Mr. Johnson now owns a quar- 
ter section of land, with eighty acres 
under cultivation. In 18S5 Mr. Johnson 
was elected a justice of the peace in Sappa 



townshi|), and held that office until \i 
when he was elected a member of the 
countv board of Harlan countv. 



/% LBERT C. EOBBINS, a promi- 

/ \ nent citizen of Sappa township, 
X \. Harlan county, Nebr., was born 
in Julv, 1818, in Jefferson county, N. Y., 
and was I'eared on the home farm. In 
1839 he went to Alton, 111., where he 
taught school one .year, and also clerked 
in a store ; he then went to Woodville, 
Wilkerson county. Miss., where lie again 
engaged in teaching for a while, and then 
retui'ned home, where he passed two years. 
His health being somewliat impaired, he 
sought Wisconsin for a change of air, and 
in 1845 or 1846 located at Ripon, where 
for twenty years he was engaged in the 
lumber and wheat business. He then 
went to Chickasaw county, Iowa, where 
for five years he was in the milling and 
furniture business. In 1871 he came to 
Nebraska and preempted a claim on sec- 
tion 22, township 2, range 20, whicii he 
still owns. His nearest trading point was 
Grand Island, one hundred miles away, 
but later on Melrose was started and soon 
had a population of over two hundred, 
and better facilities were had. 

In politics Mr. Robbins is an Alliance 
democrat and has been intrusted with 
several important public trusts. For seven 
vears he served as county judge; for two 
years as justice of the peace, and for 
sometime was postmaster at Orleans. He 
is also president of the local organization 
of the Farmers' Alliance, and is a Master 
Mason. 

The marriage of Mr. Robbins took place 
in 1847 to Miss CvnthiaO. Wilson, a native 



of Cleveland, Ohio, born in 1830. To 
this union have been born eight children, 
in the following order — Frank, in the 
State of Washington ; Carrie, now Mrs. 
Wilson, in Wilsonville, Nebr., which 
town was named after her husband, a 
merchant ; Elizabeth, deceased wife of 
Mr. Gibson, hardware dealer of Wilson- 
ville ; Euth, now Mrs. Mayer, in Wash- 
ington ; Olive, now Mrs. Wheeler, in 
Furnas county, Nebr.; Eunice M., assis- 
tant postmaster at Orleans; Walter, at 
home, and Millie, attentling school at 
Orleans. The mother of these children is 
a conscientious member of the Presbyte- 
rian church. 

The family from which our subject 
springs is one of the oldest in America. 
John Robbins, the first to reach our 
shores, immigrated from England and 
settled at Weathersfield, Conn., in 1638. 
Of the fifth generation from John was Aus- 
tin Robbins, who was born in Weathers- 
field, Conn., in 1786, and who was the 
father of our subject. He married Eunice 
Morton, who was of the fifth generation 
born in this country of Richard Morton, 
a Scotch blacksmith, who landed at Ply- 
mouth from the " Little Jane," July, 1623, 
and settled in Hatfield, Mass. Austin 
Robbins moved from New Marlboro, 
Mass., to Jefferson county, N. Y., in 1800, 
living there until his death, which occur- 
red in 1865. 



NICOLAI NIELSEN, one of the 
most prominent farmers of Sappa 
township, Plarlan county, Nebr., 
was born in Germany in 1853. His father, 
Peter Nielsen, was born in 1820, was a 



prosperous farmer, and died in his native 
country, Germany, in 1862, a member of 
the Lutheran church. In 1851 he married 
Maria Anderson, who was born in 1830 
and died in 187-i, the mother of five chil- 
dren, namely — Nicolai (our subject), Ida 
(Mrs. Clausen), in Germany; Andrew at 
Oxford, Harlan county, Nebr.; Maggie 
(Mrs. Ilellner), and Peter, in partnership 
with Andrew in the hardware business at 
Oxford. 

Nicolai Nielsen attended school in his 
native land until sixteen years of age, and 
then superintended the home farm for his 
widowed mother until 1872, when he came 
to America. Here he first bought a 
quarter section of land in Saunders coun- 
ty, Nebr., and while working it lived with 
an uncle. In a short time, however, he 
rented out the place and engaged in 
freighting one summer from Sidney, Nebr., 
to the Black Hills; the following fall he 
engaged in selling and buying cattle, at 
which he prospered, but in a short time 
returned to Germany to look after his 
property interests there. In 1878 became 
back to America, rented out the farm 
again, and commenced dealing in cattle 
and feeding and dealing in horses. He 
then sold his farm in Saunders count3r and 
in partnership with his brothers, Andrew 
and Peter, bought land in Harlan county, 
and continued to purchase as chances 
offered until the firm owned twelve hun- 
dred and eighty acres. He now jjossesses 
in his own right six hundred and fifty-five 
acres well stocked. He takes a special 
interest in fine horses, and owns four of 
the best in the countv, ranging in value 
from $1,200 to .$2,000, three of them being 
imported. He is also proprietor of the 
popular Stanford House at Stanford. 



788 



HA ULAN COUNTY. 



In 1881 Mr. Nielsen nuirried Miss Car- 
rie Casse, a native of Illinois, born in 1865, 
who has borne two children— Anna and 
Arthur. Mr. Nielsen is an Odd Fellow; 
in politics he is a republican, and has been 
town treasurer four or five vears. 



JUDSON A. PALMER, one of the 
first settlers of Sappa township, Har- 
lan county, Nebr., is a son of Silas and 
Adelia (Champlain) Palmer, and was 
boi-n in Michigan in 1841. Silas Palmer 
was a native of New York, born in 1814. 
He was a farmer and a prosperous one, 
being worth, at the time of his death, 
which occurred in Michigan in 186.5, not 
less than $12,000 to $15,000. He was a 
devoted member of the Baptist church, in 
which for years he filled the position of 
deacon. He was married in 1839, and 
there were born to him six children, as 
follows — Judson A.; Ellen, now Mrs. 
Laine, of Michigan; Amelia, widow of a 
Mr. Stone, and residing in Hudson, Mich.; 
Sarah, now" Mrs. Darling, of Kansas; 
Byron, a resident of Michigan ; and 
Homer, who died in infancy. All the 
girls were teachers, and Ellen, a graduate 
from Adrian College, Mich., was principal 
at one time of the public schools of Hud- 
son in the same state. 

Judson A. Palmer remained with his 
parents until 1862, when he enlisted in 
Comjiany C, Eighteenth Michigan infan- 
tr}'. He took part in many severe en- 
e:ao:ements and was mustered out at Nash- 
ville, Tenn., in 1865, but received his final 
discharge and pay at Jackson, Mich. He 
then rejoined his parents, and in 1868 was 



united in marriageto Miss Julia Chapman, 
who was born in Miciiicran in 1S4S. Eight 
children have blessed this union and are 
named Alfreil, Homer, Mabel, Orville, 
Eugene, Bertie, Ina and Leslie. 

In the sjn-ing of 1869, Mr. Palmer 
bought a farm in Phelps county. Mo., on 
which he resided two years, and then came 
to Nebraska and located on section 22, 
township 2, range 20, Harlan count\', but 
two years later came to his present home 
on section 26, township 2, range 20. In- 
dians and buffalo abounded in those days. 
Snow storms were not unfrequent. On 
one occasion Mr. Palmer and others lay 
out for three days in one of those bliz- 
zards, and it was so severe that it be- 
came necessary to ai)ply the black-snake 
(whip) to one of the part\' and drive him 
around the fire until he could get up a cir- 
culation of blood. 

Mr. Palmer is an active member of the 
Christian church, and for a long time was 
Sabbath-school superintendent. He is a 
Master Mason and in ]iolitics is a republi- 
can. 



GEORGE W. PASSMORE, one 
of the best known and highly 
esteemed citizens of Harlan 
county, Nebr., is a native of Chester 
count}', Pa., and was born October 24, 
1834. Plis parents, George and Phcebe 
(Harlan) Passmore, were both natives of 
the same county. Hisgrandfather, George 
Passmore, was born in Pennsylvania, 
and was of Welsh descent. George Pass- 
more, our subject's father, was a miller by 
trade, but followed contracting consider- 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



78!) 



ably, and was a successful man of affairs 
until 1835, when he failed, losing his all. 
He then moved to Ohio with his family of 
small children in 1838. He died in 1872, 
surviving his wife one year. George W. 
Passniore worked in Jennings count^^lnd., 
with a carpenter, in 1853, but worked at 
the trade only a short time. In 1856 he 
engaged in the milling business, and con- 
tinued in that business for several years. 
He was burnt out in the spring of 1863, 
losing $500 more than he was worth, but 
he rebuilt and did a successful business for 
three j'ears. In 1866 he disposed of his 
interest in the mill and purchased a farm 
in the woods in Jennings, which he cleared 
and worked successfully for six years. 
He came to Nebraska in the fall of 1873, 
settling in Otoe county, where he con- 
tinued his vocation as a farmer. In 1879 
he disposed of his farm and came to 
Harlan count}^ in 1880, purchasing a 
homestead right in Scandinavia town- 
ship, where he now has one of the finest 
farms in the county. 

Mr. Passmore was married December 
25, 1856, the lady of his choice being Miss 
Sarah J. Haycock, daughter of Milton and 
Rebecca Haycock. She was born in Ohio 
in 1839, and is of good ancestry. They have 
had nine cliildren, nameh' — Rebecca E., 
Alvernon (deceased), Elizabeth (deceased,) 
Martha J., Milton (deceased), Harlan (de- 
ceased), Morton (decease<l), William (de- 
ceased), and Minnie F. Mr. Passmore has 
three hundred and twenty acres of land, all 
well improved and in a good state of culti- 
vation. He has been county supervisor for 
several years, but is not an aspirant to 
public position. He is a republican in 
whom there is no guile, and is jirominent 
in political affairs in his own count}'. He 



and his estimable wife are honored mem- 
bers of the Baptist church, and have been 
for more than a quarter of a century, and 
both stand high in the estimation of all 
who know them. 



MORRIS SANDSTED was among 
the very first settlers of Harlan 
county. He filed on a home- 
stead on Turkey creek in the fall of 1873, 
and was about the first man to settle in 
the northern part of the count}'. Wild 
game was plenty, but settlers were few 
and far between. He has experienced al- 
most every phase of frontier life, and 
although he has seen some hard times, he 
has passed through them all and is now 
one of the most prosperous farmers in 
the county. 

Mr. Sandsted is a native of Sweden, and 
was born September 22, 1848. He was 
reared on a farm, received a good educa- 
tion, and came to the United States in 
the spring of 1868, landing at New York 
city. He came West to Ciiicago and 
thence to Henry county. 111., where he 
obtained employment on a farm for a few 
years ; also spent two years in Des Moines, 
Iowa, and then came to Nebraska. 

Mr. Sandsted was married March 5,1874, 
the woman of his choice being Miss Han- 
nah Jenson, who came to America from 
Sweden in 1871. Their family consists of 
five children, as follows — Edward, Annie, 
Emma, Willie and Millie. 

Mr. Sandsted has three bundled and 
twent}' acres of fine land, all of which is 
well improved, and his buildings are com- 
modious and substantial. He takes great 



790 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



interest in keeping his fai'm and buildings 
in good shape, and in supplying himself 
with every convenience known to the 
successful agriculturist. He is a breeder 
of Short-horned cattle and has some fine 
specimens to show as a result of his efforts 
in this direction. Mr. Sandsted has never 
sought political positions, but he has been 
called u})on to fill some important public 
offices. He established Grover post-office 
and was the efficient postmaster of the 
same from 1875 to 1880, and subsequently 
served as postmaster of Scandinavia un- 
til the office was discontinued a few years 
ago. Has been justice of the peace two 
years, and has tilled various other local 
offices. He is republican in politics, 
although no politician. He is one of the 
representative men of Harlan count}', 
however, and no doubt could have any 
office he would choose to ask for, but he 
prefers the more quiet pursuits of life. 
He and his estimable wife are zealous 
members of tiie Free Mission church. 



MADISON J. CRESS is one of the 
first settlers of Spring Grove 
township, Harlan county, Nebr. 
He is a native of Virginia and was born 
east of the Blue Ridge mountains October 
17, 1819, a son of Jacob and Jane (More) 
Cress, the former a native of Germany, 
and the latter of Virginia. The senior 
Cress moved to Illinois in 1831, locating 
in Knox county, where he followed farm- 
ing for many years. He was in the War 
of 1812 and saw some severe times. He 
died in 1858 and his faithful wife in 1859. 
Madison Cress, the subject of this notice, 



started out soon after attaining his major- 
ity, to make his own way through the 
world. Being reared on a farm, he natu- 
rally felt himself adapted to pursue that 
vocation, and accordingly begun life's 
struggle in Knox county, 111., where he 
followed farming with considerable suc- 
cess for several years. Mr. Cress came to 
Harlan countv, Nebr., in the spring of 
1872, and was one of the first to settle 
in this region. He took a ju-e-emption on 
Spring Creek, but subsequently home- 
steaded a claim near by. His nearest 
neighbors were eight miles distant, and the 
countrv thereabouts was one vast, un- 
broken prairie. Great herds of buffalo 
roamed about the vicinity, and other wild 
game was ]ilentiful. Indians were also 
quite numerous and were frequently vis- 
itors to the settlers' cabins. Mr. Cress 
ke])t his family well supplied with venison 
and buffalo meats, and relates several in- 
teresting exploits of his own in chasing 
buffalo in his pioneer days. He was a 
victim of the terrible grasshopper scourge, 
having suffered from the total destruction 
of his crop. He built his first house out of 
railroad ties which had been cut but which 
the Indians refused to have hauled away. 
Mr. Cress and some of the older members 
of his family have seen some of the ups 
and downs of frontier life and are per- 
fectlj' familiar with most of the hardships 
incident to that time. 

Mr. Cress was married November 29, 
1843 to Eliza A. Annis, a native of the 
State of Maine and born in the year 1820. 
Her parents were also natives of the same 
state and emigrated to Illinois in an early 
day. There have been born to this union 
nine children, as follows — Royal A., born 
September 20, 184:7; Ellison A., born De- 



HAULAN COUNTY. 



;oi 



ceinber 17, ISiS; Sarah J., burn Oclober 
25, 1850; Bessie A., born February 8, 
1852; Emma, born October 25, 1854; Eva, 
born August 23, 1856; Andrew J., born 
June 7, 1858; Henry C, born March 3, 
1860. and George W., born August 20, 
1862. 

In politics Mr. Cress is independent. 
He is a slave to no clique or party, but sup- 
ports whom he chooses. He owns an estate 
of six hundred and sixty acres of land, 
most of \\'hich is under a good state of 
cultivation. In 1887 he erected a sub- 
stantial frame house and has from time to 
time made other improvements equally 
im|)ortant. He is engaged in raising all 
kinds of stock and is regarded as a careful, 
conservative man, who goes to the very 
bottom of everything before investing 
his money. 



SILAS W. DANIELS, one of the 
successful farmers and stock-raisers 
of Harlan county, Nebr., was born 
in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., April 2, 
1847. His parents were Lewis W. and 
Mary (Chase) Daniels, of whom the former 
was a native of York State and the latter 
of New Hampshire. Lewis W. Daniels 
was by occupation a farmer and at one 
time was captain of a state militia com- 
pany ; he also filled various local offices 
in his native state and was a man of high 
repute with his neiglibors. His death 
took place in 1881, having been preceded 
to the grave by his wife in 1853. The 
boyhood days of Silas W. Daniels were 
passed in assisting his father on the farm 



and attending the district school, and sub- 
sequently a select school, and he thus suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a good knowledge of 
the common branches of an English edu- 
cation. In 1S69 he started out in life for 
himself and migrated to Grundy count}'-, 
111., where for four years he engaged in 
farming; he then came to Nebraska, lo- 
cating in Sarpy county, and in the spring 
of 1875 purchased a farm, on which he 
resided nine years. In the fall of 1884 he 
moved to Harlan county ami bought the 
land in Spring Grove township, on which 
he now resides. 

The marriage of Mr. Daniels took place 
Septeml)er 12, 1869, to Miss Ella Moore, 
who was born in the State of New York 
in 1842. Tills congenial union has been 
blessed by the birth of four children, as 
follows — Lelah, born August 3J, 1872; 
Lewis W., born March 18, 1879; Mary, 
born January 9, 1882 aiul Charlie, born 
June 25, 1887. 

Mr. Daniels is the owner of four hun- 
dred and forty acres of rich land, which 
is under a high state of cultivation. He 
makes a specialty of the raising of cattle 
and hogs and is classed among the most 
successful stockmen of the country. Care- 
ful and conservative, he goes to the bottom 
of everything, making a thorough investi- 
gation of all surrounding circumstances 
before making an investment or entering 
upon any project, however promising. He 
stands high in the estimation of his neiola- 
bors and is regarded as one of the comino- 
men of Harlan county. Although inde- 
pendent in politics, he has been intrusted 
with the office of county supervisor, and 
for nearly six years has performed its 
duties to the entire satisfaction of his con- 
stituents. 



793 



IIARLAy COUXTV 



JOSEPH B. McNEW, one of the young 
and enterprising farmers of Harlan 
count3', is a native of Kentucky, born 
in the village of Booneville, Owsley 
county, October 29, 1855, and is a son of 
Moses and Clarissa (Jones) NcNew, the 
former a native of Virginia and the latter 
of Kentucky. The senior McNew was a 
physician, practicing for several years 
with success prior to iiis death, which oc- 
curred in 1S59. The mother of our sub- 
ject and her eight children came to Har- 
lan county, Nebr., in the spring of 1872, 
and homesteaded land in Spring Grove 
township, where she I'esided nearly four- 
teen years. In 1885 she removed to 
Washington, Lincoln county, wdiere she 
continues to reside. Josepli B. McN"ew, 
the subject of this biograpiiical notice, 
pre-empted a piece of land in Spring 
Grove township, in 1879, on which he 
lived for several years. He was married 
January 1, 1879, taking to share his life's 
fortunes Miss Eva Cress, a daughter of 
Madison J. Cress, asketcii of wiiom will be 
found in this work. This congenial union 
has resulted in tlie birth of two children — 
Floyd L., born November 19, 1879, and 
William L., born February 11, 1887. Mr. 
McNew is a stanch republican in politics 
and is well posted on the doctrines of that 
party. While he has not been an aspir- 
ant for office, he has been called upon to 
fill some positions of no little responsibility 
and trust. He has filled the office of as- 
sessor for nine consecutive years, and has 
always given the best of satisfaction. He 
remembers well when there were plenty 
of Indians in Harlan county, and when 
buffalo, elk and deer roamed over the 
surrounding prairies in great herds. Set- 
tlers, in those davs, were few and far 



between and the country was one vast 
unbroken prairie. He is therefore famil- 
iar with almost every ])hase of pioneer 
life in Harlan county, and he, in common 
with those around iiim, has endured some 
of the hardsliips and privations incident 
to the early settlement of any new coun- 
tr}'. He and his estimable wife are zeal- 
ous members of the Methodist Protestant 
church, and earnest and enthusiastic work- 
ers in every new cause. He has one 
hundi'ed and sixty acres of rich land, 
which he has under cultivation. He is an 
industrious and hard working young man 
and stands high in the estimation of his 
fellowmen. 



GEOEGE A. BELL, the subject 
of this sketch, is a native of 
Meigs county, Ohio, and was 
born Ma}^ 24, 1854. His father, Fi'ancis 
Bell, is a native of Pennsylvania, and his 
mother, who bore the maiden name of 
Rebecca Thompson, is a native of Oliio. 
In 1863, after several years' residence in 
the Buckeye State, the parents moved to 
Vermillion county, Ind.j and in 1868 to 
Cedar county, Iowa, where they have 
since continued to reside. The senior Bell 
is a carpenter by trade, and while a resi- 
dent of Ohio he worked at repairing and 
building boats and barges on the Ohio 
river for several years. Upon his removal 
to Iowa, he purchased a farm and he has 
since given his attention almost wholly to 
agricultural pursuits. The Bell family 
are of Scotch-Irish extraction, the pater- 
nal grandfather William Bell, having 
emigrated from Ireland in an early day. 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



793 



George A. Bell is one of a family of five 
children, and his early life was passed 
with his parents ; he attended the com- 
mon and public schools in the locality 
where he lived, and also spent a few 
terms in the Wilton (Iowa) Collegiate 
Institute. lie was a close student and 
made such progress in his studies that in 
a short time he obtained a certificate 
and taught school for several terms 
ver}^ successfull_y. Not caring to make 
teaching a jjrofession, he engaged in 
farming for himself in ISSO. In the 
spring of 1886 Mr. Bell moved to Harlan 
county, Nebr., and purchased unimproved 
land in Spring Grove township. The 
country was new, and time and much 
patience were required for its improve- 
ment. It was full}^ three years before 
Mr. Bell realized any thing lilce a crop, as 
a comjDensation for the vast amount of 
time and labor expended in breaicing 
sod and getting it ready for cultivation. 
In 1887 he erected a handsome and sub- 
stantial frame house and a commodious 
barn, which add materially to the appear- 
ance of his farm and the country around it. 
Mr. Bell was married February 1, 1881, 
to Miss Nina J. Stewart. She was a 
native of Scott count}', Iowa, born Decem- 
ber 23, 1860, and is the daughter of 
Sidney A. and Alice A. (Osborne) Stew- 
art, both of whom are natives of Meigs 
county, Ohio. Sidney A. Stewart moved 
to Iowa in 1855, but returned to his native 
county in Ohio in 1SC3. He was twice 
married and is the fatiier of fifteen chil- 
dren, thirteen of whom were by his second 
wife. The paternal grandfather, James 
11. Stewart, was born near Albany, 
N. Y., in 18(10. He came West in 
1830, settling in Meigs county, Ohio, is 



still living and is hale and hearty. He was 
an original whig and a prominent aboli- 
tionist, but was one of the organizers 
and chief pi-omoters of the republican 
party, and has voted in his day for many a 
])resident. The paternal great grandfatlier 
was also James II. Stewart. He was born 
in New York State and died in 1865, at 
the I'cjnarkable age of 93 years. The 
Stewarts are a long-lived race. 

Mr. and Mrs. George A. Bell have five 
children, namely — Joy L.,born March 15, 
1882; Glennie L., born August 13, 1883; 
Alice R., born October 7, 1881 ; Bonnie 
N. born November 28, 1887 ; and Blythe 
S., born January 24, 1889. Mr. Bell is a 
member of the Farmers' Alliance, and has 
always been a stanch advocate of the 
principles of the republican party. His 
farm comprises four hundred acres, all 
fenced and a goodly portion under cul- 
tivation. He is a careful, judicious farmer 
and has succeeded remarkably well. 



JOHN BURTCHET, one of the hon- 
ored pioneers of Harlan county, is a 
native of Lawrence county, Ky., and 
was born May 27, 18-I-7. He is a 
son of Oliver and Lurauid (Foster) Burt- 
chet, both of whom were natives of Ken- 
tucky. The parents of our subject died in 
ISoS, when he was only seven years old. 
He was therefore thrown upon his own, 
I'esources at a very early ]ieriod of his life, 
but, it is said, " Where there is a will there 
is a way," and John Burtchet found a 
wa}' to get along. At fourteen years of 
age he crossed the jjlains to Salt Lake 



794 



EARL AX COUNTY. 



City and spent several years during the 
early period of his life in the mountains. 
He found employment at various occupa- 
tions, and being of an industrious turn of 
mind was never in want of a good job at 
fair wages. He followed teaming mostly 
but was engaged in mining some of the 
time. He saw some tough times, but 
lived through them all. He mingled with 
Indians considerably, but always found 
them friendly. 

Mr. Burtchet came to Harlan county, 
Nebr., April 22, 1871, and took a home- 
stead at that date, on Spring Creek, 
north of the Eepublican Elver valley, on 
which he settled and began life in true 
pioneer style. Tljere was no settlement 
at that time in that section of the country. 
The prairie was covered with great herds 
of buffalo, deer and antelope, and wolves 
made the night hideous with their yelp. 
Mr. Burtchet passed through the grass- 
hopper famine and saw his crop disappear 
before the pesky wari'iors, and was a 
heavy looser, having one hundred and 
sixtv acres of corn, almost in roastms: ears, 
all destroyed. The following year he 
had eighty acres taken, a loss which he 
feels almost at tiie present time. 

On April 20, 187-1, he was married to 
Miss Emily Getty, a native of New York 
State. Tiiey have iiad seven chiklren, as 
follows — Mariette, llolson E., Harriet A., 
Annie L., Cecil, William and John E- 
Mr. Burtchet was appointed postmaster 
of the Grand A^iew office in 1878, a posi- 
tion he held for nearly three years. He 
i-s a republican in whom tiiere is no guile 
antl an active woi'ker in the interests of 
that organization. He owns one hundred 
and sixtv acres of land lying along the 
Spring creek, and tiiere is not a richer 



and more productive piece of land in the 
county. He is a clever, whole-souled man 
and ranks high in the estimation of all 
who know him. 



SAMUEL McNEES, farmer of Eeu- 
ben township, Harlan county, 
Nebr., is a native of Indiana, and 
was born in 1831. His father, Jehu Mc- 
Nees, was born in Marj'land in 1791, and 
from that state went to Tennessee ; thence 
he moved to Indiana, and in 1854 to War- 
ren county, Iowa. He was a farmer by 
occupation, and a successful one. He 
served in the War of 1812, and was truly 
a patriotic American. In politics he was 
first a whig, but later became a repub- 
lican. He died in Iowa, a consistent 
member of the Christian church. His 
wife, Mary (Yeckley) McXees, whom he 
married in 1815, was also a native of 
Maryland, and was born in 1797. To 
these ]iarents were born six children, as 
follows — Mrs. Sallie Puckett (deceased), 
Mrs. Lucinda Green way, Mrs. Susan Huff- 
man, Mrs. Marion Huffman (deceased), 
Samuel, the subject of this sketcli, and 
Andrew, who died voung'. 

Samuel McNees went toWarren couniy, 
Iowa, with his father in 1851, and from 
that time dates his business life. In 1862, 
he enlisted in Company B, Thirty-fourth 
Iowa infantry, in which he served until 
the close of the war, when he was mustered 
out at Chicago, in 1865. He then returned 
to Iowa, wliere he was engaged in farm- 
ing until 1872, when he came to Nebraska. 
At that time the country was a wikl atul 
desolate waste, and buffalo and anleloj)e 



HAUL AX COUNTY. 



795 



roamed the prairie in unmolested freedom. 
The fortune of Mr. McNees, on coming 
here, consisted of four teams and a wagon 
and $400 to $500 in cash ; he is now the 
possessor of a half section of land, two 
Imndred acres of which are in a fine state 
of cultivation. The family, however, own 
eight hundred and eightv acres, Mr. Mc- 
Nees having been the chief agent in 
securing this large property. 

Mr. McNees has been an extensive 
traveler and has visited twenty-three 
states, and there is nothing he enjoys 
more than an occasional excursion. In 
politics, he is an active republican, and 
has served as county supervisor three 
terms and as assessor one term ; he has 
also been a member of the school board 
ten years. His religious faith is that of 
the United Brethren. 

The marriage of Mr. McNees took place 
in 1853, to Miss Phebe Right, a native of 
Indiana, born in 1834. To this union 
have been born eight children, namel}' — 
William, in Harlan county; Susan, wife of 
Rev. Pohemus, a United Brethren minis- 
ter ; Mrs. TuUey, wife of a farmer and 
stock raiser in Oregon; Mrs. Mary Yapp, 
in Franklin county, Nebr.; Mrs. Ann Jane 
Melton, in Lincoln county, Nebr.; George, 
in Oregon; John and Florence, at home. 

Mr. McNees was a natural-born liunter, 
and has roamed the plains and mountains 
from the eastern line of Indiana to the 
Pacific coast, and from the Gulf of Mexico 
to the Northern lakes, and has killed all 
kinds of game that abound in those 
regions, both small and great, from the 
black squirrel of Indiana up to the buffalo 
of the plains and the grizzly of the mount- 
ains ; he has slept out in the open air half 
the time since 1SC2. He is now sixty 



years old and would walk two hundred 
miles to get a single shot at a buffalo or a 
grizzly. He loves nature more than art, 
and his delight is to get where man has 
not despoiled the work of nature. 



STEPHEN MORGAN, one of the 
early settlers of Reuben township, 
Harlan county, Nebr., is a native 
of Ohio, and was born in 1844. James 
Albert Morgan, father of Stephen, was 
born in Genesee county, N. Y., in 1816. 
He first moved to Ohio, and thence, in 
1846, to Cold Spring, Jefferson county, 
Wis., where he was employed in agri- 
cultural pursuits until 1878, when he 
came to Nebraska. Ho was a class-leader 
for years in the United Brethren church, 
and in politics was a representative repub- 
lican, having held several important town- 
ship offices under the auspices of that 
party. In 1842 he married Miss Jerusha 
Payne, who was born in Ohio in 1822, and 
who was a school teacher. She bore him 
ten children, of whom the fifth, seventh 
and eighth died in infancv. The others 
were — Elizabeth and Mary (both now de- 
ceased), Stephen, Daniel, William, Frank- 
lin A. and Lincoln Grant. 

Stephen Morgan was but two years of 
age when he was taken to Wisconsin by 
his parents. His years were passed on the 
home farm until the breaking out of the 
Civil war, when he enlisted in Company 
H, Thirteenth Wisconsin infantry. He 
took part in a number of the principal en- 
gagements and in manv skirmishes, but 
was ruptured in a railroad wreck near 
Richmond, Va., and has drawn a pension 



790 



HA It LAX COUNTY 



ranging from $4 to $14 per month from 
the date of his discharge, having been 
mustered out December 24, 1S65, at San 
Antonio, Texas. He returned to Wiscon 
sin and farmed until 1871, when he came 
to Nebraska, locating first in Lincoln, Lan- 
caster county, where he resided a year 
and a half. In 1872 he came to his pres- 
ent home, where he lias passed through all 
the vicissitudes of pioneer life, the countr}^ 
at that time being a wilderness and in- 
fested with Indians, but abounding with 
game. Some eight or ten buffalo have 
fallen victims to Mr. Morgan's prowess, 
and snuiller aniuuils in untold numbers. 
When became here he was $170 in debt, 
but was skilled in his vocation, was indus- 
trious and economical, and now owns a 
tract of three hundred and twenty acres 
of good land, well stocked and improved 
with one of the finest dwellings in the 
country. 

The marriage of Mr. Moi'gan took place 
in 1868, to Miss Addie Storm, who has 
borne him four children, namely — Leo 
Leslie, born January 11, 1870; Albert P., 
born July 22, 1875 ; Ada Pearl, who died 
March 2, 1885, when but two monihs old; 
and Daisy Gertrude, born December 28, 
1886. 

In politics Mr. Morgan is a re[)ublican. 
He has served one terra as supervisor, two 
terms as justice of the peace, and has been 
a sciiool officer since 1S75. He is a post 
commander in the G. A. P., wliile Mrs. 
Morgan is presitlent of the Woman's lie- 
lief Corps. Mr. Morgan was also presi- 
dent of the Ilarlan count v agricultural 
society in 1887, and enumerator of the 
two iiundred and fifty-second district of 
the first supervisor's district of Nebraska 
of the eleventh census, in 1890. 



A 



NDREW ED BEN, the first settler 
in what is now known <as Reuben 
township, Harlan county, Nebr., 
and which township was named in his 
honor, is a native of Sweden, born in 1842. 
His father, Andrew Anderson, was a car- 
penter and was born in 1810, and the 
mother of our subject, Margaret Anderson, 
was born in the same year — both in Swe- 
den. This couple were married in 1834, 
and were the jiarents of six children, 
namely — Eric and Johanna (both in Swe- 
den) ; Andrew, our subject ; John, in Har- 
lan county; Charles S., in Washington ; 
and Mrs. Christina Cappen, in Furnas 
county, Nebr. 

Andrew Puben came to America in 
1868, and first stopped tv^o years in Des 
Moines, where he worked on a railroad ; 
thence he came to Omaha, Nebr., where 
he worked at plastering until 1870, when 
he came to Ilarlan county and settled on 
section 31, township 3, range 19. The 
fact that he was the first settler in the 
township, as stated, is sufficient evidence 
that the country was a vast wilderness, 
and Mr. Puben to day bears scars received 
in his struggles with buffalo, of which he 
has slain between two and three hundred. 
He endured all the hardships and priva- 
tions of pioneer life as a matter of neces- 
sity, but has met with an ample reward. 
He began for himself when but eighteen 
years of age, witli neither mone\' nor as- 
sistance, but is now in good circumstances, 
and his word is accepted as readily as his 
note. His success is another example for 
the young, sliowing what courage and 
energy can accomplish. 

Mr. Puben was married in 1874, to Miss 
Ellen Liden, a native of Sweden, and 
this marria<;e has been blessed bv the 




A. E. HARVEY. 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



799 



birth of five children, namely — Annette, 
Elizabeth, Adof, Eugene and Earnest 
(deceased.) 

In politics, Mr. Ruben is a republican. 
In religion he and his family are Luther- 
ans, he having been a trustee of the 
church for many years. 



HON. ANDREW E. HARVEY 
was born in La Porte, Ind., Octo- 
ber 5, 1847, and is a son of An- 
drew E. and Prudence (Owen) Harvey, the 
former of whom was a native of Virginia 
and the latter a native of Georgia. Mr. 
Harvey conies of Southern ancestry on 
both sides, his father's family originating 
in Maryland, and his mother's in Georgia. 
He conies of the staple stock of these 
two states, "the founding of these two 
families in this country dating back to 
colonial times. On his paternal side he is 
of English descent, and on his maternal 
side Welsh. His paternal grandfather, 
Archibald Harvey, was a Marylander by 
birth ; his maternal grandfather, Asa 
Owen, was a Georgian. Two of his great- 
grandfatiiers served in the colonies' war 
for independence, and gave up their lives 
on the battle-field for the cause of free- 
dom. Mr. Harvey's father also served 
his country with credit in one of her 
great wars — that of 1812. He was a 
pioneer settler also, and carried the arts 
of peace into the country which he had 
helped to deprive of its hostile inhabitants. 
He settled where La Porte, Ind., now 
stands, in 1832, when that entire region 
was but 3]iarsely settled, and died therein 
1852. He followed the peaceful pursuits 
of agriculture throughout life, and 



achieved a fair degree of success. He 
never aspired to public position, prefer- 
ring the paths of private life to the more 
uncertain honors and pleasures of a pub- 
lic career. He led an industrious, upright, 
useful life, and was greatly esteemed by 
all who knew him. Mr. Harvey's mother 
was born in Liberty county, Ga., a 
descendant of an old and respected family 
of that state. She was a woman of many 
excellent qualities of head and heart, and 
bore her husband the companionship he 
sought with her hand, for many years, 
standing side by side with him and help- 
ing to tight the battles of the pioneer, and 
establish in the wilds of the West the 
institutions of peace and the arts and in- 
dustries of civilization. She also died on 
the old homestead at La Porte, Ind., 
where her remains rest beside those of her 
husband in the old family burying-ground. 
The subject of tliis notice was reared on 
the old home place at La Porte, growing 
up, as did most lads of his day, dividing 
his time between his attendance at the 
district schools, and boyhood pursuits. 
He finished his education at Oberlin col- 
lege, Ohio, and started West shortly after- 
wards in search of his fortune, making his 
first permanent stop at Atlantic City, 
Iowa. Having selected law as a profes- 
sion, he entered upon a course of reading 
under Col. W. B. Hamlin, and was admit- 
ted to the bar; but before entering upon the 
practice, he joined Col. Hamlin in 1871, in 
an expedition to Florida and engaged for 
over two years in surveying government, 
land in that state. Returning West in 
1873, he came to Nebraska and settled in 
Arapaho city, Furnas count\', where he 
at once entered upon the practice of his 
profession. March 10, 1873, he took a 



800 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



homestead one mile northeast of Arapaho, 
which he improved and which he still 
owns. In 1878 he took a pre-emption 
claim in the same county and during the 
intervening years, and following the latter 
date, he gave his time and attention to 
the practice of the law and to the improv- 
ing of his claims. He thus became one of 
the first settlers of Furnas count}^ and as 
such he was identified with the growth 
and development of that county dur- 
ing all the uncertain stages of its 
historj', giving it the best fruits of 
his labor, toiling unceasingly with head 
and hands for the upbuilding of its 
interests. There is but little in Mr. Har- 
vey's personal appearance, and still less in 
liis fortunes, to indicate the fact, but he 
knows, nevertheless, what the lonely 
bachelor life of the plains means. He has 
been in daily contact with the aboriginal 
red-man ; he has hunted buffalo, deer and 
antelope where his farm in Furnas county 
now is ; he has passed through the grass- 
hopper scourge, the dry 3'ears and the 
seasons of hard times, and he knows all 
the ups and downs of the pioneers and is 
acquainted by experience with their many 
ingenious ways and means of getting on 
amid privations and hardships. 

In 1876 Mr. Harvey was elected to the 
Nebraska state legislature, representing 
Furnas, Gosper and Phelps counties, being 
the first man elected from these counties 
under the constitution of 1875. He took 
an acti\'e part in the legislature and repre- 
senting, as he did, a large territory, his 
duties were of a varied and exacting 
nature. He served on a number of com- 
mittees, the two important ones being 
constitutional limitations and county 
lines and boundaries. He was a mem- 



ber of the legislature during the somewhat 
noted Hitchcock-Saunders senatorial con- 
test, and Avas elected on the issue between 
these two aspirants for senatorial honors, 
being sent as a Saunders man, for whom 
he voted in accordance with the will of 
his constituents. In 1878 Mr. Harvey was 
appointed deputy treasui'er of Furnas 
county and served in tliis capacity for two 
years, being elected to the office of treas- 
urer in 1880. He served as treasurer for 
two 3'ears and in 1883 moved to Orleans, 
Harlan county, where he formed a part 
nership with the Hon. Geo. W. Burton in 
the banking business. In May, 1885, the 
private banking house of Burton & Har- 
vey was merged into the First National 
Bank of Orleans, of which Mr. Ilarvey 
became cashier, holding that position till 
January, 1890, when he resigned and was 
at once elected vice-president, which posi- 
tion he now holds. In addition to their 
banking interests, Messrs. Burton & Har- 
vey have been engaged for years in an 
extensive real estate and loan business 
and during this time have brought Eastern 
capital to the amount of two and a half 
million dollars into southwestern Ne- 
braska and northwestern Kansas, and have 
been largely instrumental i7i developing 
this localit}'. Mr. Harvey has become so 
absorbed with business enterprises that he 
has not given any attention for some years 
to his profession ; yet he has not i-elin- 
quished his hold upon it. He pursues its 
studies with as much zeal as in former 
3'ears, and.as absorbing as his duties of a dif- 
ferent nature have become, he has not and 
can not quite forget that he is still a law- 
3'er. Mr. Harvey has what not every mem- 
ber of the profession is credited with — 
practical sagacity. He has shown an ability 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



801 



to handle not only other people's business 
successfully, but his own as well. He has 
never neglected his own affairs to chase 
political honors, and yet there is not a 
more popular man in the entire Repub- 
lican valley. He has met his obliga- 
tions as a citizen and official with faithful 
exactitude and he is remembered by his 
appreciative fellow-citizens for these 
things. He is kind and accommodating, 
plain and approachable, and because of 
these qualities he makes friends easily and 
holds them well. In politics he is a repub- 
lican and is a stanch supporter of the 
principles of his party, and when occasion 
demands he gives to his party his untir- 
ing efforts, being its eloquent champion 
on the stump and its efficient worker at 
the polls. 

Mr. Harvey married November 18, 
1874, taking as a companion Miss Clara 
B. Hovey, a daughter of P. E. Hovey of 
Arapaho, Furnas county. Two children 
have been born to this union — Edward 
and Glenn. 

In his pleasant home at Orleans, sur- 
rounded by his wife and two boys, Mr. 
Harvey finds more of the real pleasure of 
this life than he has ever found in the 
achievements of business or political suc- 
cess, signal as his achievements in these 
two fields of endeavor have been. 



JAMES M. VAUGHAN. The subject 
of this sketch is a native of "West 
Virginia and was born in Wood 
count}', March 14, 1857. He is the 
fourth of a family of eleven children born 
to Irvin C. and Lida (Barnett) Vaughan, 
both natives of Virginia. His father. 



Irvin C. Vaughan, is a substantial farmer 
and is now living on the old homestead in 
West Virginia. 

James M. Vaughan was i-eared on a 
farm and received a good common-school 
education. He remained on the farm till 
coming to Nebraska in 1878, being then 
twenty-one years of age. He settled in 
Harlan county and located a homestead 
and timber claim, but relinquished tlie 
timber claim to his brother-in-law and 
held the homestead. He had borrowed 
money to pay his fare to the state and 
afterwards borrowed $15 more to make 
his filings. His venture was not to be 
foiled for want of money, for he belonged 
to that old Virginia stock that knew no 
failure, and he at once went to work as a 
farm hand and labored for four years for 
the same man. At the end of that time 
he had paid all his debts and had some 
money left to improve his land. 

In 1883, after a four years' residence in 
Nebraska, he married, taking to share his 
ife's fortunes Miss Mary A. Bass. Her 
parents were natives of Canada, moved 
from there to Butler county, Iowa, and 
there died. To Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan 
have been born three cliildren. The first 
died in infancy, the second, a son, Harry 
E., is now living, and the third is a fine 
boy four months old and weighs twenty- 
five pounds. 

When Mr. Vaughan married he was 
tlien full}' settled and began the struggles 
of life in earnest. Being strong and 
healthy, labor had no terror for him, con- 
sequently he was successful in all his 
undertakings. His timber claim was in 
section 29, and' he owns all of section 28 
except one tract of eighty acres, and has 
eighty acres in section 29, making him a 



803 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



full section of land, having about one 
hundred and eighty acres under cultiva- 
tion and breaking about one hundred 
acres more. He raises mixed crops and 
stock and has a good herd of cattle and 
one hundred and fifty head of hogs and 
ten horses. 

Mr. Vaughan has made all he has since 
coming to Nebraska and is truly a self- 
made man. He has nevev had any failure 
in crops, although he has lost some stock. 
Taking everything into consideration, he 
has prospered well and has the foundation 
laid to make him one of the wealthiest 
men in his county, although he is com- 
paratively a young man. He has served 
two terms as justice of the peace and two 
terms as road overseer, and is also a mem- 
ber of the Farmers' Alliance in Harlan 
county, taking an active interest in all 
matters relating to that organization. He 
and his excellent wife are both zealous 
members of the Baptist church. Politic- 
ally, Mr. Vaughan is independent. 



JOHN F. DAVID, one of the honored 
pioneers of Harlan county, was born 
in Schuyler count}', III., on Septem- 
ber 6 , 1842. His father, William 
D. David, was a native of Tennessee, while 
his mother, who boi-e the maiden name of 
Louise Meaders, was a native of Virginia. 
The senior David migrated to Illinois in 
1833, and was among the pioneer settlers of 
that great state. He was a farmer and 
died in lSfi6. The boyhood days of Joiin 
F. David, the subject of this sketch, were 
spent on his father's farm and were devoid 
of any special interest. He worked on the 
farm during the summer and attended 
district school during the winter months. 



and other than this he enjoyed no educa- 
tional advantages. In 1862, when j'oung 
David was twenty j'ears old, he enlisted 
on the first day of Februarj^ in the Sixty, 
second regiment, Illinois infantry. In the 
fall of that year he was taken prisoner 
at Holly Springs, Miss., but was paroled 
in a short time. He next enlisted in the 
Twelfth Illinois cavalry and saw service 
in Vicksburg, Cane river, Yelton, Pleasant 
Hill, and was present at the capture of 
the cit}' of Mobile, Ala. Previous to his 
enlistment in the Twelfth Illinois cavalry, 
he joined the Seventy-eighth Illinois regi- 
ment, and took an active part in the bat- 
tle of Lookout mountain. This act was 
purely voluntary on his part, as he was 
not a member of any regmient at that 
time. Mr. David was mustei-ed out at the 
city of New Orleans April 1, 1866, mak- 
ing the time of his service four years and 
two months. 

He returned to Illinois, where he con- 
ductetl a farm till the spring of 1872, when 
he removed with his family to Harlan 
county, Nebr. He was the first man to 
take a claim in the north half of the 
county, and is the pioneer of pioneers of 
that section. He has seen the prairie 
black with buffalo and deer, and it was 
nothing strange to see a band of Indians 
camped near his sod house door. At one 
time there were eight hundred red skins 
camped on his homestead, at other times 
five hundred and three hundred. He had 
to go to Grand Island in those da3's, when 
his good wife wanted tea or coffee or sugar 
ora new calico dress. He had hard!}' got 
snugly settled when along came the fest- 
ive grasshopper, in the year 1S7-4, and de- 
stroyed all his corn, which gave such 
promise of an excellent crop. During the 



HARLAN COUN'IY. 



803 



terrible Easter storm, which occurred 
April 13, 1873, his stable was buried 
under fifteen feet of snow, and he lost the 
best mule he ever owned. Mr. David has 
gone through all these and more discour- 
aging times since he came to the great 
state of Nebraska. 

Mr. David was married August 29, 1867, 
to Miss Martha Schroder, a native of Illi- 
nois. This union has been blessed with 
nine children, namely — Elworth, Dallas 
D., Louisa, Bertha, Daisy, Frank William, 
Jessie, Bessie and Bird. Mr. David was 
the first county supervisor from Washing- 
ton township and is also a member 
of the county board at this time (1890). 
He organized the postolKce at Bainbridge 
and was postmaster for five years. He 
has also been justice of the peace several 
years and has alwaj's taken an active part 
in local and county politics. He has three 
hundred and twenty acres of improved 
land, most of which is in the Turkey 
Creek valley, and all of which is ver}' pro- 
ductive. He is an honored member of 
the Odd Fellows and a stanch republican 
in politics. 



FERDINAND L. SEICK. The 
subject of this sketch is one of 
the honored pioneers of Harlan 
county, a native of Logan county, III, and 
was born March IS, 1841. 

His father, John D., was a native of 
Poland and came to the United States in 
1835. He visited various localities in this 
country before determining upon a perma- 
nent location and finally settled in Logan 
county. 111., where he first met and was 
married to Miss Margaret, a daughter of 
Peter G. Cowardice, one of the first set- 



tlers of the county. She died in 1851 and 
he followed in 1856. He was a journey- 
man carpenter and worked all his lifetime 
at his trade. 

Ferdinand L. Seick had no special 
school advantages during his boyhood 
da3's, and, after the death of his parents, 
was thrown entirely upon his own 
resources. He worked on a farm durino- 
the year 1858, but he desired to learn 
some trade and in the spring of 1859 was 
apprenticed to a harness-makei", with 
whom he remained two years. In the 
spring of 1861, when the war of the rebel- 
lion broke out, young Seick was among 
the first to join the ranks of the boys in 
blue, and enlisted on the eighth day of 
June, 1861, in the Third regiment, Iowa 
volunteer infantry. His regiment was 
ordered down into Missouri and saw its 
first service at Bland Mills landing. The 
Third Iowa participated in the great bat- 
tle of Shiloh, and also at the siege of 
Corinth, which lasted for fortv da3's. 
This same regiment of Iowa bovs again 
faced shot and shell at Vicksburg and 
Atlanta. Mr. Seick was taken prisoner 
at the latter place on the twenty-second 
da\' of July and sent to Anderson ville. 
He was exchanged in two months, how- 
ever, but not until he had suffered the 
horrors inflicted on the Union prisoners 
by the managers of that terrible institu- 
tion. He saw his comrades die by the 
hundreds, saw them drink foul and slimy 
water and saw them starve for want of 
food. The day he left this horrible den 
he counted over five hundred corpses 
ready for burial. After spending a few 
days in a convalescent camp he was taken 
along with others to meet Sherman's armv 
at Goldsborough, when he joined his old 



804 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



i 



company and regiiiient. He was mustered 
out at Louisville, Ky., July 12, 1865. 

After the war Mr. Seick returned to 
Benton county, Iowa, and attended school 
at Vinton, Iowa, for nine months. He 
then resumed his old trade as a harness- 
maker, and in 1867 engaged with one 
Frank Evans" in the business in Story 
county, Iowa. He disposed of his interests 
in six months, however, and moved to 
Lincoln, 111., where he remained until 
1872. In Februaiy of that year he came 
to Harlan county, Nebr., and homesteaded 
the southeast quarter of section 13, in 
"Washington township. There were then 
only two other parties in that part of the 
county and the outlook was anything but 
encouraging. He made up his mind, how- 
ever, to sta}' and proceeded immediate!}' 
to erect a comfortable log house. The 
prairie was black with buffalo, and ante- 
lope and deer were quite plenty. The 
Indians were frequent visitors at the pio- 
neer cabins and often camped in the neigh- 
borhood as they traveled to and from 
their happy hunting-grounds. In 1874, 
when everything seemed to indicate a 
prosperous j^ear for the new settlers and 
crops gave every promise of abundant 
yield, the grasshop])ers swooped down on 
the great fields of waving corn, then in 
roasting ears, and in a few houi's destroyed 
every stalk. The next year they were 
not quite so bad, but in 1876 they were as 
numerous as ever and took everything 
green before them. Very few people who 
have settled in this region within the past 
few yeai's full\' appreciate what the pio- 
neers had to pass through. 

Mr. Seick had lived a bachelor for 
several years and found a life of single 
blessedness not as congenial as it might 



be. So on the twentv seventh day of 
January 1881, he was married to Miss 
Charlotte T. Phelps, a native of Lincoln, 
111., born January 15, 1862. Her father 
was a native of Vermont and her mother 
of Germany. The family of Mr. Seick 
consists of four children, namely — Olive 
May, born November 11, 1881; Mary, 
Tjorn February 27, 1882 ; Marian A., born 
January 27, 1885, and John, born July 9, 
1887. 

Mr. Seick has one hundred and sixty 
acres of improved land and is a successful 
and prosperous farmer, although he has 
had as many failures as he has had crops. 
He has been a victim of the grasshoppers, 
drought and hail, but he is not discouraged 
and is not of a disposition to give up. He 
is a member of the Alliance and believes 
the farmers ought to act in union in order 
to accomplish anything for themselves. 
He has always been a republican, but he 
has resolved to act independently hereafter. 
Mr. Seick has always been an abstainer 
from intoxicating liquors, and is a strong 
and ardent advocate of temperance. He 
believes in total prohibition and is doing 
everything in his power to bring it 
about. 



GRIFFEY VANDIKE, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, is a native 
of Virginia, and was born Sep- 
tember 12, 1842. 

Mr. Vandike came to Harlan count}', 
Nebr., in the spring of 1874, homesteaded 
the northwest quarter of section 14, built 
a sod house, and made himself and family 
as comfortable as possible. He came with 
a team, and had two cows, so he began at 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



805 



once to prepare the barren prairie for a 
crop. Ills first corn crop was a pi'omising 
one indeed, but just before it began to 
mature it was destroyed by the grass- 
hoppers. Although tliis discouraging 
thing was repeated, he never gave up in 
despair, but persevered on until he suc- 
cessfully passed through one of the most 
disastrous periods in the history of the 
state. 

Mr. Vandike was married in 1866, the 
lady whom he selected to share life's 
burdens with him being Miss Nancy A. 
Lovell. This union was blessed with 
ten children, as follows — Seney Ann, 
Martha L., Lizzie A., Albert E., John 
O. (deceased), Elmer G. (deceased), Ed- 
ward S., James O. (deceased), Clarinda S. 
and Verley W. 

Mr. Vandike has four hundred and 
eighty acres of good land, and Is engaged 
quite extensively in raising hogs and 
cattle. He is a member of the Alliance, 
and in politics has always been a republi- 
can. He lost his wife in August, 1887. 
She was a companion whom he loved 
dearly, and he has found much difficulty 
to reconcile himself to the great loss. 

When the war broke out, Mr. Yan- 
dike shouldered a musket and marched 
to the front in defense of his country's 
flag, and in connection with his biograph- 
ical sketch it would not be out of place to 
mention some facts concerning his mili- 
tary career. He enlisted on the twenty- 
fifth day of August, 1861, in the Twenty- 
third Missouri regiment of infantry. He 
participated in the engagement at Shiloh, 
and was taken prisoner April 6, 1862. He 
was taken to Corinth, then to Memphis 
and Mobile, and thence to Cohaba, Ala., 
and after a few days was removed to 



Montgomery, and thence to Macon, where 
he was paroled May 24, 1862. He entered 
the Union lines again at Belmont station, 
near the Tennessee river, was in the fight 
at Nashville, after which he obtained a 
furlough, and spent a short time at home. 
He joined his regiment again in February, 
1863, and participated in the Atlanta 
campaign. He was mustered out at 
Atlanta in September, 186J:. 



JOHN T. RINEHART, one of the 
pioneers of Turkey Creek township, 
Harlan county, is a native of Penn- 
sylvania, but has spent the greater 
part of his life in Iowa. He is the third 
of a family of six children born to Jacob 
and Sarah (Welliver) Rinehart, also 
natives of Pennsylvania, and was born 
August 13, 181:6. When quite young he 
moved with his parents to Wisconsin, 
where his father died. Two years later 
the family moved to Iowa, and there our 
subject grew to manhood. He was reared 
on a farm and received an ordinary com- 
mon-school training, being brought up to 
the habits of industry and usefulness 
common to farm life. 

In 1861, at President Lincoln's call, he 
enlisted in Company K, Fifth Iowa infan- 
try. Western department, and served two 
years, when he was wounded and got a 
discharge. When able, he joined the Ninth 
Iowa cavalry. Company E, and served in 
that till February, 1866. At the battle of 
luka, Miss., he received a shot-gun wound 
in his left arm, breaking the bone. (Jn 
account of his wound he was disabled 
from service fourteen months, and was in 



806 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



the hospital eleven months. He was 
mustered out at Little Eock, Ark., and 
got his discharge papers and pay at 
Davenport, Iowa. He returned home and 
engaged in the milling business, at wiiich 
he continued five years. 

Mr. Rinehart married March, 1866, the 
lady whom he chose for a life partner 
being Miss Elizabeth Artist, daughter of 
Samuel and Nancy Artist, natives of Vir 
sinia. To Mr. and Mrs. Rinehart have 
been born seven cliildren, three bo^^s and 
four girls, as follows — Charles, James T., 
Edith, Maud, Frank, Mary and Esta, all 
of whom are now living. 

In 1873, Mr. Rinehart came to Nebraska 
and settled in Turkey Creek township, 
Harlan county. He located a homestead 
on the southwest quarter of section 7, 
township 3, range 17, went to work, and 
by steady industry-, energy and pluck 
proceeded to make for himself and family 
a home. He was among the first settlers 
in the county and endured the hardships 
And privations of pioneer life. After filing 
on his claim he had only |4 left. With 
this money and a good team he started 
in to farming. The first few years he 
found it difficult to live, the grasshoppers 
and drouth destroying all his crops. Of 
course this was discouraging to Mr. Rine- 
hart, but he determined to stick by his 
claim. In the meantime he did what he 
could towards improving his farm, and 
with the appearance of good seasons be- 
gan to raise good crops. He now has one 
of the best farms in Harlan county, having 
one hundred acres under cultivation, and 
raises mixed crops and has paid consider- 
able attention to the breeding of and 
dealing in fine stock. Mr. Rinehart is 
well known in Harlan county as one of 



its best farmers, careful in cultivating his 
land, giving his whole time and attention 
to his business, and has therefore been 
more than ordinarily successful, the inde- 
pendent position he now holds being due 
to his own efi'orts, aided by an industrious, 
economical wife. 

Mr. Rinehart votes the republican 
ticket, and has served as school director 
and justice of the peace for a number of 
years. He is a zealous member of a num- 
ber of the benevolent orders, among them 
the Grand Array of the Republic and 
Farmers' Alliance of Harlan county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Rinehart have a pleasant 
home, where friend and stranger are alike 
welcome. 



WILLIAM O. COE is a native 
of Oswego county, N. Y., 
and was born October 31, 
1831. He is a son of Alexander and 
Martilia M. (Coon) Coe, both of whom 
were natives of New York. His father 
was a farmer and died in 1844: ; liis 
mother died in 1886. Both were zealous 
members of the Free Will Baptist church. 
Soon after the death of his father, Mr. 
Coe moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and 
worked out. He remained in the Buck- 
ej'e State for fourteen years, when he lo- 
cated in Noble count}^, Ind., and engaged 
in tilling the soil. He enlisted December 
31, 1863, in the Twelfth regiment of 
Indiana cavalry, but was taken ill soon 
afterwards and sent to the hospital. lie 
spent twelve months in Huntsville, Ala., 
was at Tallahoma, Tenn., New Orleans 
and Baton Rogue, and was mustered out 
at the last named place May 29. 1865. 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



807 



Mr. Coe returned to Koble count}', Ind., 
and resumed his vocation as a farmer. He 
came West in the spring of 1872 and set- 
tled in Harlan county, Nebr. He located 
a quarter section on Rope creek and was 
the lirst homesteader in Washington 
township. He built a sod house and 
hauled what lumber he was obliged to 
have from Beatrice. Wild game of all 
kinds was plenty especially buffalo, ante- 
lope and deer, lie had fifty-six acres of 
corn stripped clean in two hours by the 
grasshoppers and passed through other 
trying ordeals almost as bad. Mr. Coe 
went to Ohio to solicit aid for the many 
sufferers on account of the grasshopper 
raid, and was successful in obtaining a 
considerable quantity of food and cloth- 
ing. There was but one frame building in 
the county when he came, and a small 
store at Kepublican City. Provisions of 
all kinds were extremely high in those 
days. He paid $10 for a barrel of salt, 
and other necessaries of life were equally 
high. He had two yoke of cattle and 
freighted considerably hauling goods 
from Lowell to the stores at Melrose and 
Orleans. 

Mr. Coe was married November 1,1853, 
the lady of his choice being Miss Emily 
M. Furman, a native of Ohio and born 
April 12, 1830. She is a daughter of 
Benjamin and Mary (Deetor) Furman, the 
former a native of New York and the lat- 
ter a native of Connecticut. They died 
in 1888 and 1858 respectively. 

Mr. Coe's family consists of eight chil- 
dren, namely — Ella M., born September 
15, 1854: ; Willis A., born February 14, 
1857; Arthur W., born May 16, 1859; 
Benjamin A., born March 7, 1862 ; Francis 
E., born January 13, 1864, and Fannie M. 



(deceased), born January 12, 186i (twins); 
George S., born July 19, 1867, and Mary 
A., born January 15, 1871. Mr. Coe was 
elected coroner of Harlan county in 1872 
and again in 1874. He has been a mem 
ber of the board of county supervisors 
and has been assessor of his township. 
He is an honored member of the G. A. R. 
and also of the Farmers' AUiance. His 
farm consists of four hundred acres, two 
hundred and thirtj"^ of which are under 
cultivation. lie erected a fine brick 
house in 1886 and his farm is otherwise 
well improved. Both he and his estima- 
ble wife are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. 



JOSEPH UPLINGER, of Republican 
township, Plarlan county, Nebr., was 
born near Covington, Fountain 
county, Ind., July 3, 1836, was reared 
on a farm and received a common-school 
education. From the age of thirteen 
until nearly of age he hired out, but in 
1857, being then possessed of forty acres, 
he was married in his native county, and 
there continued to reside until October, 
1861, when he enlisted in Company K, 
Forty -third Indiana infantry, and served 
in the Western department three years. 
Although he took part in many battles he 
escaped being wounded or captured, and 
was mustered out and jiaid at Indian- 
apolis, when he returned home and re- 
sumed farming, which he there continued 
until 1874, when he moved to Kansas and 
bought out a squatter in Phillips county, 
afterwards homesteading the land and 
remaining on it four 3'ears. In 1878 he 
came to Harlan county, Nebr., and bought 



808 



HARLAN COUNTY. 



one-half of section 11, in townships 2 and 
3, where he still resides. Having lost his 
wife in 1877 while in Kansas, he married 
in July, 1878, after reaching Nebraska, a 
widow who owned a quarter section ad- 
joining his own purchase, thus making a 
joint farm of three-quarters of a section. 
When he left Indiana, Mr. Uplinger was 
worth about $3,000, but now, after having 
passed through all the grievances and 
hardships of pioneer life, finds himself to 
be a quite wealthy man. 

The first marriage of Mr. Uplinger, in 
1857, was to Mrs. Elizabeth Rickett, a 
widow, and a daughter of Isaac Sloan. 
To this union were born seven children, 
viz. — Charles (deceased), Arnold, Eliza E. 
(deceased), Ernest W., Joseph M., an 
infant that died unnamed, and Lola A. 
The second marriage of our subject was 
to Mrs. Amanda Craig, a daughter of 
John White, who was a native of Illinois, 
was a mechanic and farmer, and married 
to Margaret Kemp. Mrs. Uplinger was 
first married in Minnesota, and came 
from that state to Nebraska in 1871, 
being among the first to settle in Repub- 
lican township. By her marriage to Mr. 
Craig she became the mother of five 
children, named as follows — George W., 
Lee A., Eugene O., Yiolette and Alva; to 
Mr. Uplinger she has borne six children, 
viz. — Sammy C, Margaret, John C, 
Amanda, Eveline and Charles G., of whom 
the last named died in August, 1888, at 
the age of sixteen months. 

The father of our subject, Jacob Up- 
linger, was a native of Germany, but 
when five years of age was brought to 
America by his parents, who settled in 
Lancaster county. Pa., where he was 
reared a farmer and distiller ; he was mar- 



ried in Virginia to Miss Anna M., 
daughter of Jacob and Barbara Risler, 
natives of Pennsylvania and of German 
descent. About 1830 he moved to Indi- 
ana, bought a farm in Fountain count}', 
reared a family of five children and died 
about 1830, a short time before the sub- 
ject of this sketch was born. The widow 
of Jacob Uplinger, at the age of ninety 
years, is now living with her son, our 
subject, who is filially caring for her in 
her old age. 

Mr. Uplinger is in politics a democrat, 
and has filled the position of moderator 
of schools many terms, and he is univer- 
sally esteemed by all classes of the com- 
munitv. * 



WILLIAM RIESENBERG, of 
Turkey Creek township, Har- 
lan county, Nebr., was born 
in Peoria, 111,, in August, 1860. His father, 
Carl Riesenberg, was a native of Germany, 
and came to America about 1850, locating 
in Peoria, and establishing a confectionery 
and fruit store. He served through the 
late war as chief bugler for General Funk 
and on a skirmish lost the sight of an eye. 
His death took place at Peoria in 1882. 
He was married in Germany to Miss 
Jose]>hine Ellsner, and of his three chil- 
dren, William, our subject, is the youngest. 
His widow still resides in Peoria, at the 
age of sixty-eight years. 

William Riesenberg first learned the 
photographic business and later the trade 
of a machinist, and worked at the latter in 
Peoria until 1878, when he came to Ne- 
braska and located a homestead, on which 
be I'eraained three years, and then returned 
to Peoria and worked as a machinist five 



HARLAN COUNTY 



809 



years. In 18S5 lie married Miss Sarah 
Ward, daughter of Pliilip and Lydia 
Ward, of Logan county, 111., who live at 
Emden. To this union have been born 
two children — Elsie and Carl. When he 
was twenty-one years of age, Mr. Eiesen- 
berg filed his homestead papers, and has 
since bonglit an eighty-acre tract, all 
situated in section 30, Turke\' Creek town- 
ship, Harlan county, and has about fort}'^ 
acres under cultivation. In 1887 he took 



uj) his permanent residence in the state, 
and when the town of Huntley was estab- 
lished he opened a grocery and drug store 
n the new village, and about the same 
time was appointed postmaster, which 
position he still holds. He is also serving 
as township clerk, and is highly respected 
bv all who know him. He is a member 
of the order of the Sons of Veterans and 
of the Catholic church, and in politics is a 
stanch republican. 




F HH N K li IN^ e O U N W'\ 



•STjJNii ^'Wl •'^ "**" 



V ■'■'iiK-^ "*5Beii'- 




BIOGRAPHICAL. 



CHARLES A. GEISWOLD was 
born in Pennsj'lvania August 5, 
1840, and is one of a family of ten 
children born to James F. and Lydia 
(Franklin) Griswold, both of whom were 
natives of New York State, his mother be- 
ing a daughter of Daniel Franklin, a Revo- 
lutionary soldier, and a distant relative of 
the famous Dr. Franklin, and his father a 
son of James Griswold, who served his 
country with distinction in the War of 1812 
and subsequently became a man of some 
local political note. Mr. Griswold's parents 
moved to Pennsylvania in 1830, when the 
country was comparatively new, settled 
on a timber farm which the father cleared 
and on which he maintained his family, 
both parents living to the ripe age of sev- 
enty-three years. Here now live the most 
of C. A. Griswold's brothers and sisters, 
he being the only representative of the 
family in Nebraska. Charles A. Griswold 
was in his native country brought up on 
a farm and trained to the habits of indus- 
try and usefulness common to farm life. 
He received but an ordinary education, 
having mostly to make his own way in 
the world. He learned the carpenter 
trade when a young man and followed it 
till he enlisted in the Union army in 1861, 
on the opening of the Civil war, entering 
Company E, Ninth Pennsylvania cavalry. 



and serving his country faithfully three 
years and three months, during the most 
trying period of her history. His com- 
mand was with the armies of the Cum- 
berland and the Tennessee and took a part 
in all the hard-fought battles in which 
those armies were engaged, ending with 
Sherman's " March to the Sea." He was 
never wounded, but was once captured 
while charging a battery at an engage- 
ment on the French Broad river in East 
Tennessee and narrowly escaped the hor- 
rors of ])rison life which befell many of 
his gallant comrades. He regained his 
liberty, however, through his own vigi- 
lance and fleetness of foot, and did a sol- 
dier's duty till the expiration of his term 
of enlistment instead of having to lan- 
guish in a rebel prison. After leaving the 
army Mr. Griswold returned to Pennsyl- 
vania and shortly after went to work at 
his trade. In 1867 he married, then kept 
a store, farmed a little and subsequently 
worked at his trade in Pennsylvania up to 
1877; in April of that year he came to 
Nebraska and located in Franklin county, 
entering a homestead claim on the south- 
east quarter of section i, township 4, 
range 14 west, Antelope township. That 
was an early date for that part of the 
state and Mr. Griswold was the third man 
to locate in the township. He settled on 



813 



814 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



raw land and began on the sod and had 
rather a hard time of it at first, but he 
stuck steadily to the claim, and after the 
first season of hardship was past, his con- 
dition began gradually to improve and his 
affairs have prospered since. The home- 
stead has grown from a mere claim on the 
prairie to a well improved, neat, comfort- 
able place, furnished with a good dwell- 
ing, barns, orchard and groves, and is 
well stocked with good breeds of cattle, 
horses and hogs. He has given his atten- 
tion mainly to farming, but in 1881 he 
put up a building on his place which he 
filled with goods and began mercantile 
business. He shortly afterwards secured 
a postoffice for his locality and received 
the appointment of postmaster, conducting 
the ))ostoffiice and selling goods till the 
spring of 1887, when, the B. & M. E. K. 
having built within a mile of his place, 
and a station being started on it near by, 
he was obliged to remove to the new town 
with his stoi'e, and the postoffice was 
given to a Mr. Porter, there being a dem- 
ocraiic administration at that time. In 

1888, when Harrison was elected, Mr. 
Griswold received the appointment of 
postmaster and took the office in June, 

1889. The new town was called Upland 
and Mr. Griswold became one of the chief 
factors in building it up. Three postoifices 
of the vicinity being consolidated into one, 
Mr. Griswold now divides his time be- 
tween the postoffice and his store, keeping 
one clerk. 

In 1867 Mr. Griswold married M^ss 
Martha M. Arnout, a daughter of Joshua 
and Martha (Chilson) Arnout, natives also 
of New York State. 

Mrs. Griswold's father died in 1859; her 
mother is still living, being a member of 



Mr. Grisw^old's household. Mr. and Mrs. 
Griswold have had born to them a family 
of four children, all daughters — Cora B., 
May M., V. Grace, and Lillie G., the last 
named being deceased. Mr. Griswold has 
taken a prominent part in the affairs of his 
township, having served as justice of the 
peace and assessor, dii-ector of the school 
district three times, and, as stated, as post 
master. In politics he is a temperance 
republican, as might be supposed from his 
antecedents and personal histor\% already 
recorded. He is a zealous Mason and a 
member of the Grand Array of the Re- 
public. 



WILLAED WESTON is a 
native of Broome county, 
N. Y., and was born July 15, 
1836. He accompanied his parents to 
Susquehanna county, Pa., in 1847, where 
he lived several 3'ears. His father was 
a miller and mill-wright for man}' years. 
WilJard was apprenticed to a carpenter at 
the age of sixteen, and, after learning iiis 
trade, he followed it for twentv-four 
years, during which time he followed con- 
tracting to quite an extent. He was also 
in tiie mercantile business in Pennsylvania 
for two years and owned and operated a 
saw-mill for some time during the winters. 
Mr. Weston came to Franklin county, 
Nebr., in April, 1874, and was one of the 
first settlers in tlie northwestern part of 
the county, where he located a homestead, 
and built a sod house in which to receive 
his famil\'. He was eaten out by tiie 
grasshoppers and saw some very hard 
times. When Mr. Weston came to Frank- 
lin county the entire country was undevel- 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



S15 



oped and the boundless prairie was un- 
broken for miles. No towns had sprung 
up and few railroads passed through that 
section, and Mr. Weston knows all the 
ups and downs incident to the settlement 
of a new country. 

He was married November 17, 1858, to 
Abbie M. Lester, a native of Pennsylvania, 
born November 28, 1838. Five children 
have been born to this union, namely — 
Mary M., Elmer E., Elias J., Jonatlian O. 
and Elizabeth J. Mr. Weston has been 
justice of the peace and notary public for 
many \'ears. In 1880 he w^as appointed 
postmaster of Moline, and in 1882 he 
opened a small general store, and is now 
doing quite an extensive business. He 
belongs to the Masonic, Odd Fellows and 
Good Templars orders, and has been a 
strorg prohibitionist for some years. He 
owns four hundred acres of good land 
which is in a good state of cultivation- 
Both he and his wife are zealous members 
of the Congregational church, and he has 
always been an active church worker and 
a contributor to every good cause. 



WM. F. NELSON came to Ne- 
braska in the spring of 1877 
and settled in Antelope town- 
ship, Franklin county. He was boi'n in 
Michigan, February 26, 1844, and is the 
eldest of a family of seven children born 
to Thomas Kelson and Emma L. Perry. 
His father is a native of England, havino- 
been brouglit to America by his parents 
when a lad eight years of age. He re- 
sided most of his life in Michigan, and 
there married Emma L. Perry, daughter 

48 



of Ira Perry, of the State of New York. 
In earlier years he followed the trade of 
a carpenter, and afterwards farmed. He 
moved to Nebraska, and resided in this 
state till the death of his wife, which oc- 
curred in 1889, when he sold out and 
went to New York, where he lives with 
a married daughter. Only two of the 
seven children of this marriage live in 
Nebraska - -these being Richard I., who 
resides near Lincoln, and William F., the 
subject of this sketch. 

William F, Nelson was reared in his na- 
tive place, growing u]i on the farm and 
receiving only a limited education. He 
resided in Michigan till he got well along 
in his teens, and then went to Wisconsin, 
where he remained for nine years. Re- 
turning to Micliigan, he married, and 
then, in 1877, coming to Nebraska, he 
settled, as already noted, in Antelope 
township, Franklin county, where he took 
a pre-emption claim, which he afterwards 
changed to a homestead, filing on the 
northeast quarter of section 22, township 
4, range 14 west. When Mr. Nelson 
came to the county, he had a small team, 
his household goods and $30 in money. 
With these he began the solution of the 
problem of living on the frontier, amid 
the hardships and privations that then 
suiTounded the settlers. He had many 
ups and downs, and met with many dis- 
couragements which would have over- 
come weaker natures than his. But he 
has succeeded through it all, and is to-day 
in a fairly prosperous condition. While 
looking sharply after his own affairs, he 
has been active in promoting the welfare 
of the community where he resides, hav- 
ing filled a number of local offices, and 
standing out prominently at all times for 



816 



FRANKLIX COUNTY. 



the enforcement of tlie laws and the fos- 
tering of a spirit of morality, education 
and sobriety. 

Mr. Nelson married Miss Eliza A. Lock- 
wood, daughter of John Lockwood, a na- 
tive of New York, but now of California. 
To this union have been born a family of 
four children, as follows— Jennie A., Will- 
iam E., Stephen D. and Eugene A. 

In politics Mr. Nelson is a democrat, 
standing squarely for the men and meas- 
ures of bis party on all occasions. 



ELBERT S. PHELPS was born 
in Portage county, Ohio, June 
6, 1847, and came to Franklin 
county, Nebr., on the twenty-fifth day of 
April, 1872, being one of the first to take 
a homestead in the northern part of the 
county. There was no settlement then, 
and there were no neighbors nearer than 
ten miles, but there was })lenty of buffalo 
and other wild game. He has stood in 
his own door and shot buffalo while they 
were passing. Lowell, thirty-five miles 
distant, was the nearest trading- point. 
Indians were plenty, often passing his 
house, and he has cooked many a meal for 
red men. He passed through the grass- 
hopper period and saw some very hard 
times, but gallantly overcame them. 

He was married in the fall of 1879 to 
Miss Ellen Chisholm, a native of New 
York State, and to this imion have been 
born four children, viz. — Carrie, Ray, 
Gu}' and Edgar. Mr. Phelps owns one 
hundred and sixty acres of improved land 
as good as can be found in the county. 
He is democratic in politics, and is well 
posted in the principles of his party. 



PERRY" P A R K E R, a successful 
farmer residing in Antelope town- 
ship, Franklin county, came to 
Nebraska in the spring of 1875, and there- 
fore knows something of pioneer life, and 
all the privations and hardships incident 
thereto, Mr. Parker is a native of Miclii- 
gan, having been born in that state in 
April, 1848, and is next to the youngest 
of a famil}' of eight children born to John 
and Tamer (Walters) Parker. His father 
was born in Ohio, but moved to Michigan 
at an early date ; his mother was born in 
Tennessee ; but they met and were mar- 
ried in Michigan. They now live in Mis- 
souri, having moved there in 1871. Perry 
Parker grew up on a farm in his native 
state and received the rudiments of an 
ordinary common-school education from 
the district schools of the county where he 
was reared. He lived with his parents 
till he reached his twenty-second year, 
going then to Missouri, where he rented 
a farm and began for himself. He lived 
in Missouri five years and came thence to 
Nebraska, settling in Franklin countv. 
He filed a homestead claim in the south- 
east quarter of section 21, township 1, 
range 11 west, and there began the life of 
a pioneer. He had a hard time of it at 
first, as did all the old settlers, but by 
industry and good management he has 
made a success of it, now having a good 
farm of one hundred and sixty acres, 
one hundred and thirty-five of which are 
under cultivation and otherwise well im- 
proved. He has usually raised good 
crops, and, beginning with seventy-five 
cents and a yoke of oxen, he now has 
])lenty around and is recognized as one of 
the most intelligent and prosperous farm- 
ers of his county. In the labor of making 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



817 



for himself a home in the West, Mr. 
Parker has been ably assisted by his 
excellent wife. He married after coming 
to Nebraska, taking to share his fortunes 
a courageous young lady, who, like him- 
self, came West in pursuit of her fortune, 
Miss Serena McKenzie, daughter of John 
and Mary McKenzie ; the former a native 
of tlie State of Tennessee and the latter a 
native of Illinois. The father died in 
Iowa, 1808 ; the mother is still living, be- 
ing a resident of Franklin county, this 
state. 

Mr. and Mrs. Parker liave had born to 
tliem a family of three children — Jessie 
C, Clara M., and Dola W. Mr. Parker 
has borne a conspicuous part in the local 
affairs of his township, having served on 
the school board of his district for the 
past eleven years. He belongs to the 
Grange Association, and in politics af- 
filiates with the republican party. 



WILL BREBNER is a native of 
Scotland, and was born April 
4, 186L He came to the 
United States in 1877, landing in New 
York city July 4, and came to Franklin 
county, Nebr., in the fall of 1877, and 
here took a homestead. He was accom- 
panied by his mother, who kept house for 
him until her death, which occurred in 
1889, and to whose wise counsel, untiring 
zeal and energy in his behalf, he attributes 
much of his present success. 

Our subject came to this county with 
very limited means (having but $4.50 in 
his pocket when he arrived here) and 
settled in a pretty new section of the coun- 
try, where he built a sod house, but by hard 



work and rigid economy he has made for 
himself a comfortable home already. He 
owns four hundred and eighty acres of 
land, some of which is ver}' productive and 
yields abundant crops, and he has great 
faith in the future of Nebraska. 

He is an independent republican in 
politics, and has been elected to the posi- 
tion of assessor of his townsliip two terms. 
He is also an officer of the Farmers' 
Alliance, and takes an active interest in the 
workings of that organization. He is an 
energetic and higlily respected young 
man. 



CARSON HILDRETH, one of 
Bloomington's business men, is a 
native of Micliigan, and moved 
from that state to Franklin county, Nebr. 
in 1873. Mr. Hildreth served the county as 
its treasurer four years, 1884-88, and has 
since been engaged in mercantile trade. 
Mr. Hildreth is a strong prohibitionist 
and is chairman of the county temperance 
league. 



'^r~>HE BLOOMINGTON ARGUS, 
I theofficial countypaper of Frank- 
A. lin county,Nebr.,is now in its elev- 
enth year and is all " home print." Its 
able editor, H. M. Crane, was born in 
Vassar, Tuscola county, Mich., in March, 
1861, a son of R. H. and Laura Crane, 
natives of New York. Mr. Crane was 
brought by his parents to Nebraska in 
1871, and here for several years he 
chased buffalo and played with Indians. 




He learned the printing business under 
Conoressman Laws of the Orleans Senti- 
nel, beginning in 1876, and in 1880 he 
started the liejmhlican Valley Echo at 
Franklin, but sold out in 1884 and moved 
to Keya Paha county, whei'e he started 
the Norden Borealis ; this jouinal he 
sold in 1886 and returned to Franklin and 
bought back the Echo, which paper he 
again sold in 1888. In 1889 he ran the 
Trenton Torpedo, and fin all \' settled in 
Bloomington in the fall of 1889 and 
bouglit the Akgus. On September 22, 
1890, he bought the good will of the Echo 
and consolidated the two papers under the 
name of the licjyuhliean Yalley Echo. It 
will thus be seen that Mr. Crane has had an 
extensive career as a journalist, and his 
ability as an editor is proven by his 
success. 

Mr. Crane was married November 20, 
1882, to Idah J. Barker. They have two 
children — Queena, two years old, and 
James Laird, two weeks oki. He was a 
charter member of Lodge, No. 93, 
Knights of Pythias, of Bloomington city. 



JAMES E. KELLr, of Bloomington, 
Nebr., was born February 16, 1842, in 
Westmoreland county. Pa., and is a 
son of F. P .and Margaret J. (Easley) 
Kelly. The father was also a native of 
Penns3'lvania, and botii parents died in 
that state, the father in 1876 and tiie 
mother in 1878. James E. Kelly is the 
eighth in a family of nine children, namely 
— Joseph, Sarah, Margaret,William, Cath- 
erine A., Martha, Henry, our subject, and 
Michael. He was educated in the public 
schools in Pennsylvania, but at the age of 



seventeen went to Ohio and began life 
for himself. At the expiration of one 
year he went to Indiana. In August, 
1861, he enlisted in Company G, Thirty- 
fourth Indiana volunteer infantry, and 
rose from the rank of private to that of 
corporal, then to orderly sergeant, then 
to second lieutenant, then to first lieuten- 
ant, then commissioned captain, but was 
not mustered in as such inasmuch that 
the number of men in his compan}^ 
was below the minimum. He with his 
regiment re-enlisted in the fall of 1863, 
and was mustered out of service in Feb- 
ruary, 1866, at Indianapolis, Ind., serving 
in all four years and six months. Captain 
Kelh' was in some of the fiercest battles 
of the war, and was in the last that was 
fought, which occurred May 13, 1865, on 
the old battle-ground of Resaca de 
la Palma,Tex. One man was killed, that 
being the last life that was lost in the 
great struggle to save the Union from 
disruption. Captain Kelly's brother 
Henry was a member of the Sixteenth 
squadron of Ohio cavalry with Kilpatrick. 
He was taken prisoner and died from the 
effects of his treatment in Andersonville 
prison. Joseph, William and Michael all 
served in the war in a Pennsylvania regi- 
ment — Joseph four years, Michael three 
years, William one year in the Army of 
the Potomac ; Joseph and Michael were 
wounded and made cripples for life. 

Captain Kelly, after leaving the ser- 
vice, engaged in mercantile business in 
Indiana. From Indiana he went to 
South Carolina, and from there to Wis- 
consin. In 1879, he came to Nebraska, 
settling in llarlan county, where he took 
up a homestead which he still owns, and 
which is well improved and in a fine state 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



819 



of cultivation. There were but few set- 
tlers at that time in Harlan county, and he 
was among the earliest. In 1880 he 
moved to Bloomington, Franklin county, 
where he now resides. 

On January 1, 186-i, while Captain 
Kelly was on a veteran furlough, he 
married — taking for his life companion 
Miss Margaret J. Lawrence, a daughter 
of John A. Lawrence, a native of Penn- 
sj'lvania. Three children have been sent 
to bless this union — Maud L., now Mrs. 
James H. H. Hewitt, of Henimingford, 
Nebr.; Pearl D., and Alton L. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kelly are both members of the 
Lutheran church and contribute liberally 
to its charities. Captain Kelly is now 
receiver of the United States Land Office at 
Bloomington, Nebr., also a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, and in politics is a 
stanch republican. He is a refined, pol- 
ished gentleman, and a progressive, public- 
spirited man. If Franklin county had for 
her officials such men as Captain Kelly, 
strangers entei'ing her gates would be 
favorably' impressed. 



BENJAMIN H. KEAMS is an old 
Nebraska?! and a prominent and 
influential farmer of Franklin 
count}'. He comes of Southern parentage, 
originally of Irish extraction. His father, 
James T. Reams, whose sketch appears in 
this work, is a native of Tennessee and a son 
of Harrison Reams, who was a Virginian 
by birth and a son of John Reams, also a 
Virginian hy birth and an early settler of 
Tennessee. The Reamses were near rela- 
tions to the Harrisons in Virginia, Mr. 
Reams' great-grandmother being a full 



cousin toWilliam Henry Harrison,the ninth 
president of the United States. Mr. Reams' 
mother bore the maiden name of Mary A. 
Dowis, whose parents were Isaac and Bet- 
sey Dowis, nativesof North Carolina, being 
early settlers of Kentucky. James T. and 
Mary A. Reams had a family of ten chil- 
dren, of whom the subject of this notice 
is the eldest son living and the third in 
point of age. He was born in Kentucky, 
in 1849, and was reared partly in Indiana, 
pai'tly in Missouri and parth^ in Nebraska, 
his parents being successively residents of 
these states during his childhood and early 
youth. They moved to Nebraska in 1863 
and settled in Douglas county, near 
Omaha, where the father engaged first in 
farming and afterwards in contracting, 
being one of the builders of the Union 
Pacific railway. He worked on that rail- 
way till 1869, when it was com})leted. He 
then returned to Omaha and engaged in 
grading streets and afterwartls working 
on other railroads in that vicinity till 
1872. He then moved with his famil}^ 
to Franklin county, where he took a 
homestead and located. The subject of 
this sketch, accompanying him to Frank- 
lin county, parted with him there and 
went to Burt county, where he took a 
homestead and lived for eight years. 
Abandoning iiis homestead he returned to 
Franklin county, and, purchasing a tract 
of railroad land adjoining his father's 
homestead, settled there and has resided 
there since. He has a pleasant ])lace 
and one which in time will be valua- 
ble. He began on the raw prairie and 
now has his farm in a fine slate of 
cultivation and fairly well improved as to 
buildings and other conveniences. Mr. 
Reams has taken an active interest in the 



affairs of liis township and has filled a 
number of local oifices with credit to him- 
self and satisfaction to his neighbors. In 
politics he is a democrat, and is, besides, a 
member of the Farmers' Alliance. 

When Mr. Reams went to Burt county 
to live he was a single man, but there he 
met a lady who afterwards became his 
wife. Her maiden name was Louisa Han- 
nick, she being a daughter of Frederick 
M. Hannick, a native of Germany, who 
came to this country and settled in Burt 
county in 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Reams 
have had born to them a family of six 
cliildren — Ezra, Emma, Maud, Pearl, Elsie 
and Ai Therman. 



TRA SMITH, the leading furniture 
dealer of Franklin, Franklin county, 
Nebr., was born in the State of 
Maine, December 8, 1831, and is a son of 
Owen and Anna (Fenderson) Smith, both 
of whom were natives of the State of 
Maine, where they lived a happy life 
together until, growing tired, the}^ peace- 
fully fell into that long sleep that knows 
no waking. The paternal grandparents of 
our subject were Daniel and Mary Smith ; 
and the maternal grandparents were 
John and Dolly Fenderson, all natives of 
Maine. 

The subject of this biographical sketch 
is the third son in a family of nine chil- 
dren, named as follows — Moses, Charles, 
Ira, Colby, Allen, Harriet, Louise, Lavina 
and Ann. Mr. Smith, having learned the 
carpenter trade in his native state, started 
West in 1856 and settled in Jasper county, 
Iowa, where he continued to follow his 



trade. In 1857 he took as a life com- 
panion Miss Annie Slater, daughter of 
Thomas Slater, a native of England. 
Three boys have been born to this worthy 
couple, which the}' have named — Charles 
W., Ira E., and Thomas O. Mr. Smith 
continued to follow his trade until Sep- 
tember 11, 1862, when he enlisted in 
Company A, Second Iowa cavalry, and 
went out to defend the grand old stars 
and stripes. His war life was a very haz- 
ardous one. Being of a bold and daring 
nature, he took many risks while on scout 
(lutv, and was in many close jilaces and 
took desperate chances to escape capture. 
On one occasion, while alone, he was at- 
tacked by a dozen of the enemy, but ho 
refused to surrender and escaped without 
a scratch. He was with Gi'ierson on his 
noted raid to Baton Rouge and went with 
Hatch on his detour to lead the rebels off 
from Grierson's rear. He was never 
absent from duty and was continuously 
engaged in all those dangerous duties per- 
taining to the cavalry service, and was 
honorably discharged in November, 186-4. 
After, his discharge he returned to his 
home in Iowa, where he resided till 1878, 
when he moved to Kansas and remained 
there for a few years. In 1882 he came 
to Nebraska, settling in Franklin, where 
he built the house he now occupies, and 
ensraffed in the furniture business. He is 
at present doing a furniture and undei'- 
taking business, and leads the trade in 
that line in the town. By honesty and 
fair dealing he has built up a fine busi- 
ness, and has the confidence of the entire 
community. When Ira Smith tells his 
customers the quality of a piece of furni- 
ture, they know that it is what he repre- 
sents it to be and act accordingly. He is 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



821 



a member of the Ben. Franklin Post, 
G. A. R. As will be seen from his an- 
cestral record, Mr. Smith is of the okl 
Maine stock, and is as stanch a republican 
as the great Maine statesman, James G. 
Blaine. 



THOMAS STURGEON, one of 
the prominent business men of 
the town of Franklin, Franklin 
count}', Nebr., was born in Essex county, 
England, March 4, 1845, and is a son of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Rutherford) Stur- 
geon, both of whom were natives of Eng- 
land. Oui- subject has two brothers and 
two sisters, nameU' — Aleck, Richard, 
Sarah, wile of Lewis Pharmer, of New 
York, and Elizabeth. In 1S50, young 
Sturgeon, when only five years of age, 
came with his parents to America and 
located in Kingston, N. Y., where he 
received his education and learned the 
trade of sliip-building from his father, 
after which he went to New York city 
and followed his trade there for three 
years. He then returned to Kingston, 
N. Y., and took charge of Thomas Cor- 
nell's steam-boat works, filling the posi- 
tion of superintendent satisfactorily for 
eight 3'ears. 

In 1878, he came to Nebraska and took 
a homestead on section 8, townshi)) 2, 
range 14, in Franklin county, where he 
resided until 1882, during which year he 
moved into the town of Franklin. He 
has seen the town grow from a mei'e ham- 
let to its present large proportions. Be- 
fore the bridge was built across the Re- 
publican river, he built a ferry-boat for 
the purpose of transporting passengers. 



and by this and other acts of his he lias 
done as much to build up and make the 
town of Franklin what it is as any man 
in it. In 1887 he engaged in mercantile 
business, and by Jionesty and fair dealing 
has established an excellent trade. 

Mr. Sturgeon married Harriet Harnden, 
a daughter of George Harnden, of Eng- 
land. They had known each other from 
childhood, their fathers having worked 
together in Chatham dock-yards, and 
were old friends. This union has been 
blessed with nine childi'en, namely — Fan- 
nie, Tommie, Mamie, Lizzie, Kittie, Jen- 
nita, and three who died in infancy'. 
When the war of the rebellion broke out, 
Thomas Sturgeon, at the age of sixteen, 
enlisted in Company F, Twentieth New 
York State militia, or Eightieth New York 
volunteers, and went to the army of the 
Potomac. He participated in the battles 
of Fredericksburg, Wilderness and Mine 
Run, and was engaged in numerous 
skirmishes. He also served in the' State 
nailitia, Company E, Twentieth New 
York. On a midnight retreat from Fred- 
ericksburg to Falmouth, he was exposed 
to severe weather, from the effects of which 
he has almost lost tlie use of his left arm. 
No man in Franklin stands higher in the 
estimation of the i)eople than Thomas 
Stursreon. 



HORATIO H. WALDO was born 
January 20, 1833, and is a son 
of David and Theoda (Ilaskill) 
Waldo. His parents came to Nebraska 
in 1875, where they resided until they 
died. The father died on November 14, 
1879, and the mother eight years later. 



822 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



There was just ei;^lit years difference in 
their ages and they both died at the same 
aoje. They were noted for their many 
charities and other christian graces. The 
father was particidarly noted for his 
honesty and integrity in business and his 
motto always was — " Do as you would 
be done by." Our subject is the fourth 
child in a family of eight children, named 
as follows — Catharine, wife of John" Van- 
horn of Polk county, Nebr.; Sallie, wife of 
Robert Eaton, of Franl^lin count}', JSTebr.; 
Oscar L.; Horatio H., our subject ; Annie, 
wife of Eugene AVheeler; Chauncey H., 
who was a member of Company E, Fifth 
Iowa cavalry and died in Omaha, Nebr., 
from disease conti'acted while in the war; 
Helen M., wife of Iliram P. Edwards, of 
Ogle, 111.; Abbie M., wife of Henry M. 
Warriner, of Bloomington, Nebr. 

H. H. AValdo was educated in the com- 
mon schools until he reached the twentieth 
year of his age, when he began life for 
himself by engaging in farming. He con- 
tinued farming until he made a contract 
with the government to carry the mail. 
In 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Fifth 
Iowa cavalry, and was engaged in tlie 
battles of Fort Donelson, Nashville and 
F^ranklin, Tenn. While in the service he 
never shrank from those dangerous and 
hazardous duties peculiar to the cavalry 
service. At one time he was out with a 
squad of a dozen cavalr^'men, when they 
were surrounded by many times their 
number of the enemy, but by courage and 
detei'raination they bravely cut their way 
througli, and thereb}' escaped capture. 
In 1864, while in an engagement near 
Duck river, he received a wound on the 
cheek, and, having noticed the man who 
shot him, he returned fire and killed him. 



He was honorabl}' disciiarged June 27, 
1865, at Nashville, Tenn. He still suffers 
from disease contractetl from exposure 
during the war, and will never be a well 
man again. 

In 1867, he chose for a sharer of his 
fortunes Miss Mary Prince, of Virginia. 
By this union one child, named Annie 
Blanche, was born. His wife died, May 
10, 1871, in Wyoming, Jones county, Iowa, 
and is buried there. She was a strict 
member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, and was noted for her many 
charities and christian deeds. 

In 1875, he married Arabella L3'ness, a 
daughter of Joseph Lyness, of Jackstm, 
Iowa. To this union three children have 
been born, namely — Caroline Nebraska, 
who died at the age of thirteen months in 
Polk county, Nebr., and is buried there • 
Charles A. and Clarence H. 

Mr. Waldo has been in the livery busi- 
ness for seventeen years. In 1885, he 
moved to Franklin, bringing with him a 
fine lot of stock, and opened a livery, in 
which business he has been very success- 
ful. He is a "hustler" for business and 
is known by every traveling man who 
comes to Franklin and is liked by all of 
them. He has never been known to 
"gouge" a man, and he has adopted and 
follows his fathers motto, " Do as you 
would be done by." He is a member of 
I. O. O. F. and G."^ A. R. Post. He and his 
wife attend the M. E. church. 



HO. HENDRICKS, of North 
Franklin township, Franklin 
county, Nebr., was born in Ohio 
in 1842, and is a son of Samuel K. and 
Martha (Prichard) Hendricks. Samuel 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



823 



K. Hendricks was born in Pennsylvania 
in 1800, was reared a farmer, and from liis 
native state moved to Columbiana count\% 
Ohio ; thence he moved to Indiana, in 
which state he died in 1873, a consistent 
member of the Cliristian church. In poli- 
tics lie was originally a democrat, but in 
1856 joined the rejjublican ranks. Mrs. 
Martha Hendricks was also born in Penn- 
sylvania, was left an orphan at the age of 
three years — her father having been killed 
at the battle of Baltimore, in the War of 
1812, wiiile defending his country's flag, . 
the stars and stripes — and in 1830 was 
married to Mr. Hendricks. To this union 
were born twelve children, as follows — 
Mary E., now Mrs. Saunders, of Michigan • 
George, in Fi'anklin countj', Nebr.; Joel, in 
Michigan ; Eliza M., who died in August, 
1858; Sarah J. and Andrew, who both 
died young ; H. O., the subject of this 
sketch ; Salathiel P., in Missouri ; Maria 
C, married and residing in Ohio; Martha 
J., now Mrs. Gibbons, of Nebraska; Samuel 
S., in Michigan ; and Emanuel D., in 
Indiana. 

H. O. Hendricks was reared as a farmer, 
but also was engaged in teaching for seven 
winters. In the meantime, however, in 
1864, he enlisted in Company F, One 
Hundred and Eighty -second Ohio volun- 
teer infantr}', from which he was mustered 
out July 14, 1865. He then returned to 
Ohio and resumed farming and teaching 
until 1870, this period being included in 
the seven winters alluded to above. He 
then came to Nebraska and located on a 
homestead in Saunders county, where he 
resided five years ; thence he came to 
Franklin county, and in IS 75 settled on 
section 18, township 4, range 13 west. 
Although he had no means at all when 



nineteen years of age, and had but about 
§600 when he came to Nebraska, he is 
now the owner of eight hundred acres of 
good land, well improved and well stocked. 
Mr. Hendricks has been twice married, 
his first marriage having taken place, in 
1866, to Rachel Hall, a native of Mich- 
igan, born in 1849. This lady bore five 
children, named Samuel O., Nancy E., 
Yinnie, Caressa and Bessie. Tiie second 
marriage of Mr. Hendricks took place in 
1884, to Laura Casey, who was born in 
Kentucky in 1854, and became the mother 
of two children — Alvin E. and Ernest. 
Mr. Hendricks is a member of tlie G. A. 
E.. and of the Farmers' Alliance. In poli- 
tics he is a republican, and has served as 
assessor, justice of the peace and town 
clerk. He was also postmaster at Orange, 
Nebr., nearly nine years. He has always 
been successful in his business under- 
takings and has been popular in ever}' 
community in which he has lived. 



JE. PETERSON, of North Franklin 
township, Franklin county, Nebr., is 
a native of Sweden, and was born in 
1854. His father is John Peterson, 
a prosperous merchant tailor, who was 
born in Sweden in 1830, and is still a res- 
ident of that country. Josephine Peter- 
son, the mother of our subject, was born 
in 1833, and died in 1855, when her only 
child, the subject of this sketch, was an 
infant. The latter was only thirteen 
weeks old when he was taken in charge 
by his grandparents, who sent him to 
school until he was sixteen years of age, 
when he decided to come to America, and 
this country was reached by him in 1871. 



824 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



He located first in New Windsor, Mercer 
county, III., where he worked on a farm 
in summer and in a blacksmith shop in 
winter. In 1870 he' hired a farm, on 
which he remained until coming to Ne- 
bra.ska in 1885, having in the meantime 
acquired about $2,000. He is now the 
owner of a quarter section of well-stocked 
land, which is also highly improved. 

The marriage of Mr. Peterson took 
place in 1876, to Miss Sophia A. Johnson, 
daugiiter of John and Mary John.son, of 
Galva, III. Two children have come to 
shed sunlight in the household, namely — 
Edward Walter, born Sei)Cember 18,1877, 
and Frank Emmett, born July 22, 1879. 
In politics Mr. Peterson is a democrat, 
and is now serving his second term as 
county supervisor. He is a member of 
the Farmers' Alliance, and president of 
the local branch. Industrious and tiirifty, 
he has won the respect of all who know 
him. 



I 



>^^^I1£ CAMPBELL PliESS is a six- 
column folio and was established 
in January, 1876, by Frank W. 
Barber. Its present editor, U. G. Knight, 
was born in Constantine, Mich., in 1864-, and 
in thespring of 1871 was brought to Ne- 
braska by his parents, who settled in Web- 
ster county, and still reside there. George 
W. Knight, father of U. G. Knight, was 
born in Canada, but came to the States 
several \'ears before the breaking out of the 
rebellion. At the first call for volunteers 
he enlisted in the First Minnesota infantry 
and served out his full term of three 
months. Immediately after being mus- 
tered out he re-enlisted, joining the Third 



Minnesota infantry, and served through 
the war and Indian campaign of 1864, 
and until the close of the war, when he 
was mustered out as captain. Broken 
down in health, he hjcated with his fam- 
ily in Michigan, in which State he resided 
until coming to Neljraska, where his 
health has materially improved. In 1873 
he was appointed postmaster at Inavale, 
and still retains the office. 

U. G. Knight remained with his parents 
until twenty years of age, working on the 
farm and attending school. At the age 
mentioned he went to Colorad(j, where he 
spent some months teaching school and 
working in the grain business, but in the 
early winter he returned to his home, 
taught school a few terms, and in the 
spring of 1885 went to Los Angeles, Cal., 
and there entered upon his first news- 
paper work, becoming city editor of the 
Laborers' Advocate a/tid Shipping Gazette, 
but, on account of a difference in politics, 
soon fell out with the manager, the famous 
Captain Ja3'ne, and took his departure 
for San Francisco, where he became a re- 
porter on the Daily Call. In a short 
time, however, he quit the Call and went 
into the interior of the state, where he 
remained until August, 1887, and then 
came back to Nebraska and taught school 
one term. In the spring of 1889 he went 
to Hebron and was employed in the com- 
posing room of the Journal, and, in fact, 
there learned the mechanical part of the 
business. Three months later he went to 
Red Cloud, where he was employed until 
April, 1890, as foreman of the Democrat. 
The next move was to take editorial 
charge of the Campbell Press, which 
journal he has placed on a sound financial 
basis, making of it a good, lively, and 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



825 



able new'spapet". He is a re})ul)lican in 
])()litics and an active worker in tiie party, 
and has already gained considerable prom- 
inence in the state and sui'rounding coun- 
ties, lie is a hustler and will make his 
mark in the political arena befoi'e' many 
years. 



JOSEPH ELLIOTT, a prosperous 
farmer of North Franklin township, 
Franklin county, Nebr., was born in 
England, in 1840, and is a son of 
William and Christina (Charles worth) 
Elliott, the former of whom was born in 
1811, and died in 1876 — a farmer by voca- 
tion, a tnember of the Methodist Episco- 
pal chunih, and one who by his daily walk 
through life evidenced the sincerity of his 
profession of faith. Mrs. Christina Elliott 
was born in 1816, was married in 1834, 
and became the mother of seven children, 
namely — Elizabeth, now Mrs. Pugmore, 
and a resident of England ; George, who 
died in 1882 ; Joseph, whose name heads 
this sketch ; Ann, who died in 1884; Will- 
iam, a resident of England ; Susanna, now 
Mrs. Smith, and Charles, also a resident 
of England. At the age of nine years 
Joseph Elliott left the parental roof and 
went to work on a farm at the rate of 
$5.00 per annum and board for the first 
3'ear, and an additional $5.00 per annum 
each year until he came to America in 
1861. Here he worked on a farm in Illi- 
nois for a year, when his soul caught the 
martial spirit of the day, and he enlisted 
in August, 1862, in Company C, Seventy- 
fourth Illinois volunteer infantry'. At 
the action at Mission Ridge he was 
wounded in the arm by a shot and was 



mustered out Juno 13, 1SG5. Returning 
to Illinois he hired out as a farm hand for 
another year, and then rented a farm, 
which he worked on his own account 
until 1870, when he came to Nebraska, 
the possessor of $1,000 in cash, the result 
of his own industry. For awhile he re- 
sided at Beatrice, Gage county, but not 
liking the location removed to Iowa, and 
there remained until 1879. when he re- 
turned to Nebraska, and settled in Frank- 
lin county, where he now owns a quarter 
section, which is well impi'oved and well 
stocked, although he has had the misfor. 
tune of losing two crops. 

Mr. Elliott is a member of the G. A. R. 
and of the A. O. IT. W., and in politics is 
a repidjiican. Socially, he and his famil}' 
stand very high in tiie esteem of the 
community, and as an agriculturist he 
is looked upon as one of the best in the 
township. 



McKEE CRILLY is a native of 
Ireland and was born in 1846. 
Hugh Crilly, his father, was 
born in 1813, was reared a farmer, and 
came to America in 1877, choosing Frank- 
lin county, Nebr., as his home. He was a 
man of good habits, was strictly honest, 
and was quite prosperous. He died in 
1883, a faithful member of the Presbyte- 
rian church. The father of Hugh was 
James Crill3\ The mother of our subject, 
Sarah (McKee) Crilly, also a native of 
Ireland, was born in 1813 and was a 
daughter of Patrick McKee, who was 
born in 1775 ami died in 1850. He was a 
lawyer by ])rofession, having been educa- 
ted at Queen's College, Belfast, and hav- 



826 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



iiig also gi'adiuited from a college in Scot- 
land . The wife of Patrick McKee bore 
tlie maiden name of Hannali Mcllwrath. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh CriJly were married 
in 1837, and to tlieir union were born nine 
children, namely — Mar^^, now Mrs. A. M. 
Johnson, of Kiverton, Nebr. ; Mrs. Sarah 
Schell, of Denver, Colo.; McKee, our sub- 
ject ; Margaret J., James, Hugh, and Sam- 
uel, Katie and Elizabeth, the latter attend- 
ing school in Denver, Colo. 

McKee Crilly came to America in 1865, 
stopping at Joliet, 111., whence he came to 
Scott county, Iowa, and for three years 
worked by the month on a farm ; the next 
two years he passed on rented land. In 
1872 he came to Nebraska and stopi)ed 
awhile at Kiverton, then a stockade. The 
same year he took up a homestead, on 
section 2, township 1, range 13 west, in 
Franklin county, on which he resided 
until lS8i, when he settled on his present 
place. In the spring of 1873 occurred one- 
of the most memorable snow and hail 
storms on record, lasting three days, and 
during this time Mr. Crilly was safely 
housed at his father-in-law's, a few miles 
from his own home. It was in this year 
Mr. Crilly married Miss Alice L. Fowler, a 
native of Illinois, born in 1858. Five 
children have been the result of this 
union, namely — Hugh Clark, who was 
born in 1876 and who died in 1879; 
Herbert, born in 1878 ; Samuel, born in 
1880 ; Earl, born in 1884, and Glenn, born 
in 1887. 

Mr. Crilly began life for himself when 
nineteen years old. When he came to 
America he had about $35 or $40, and 
when he came to Nebraska had one team 
and $25. There were about fifty inhabi- 
tants in Franklin when he came, and of 



these only six remain. Hundreds of 
Indians camped about his place for tlii-ee 
or four winters and he was frequently 
annoyed by their de])redations. AVhat 
was then a barren waste is now a land of 
civilization and plenty, and the change 
has been effected by just such hardy pio- 
neers as our subject. Mr. Crilly now 
owns a splendid farm of three hundred 
and twenty acres, well stocked and 
improved with every convenience. 



1 



A 



M. JOHNSON, of Grant town- 
ship, Franklin county, Nebr.^ 
was born in Sweden, in 1836. 
His father, John Monson, was born in 
1792, was a prosperous farmer, and died 
in 1871, a member of the Lutheran church. 
He was married, in 1812, to Mar}' Greta 
Anderson, who was born in 1797, became 
the mother of five children, and died in 
1873 — a good, kind, christian woman. 
The children were named as follows — 
Caroline, Gustaf, Halda Sophia (deceased), 
Nels (in Nebraska), and A. M. 

A. M. Johnson came to America in 
1868 and traveled through the country, 
looking for a desirable abiding place, until 
1872, when lie reached Nebraska. He 
had learned the carpenter's trade in the 
old country and had also studied music, 
but his first employment in this country 
was at coffin-making in Chicago. On 
arriving in Nebraska, he settled on section 
35, township 2, range 13 west, Franklin 
county, where he is highly respected as 
a good, honest, reliable citizen. January 
15, 1872, he married Miss Mary Crilly, 
who was born in Ireland, in 1840, and in 
1868 came to the United States with her 



FRANKLIN COUNTY 



837 



brother, McKee Crilly. They stopped at 
Davenport, Iowa, and there her marriage 
to Mr. Johnson took place. No children 
have beeti born to this union, but they 
iuive an adopted son, Fernando, whom 
they took from the Orphans' Home at 
Elmira, N. Y., and who gives pi'omise of 
becoming a useful and respected citizen. 
Mr. Jolinson and family are members of 
the Congregational church, of which he is 
now a trustee, and for a number of years 
was a deacon. In politics, he is a repub- 
lican. 



HON. A. II. BUSH was born in 
Lewis county, New York, June 
8, 181S. His father, Roland 
Bush, was a native of Massachusetts, and 
was born March 12, 1793. His mother 
bore the maiden name of Harriet Phelp, 
and was also a native of Massachusetts, 
born October, 1790. They settled in New 
York in an early day, where they were 
afterwards married. In 1850 they migrat- 
ed to Wisconsin, where he died in 1883 
and she in 1887. The senior Bush was in 
the AVar of 1812, and was a man of con- 
siderable prominence in the communities 
where he lived, having held various local 
offices. They were adherents fo the Free- 
will Baptist faith. There were only 
three children in the paternal family — 
two besides the subject of this notice, all 
of whom are living. The Bush family 
are noted f(jr their longevity. 

The boyhootl days of our sui)ject were 
passed on a farm. He attended school 
and obtained a fair education, and at 
nineteen was engaged to teach at a salary 



of $16.00 per month. After teaching one 
term he prepared himself for schodl 
work and taught several successful terms 
afterwards. His success as a teacher led 
to his election as county superintendent 
of schools, a position he llllcd with credit 
for four years; he also organized and held 
the first institute in Lewis county, N. Y. 
In 1849 Mr. Bush moved to Wisconsin, 
locating on a farm in Richland county, 
and was elected county treasurer of Rich- 
land county in 1856, and served two 
years. He came to Franklin county, 
Nebr., in June, 1872, in advance of his 
family, and selected a homestead near 
Naponee, whei'e he has since resided. His 
first house consisted of a dug-out, which 
was afterwards replaced by a log dwell- 
ing. Buffalo were plentiful, and antelope 
roamed over the adjacent prairie in great 
herds. He was visited three years in suc- 
cession by the grasshoppers, which de- 
stroyed his crop entirely ; consequentl}', 
he experienced some very hard times 
during his first few years of settlement. 

On September 13, 1843, Mr. Bush was 
married to Miss Rosanna Metcalf, a native 
of the Empire State, born in 1821. She 
died in September, 1846, leaving one child 
— John M. Our subject then contracted 
a second marriage, which was celebrated 
on the fourth day of July, 1848 ; the lady 
who that day became his wife bore the 
maiden name of Cordelia A. Devoe, and 
was born in New York April 12, 1832. 
This union has resulted in the birth of 
eight children, as follows — Harriet K., 
born Nt)vember 18, 1849; Charles R., 
born Sei)tcudjer 2, 1854; Alfredellice M., 
born Ai)ril 4, 1857; Cora R ., born May 
17, 1859; Minnie E., born July 10, 1862 
(deceased) ; Fred D., born October 10, 



828 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



1866; Carl F., born January 12, 1871; 
and Helen M., born August 2, 1878. 

Mr. Bush was elected to represent 
Franklin county in the legislature in 1876 
and voted for the adoption of the present 
constitution of the state, and took an 
active part in tlie election of Senator 
Saunders. He served on three important 
committees and was an active and efficient 
worker in that body. He entered the 
United States mail service in 1880, and 
made the run between Omaha and Lin- 
coln, served in that capacity for four 
years, ami was one of the oldest mail 
agents in the service. He has been an 
active and efficient worker in the cause 
of temperance all his life, and is a stanch 
republican in politics. He now owns one 
hundred and seventy acres of splendid 
land. He is as clever a man as one will 
meet in a day's journey, and is an active 
and influential man in the community in 
which he lives. 



ISAAC CROLETis a native of Shelby 
county ,lnd., was born September 3, 
1845, and is a son of Absalom and 
Mary (Babb) Croley, the former a native 
of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. 
Both were zealous workers and members 
of the Baptist church. The father died 
in 1866, and the mother in 1857. The 
grandfather of our subject was a native 
of Pennsylvania, and a soldier in the War 
of 1812. 

Isaac Croley obtained a fair, common- 
school education, but being the eldest of 
the family, he was denied the school ad- 
vantages enjoyed by the youth of this 
dav. The war of the Rebellion breaking 



out, he enlisted December 15, 1863, in 
the Ninth Indiana cavalry, and served till 
September, 1864-, when he was taken 
pi'isoner and remained in prison till the 
close of the war, and when released was 
unable to stand on his feet. 

He was married February 20, 1S67, to 
Mar}' Jones, a native of Indiana. They 
have had four children, as follows — Laura 
(deceased), Riley, Charles and Harrv- 
Mr. Croley came to Franklin counts, 
Nebr., in April, 1876, and homesteaded the 
northeast quarter of section 33, township 
2, range 16. There were only few settlers 
at that time, and wild game was plentiful. 
Mr. Croley has held various local offices, 
and is the present supervisor of his town- 
ship. He is an Alliance man, and is in- 
de])endent in politics. He owns two 
hundred acres of land, which is in a fine 
state of cultivation and very productive. 



JOHN BRUNK, the subject of this 
biographical sketch, is a native of 
Brown county. 111., was born Sep- 
tember 25, 18-42, and is a son of 
Abram and Matilda (Bond) Brunk, both 
natives of Kentucky, who married and 
settled in Illinois in an .early day. The 
father was a "forty-niner" and died in 
California in 1850. He was a successful 
mine operator, ilrs. Abiara Brunk died 
in 1875, the mother of nine children, of 
whom the subject of this notice is the 
seventh. John Brunk took care of his 
mother for several years, remaining on 
the old homestead. He enlisted Febru- 
ary 14, 1865, in the Fourteenth Illinois 
regiment, and served till the close of the 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



829 



war, when he was discharged at Spring- 
field, 111., November 16, 1S65. 

Mr. Brunk came to Franklin county, 
Nebr., in April, 1877, and took a home- 
stead in Lincoln township, but prior to 
his coming to settle, built a sod house and 
prepared to receive his family. 

He was married in July, lS6fi, to Miss 
Alice Slmpkin, of Illinois. Her parents 
came from England. Six children have 
been born to this union — Carlota (de- 
ceased), Elizabeth, George T., Maggie 
(deceased), John W. and Alice May. 

Mr. Brunk is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and of the Grange. He is also 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
cliurch. He owns one hundred and sixty 
acres of good land and is a stanch be- 
liever in prohibition. 



RICIIAED B. ROWLEY is a native 
of Ontario county, N. Y., and 
^ was born at East Bloomfield, 
April 29, 1833. He is a son of Daniel and 
Eachael (Tomiller) Rowley, both of 
whom were natives of New York, but 
moved to Illinois in 1857. The senior 
Rowley enlisted at the age of sixty years 
in the war of the rebellion, and served 
about one year, when he was taken sick 
anil was placed on board a steamer that is 
supposed to have been blown up. Mi'S. 
Rowley died in 1886, the mother of twelve 
children, six of whom are now living. 

Richard Rowley engaged in fanning 
when he arrived at tlie age of twenty-one 
years. He enlisted September 5, 1864, in 
the First New York veteran cavalry, 
saw considerable service, and was dis- 
charged June 8, 1865. 



He located in Illinois in 1866, and in 
Franklin county, Nebr., in the spring of 
1876. He pre erapted tlie southeast quar- 
ter of section 17, Lincoln townsliip, on 
which he built a sod house, and was 
among the ver}' first settlers, passing 
through the grasshopper times. 

He was married August 5, 1856, to Evi- 
line Rowley, a native of New York, born 
January 27, 1841. Eight children have 
been born to this union — Steward, born 
November 28, 1863; Mary, born Septem- 
ber 5, 1860 (deceased); Earnest (deceased); 
Frank, born July 17, 1869 ; Daniel, born 
November 31, 1871 ; Ray, born June 26, 
1873; Maud, born July 12, 1876, and 
Carrie C, born June 28, 1878. 

Mr. Rowley affiliates with the republi- 
can party, and is an honored member of 
the G. A. R. He has four hundred and 
eighty acres of as fine land as can be 
found in the county, and buys and sells 
cattle and hogs, and is one of the best- 
known men in his locality. 



LESTER SHADDUCK is a native of 
Erie county. Pa., born December 
'_^ 4, 1828, and is a son of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Wiliard) Shadihick, the former 
of Yermont and the latter of Maine. 
The\' weie early settlers in Pennsylvania. 
The elder Shackluck was a soldier in the 
War of 1812, and was educated for a Uni- 
versalist minister. He was a circuit 
judge in an early day and died June 25, 
1 835, aged about sixty-two. The paternal 
grandfather of our subject was a soldier 
in the Revolutionary war. The mother 
of Lester Shadduck died in 1863. When 



830 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



our subject was about fourteen he began 
working out at $5 per month. In 1850 
he went to Wisconsin on a prospecting 
tour, but was not favorably impressed 
with the country. He next visited Iowa 
and purchased eighty acres of land in 
Clinton county, that State. He returned 
to Pennsylvania, but in a short time set out 
for the West again, and located on the 
land he had purchased and set .to work to 
improve it. He enlisted October 12, 
1801, in the Eleventh Wisconsin regiment, 
Company I, and participated in the fight 
at Peach Orchard bluffs. Magnolia hills, 
Champion hills, Black Eiver bridge and 
Vicksburg. He was wounded at the last- 
named battle on May 22, 1863, and was 
sent to Memphis, whei'e he lay in the 
hospital for some time. He was dis- 
charged at New Orleans, June 11, 1864-. 

Mr. Shadduck was married October 6, 
1858, to Miss Tabitha Clews, a native of 
England. Mrs. Shadduck departed this 
life on April 2, 1S61, the mother of two 
children — Ann E. and Joseph H., both 
deceased. Mr. Shadduck next married, 
April 1, 1865, Mrs. Catherine McEwen, 
a native of Dublin, Ireland. Her parents 
were John and Catherine Johnston, who 
came to America in 1830, and settjpd in 
New York city, where Mr. Johnston lived 
for many years. He was with Col. John 
Astor for nine years, and died in 1887, 
in Columbia county, AVis. Mr. Johnston 
was a graduate of the National college 
of Dublin, Ireland. 

Ml". Sliadduck had the foUowine- chil- 
dren by his second wife — William A., 
born May 2, 1866; LiJiie E , born Decem- 
ber 23, 1870; Eva Ptosella, born Marcii 
23, 1873. 

Mr. Shadduck came to Franklin county. 



Nebr., August 8, 1881, and has one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of good land in a fine 
state of cultivation. Politically, he is a 
republican. 



PS. FLITCEOFT is a native of St. 
Lawrence count}^, N. Y., and was 
born near Ogdensburg, on the St. 
Lawrence river, September 4, 1837. He isa 
son of James and Bricea (Snider) Flit- 
croft, both of whom were also natives of 
New York. His mother died in 1868 and 
his father in 1873. 

When ]\[r. Flitcroft was twenty-one 
years old he embarked in the boating and 
lumbering business on the St. Lawrence 
river and followed his business quite suc- 
cessfully' for several year. He piloted the 
rapids for about eight years, and subse- 
quently worked at the mason trade in 
Illinois for some years. He also spent 
four years in Butler county, Iowa, and 
came to Franklin county, Nebr., in the 
fall of 1874 and took a homestead in 
Lincoln township. He was among the 
first settlers, not a tree or a house -being 
in sight. Wild game was plentiful, and 
he could see from two hundred to five 
hundred antelope in a drove. The times 
were hard but the people in tliose days 
were plucky, happy and contented. He 
was married January 3, 1857, to Miss 
Helen Call, a native of Jefferson county, 
N. Y., and born in 1837. Seven children 
have been born to this union — Charles, 
Emma, Augustus, Edward, Oscar, Annie 
and Jane, all deceased except Edward. 
The second marriage of Mr. Flitcroft took 
place April 5, 1879, to R'^becca E. Jack- 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



831 



son, daugliter of Eobert and Lucy Jackson. 
She was born in Illinois, June 25, 18(53. 
Two children have resulted from this 
marriage — Helen J. (deceased) and Byron 
D. Mr. Flitcroft has one hundred and 
sixt\' acres of choice land, all under good 
cultivation. He was elected county com- 
missioner in the fall of 1877 and served 
three years. He organized and named 
several of the townships in the county, 
and was one of the most active and popu- 
lar officials the county has had for some 
time. He is a republican and a promi- 
nent and active member of the Farmers' 
Alliance. 



JAMES M. DIMMICK is a success- 
ful fai'mer residing in Logan town- 
ship, Franklin county. He is a na- 
tive of Schuyler county, 111., and is 
one of a family of nine children born to 
Ebenezer and Margaret (Phillips) Dim- 
mick, the former of whom was a New 
Yorker i\y birth, and the latter a native 
of Ohio. The father was born in Oneida 
county, N. Y., in 1803. When a young 
man he moved to Ohio, where he married, 
and in 1834 went to Illinois, settling in 
Schuyler county, where he subsequently 
lived and died. He was a man of diversi- 
fied pursuits and extensive interests. 
Starting as a farmer, he became a mer- 
chant and in later years officiated as a 
class leader. He established the town of 
Pleasant View, in Sclniyler county, was 
the first merchant of the place, and the 
first postmaster, whicli office he hekl from 
1861 to 1882. He was always a promi- 
nent citizen of his community and a 
leader in religious matters, having been 



an active member of the church for sixty- 
eight years, and his house was always 
open to the pioneer preacher. He was 
twice married and the father of nine 
children — all, however, by the first mar- 
riage. 

The subject of this notice was reared 
in his native county, growing up on the 
farm, and receiving an ordinary common- 
school education. At the age of eighteen 
he entered the Union army, enlisting May 
24, 1861, in Company G, Sixteenth Illi- 
nois volunteer infantry, was ordered at 
once to the front and served with the 
armies of the Southwest. He served 
mostly with the army of the Cumber- 
land, and took part in all the engage- 
ments participated in b}"^ that army. He 
served out the terra of his enlistment and 
was mustered out at Chattanooga, Tenn., 
in May, 1864, when he returned home. 
By an accident, he received a severe in- 
jury to one eye, and was once sick in a 
hospital, but with these exceptions he came 
off unscathed, doing a soldier's duty dur- 
ing his entire term of service. After re- 
turning: to Illinois he engaged for a few 
3'ears in farming, and then went to saw- 
milling, and followed this till 1873, when 
he moved to Nebraska, and settled in 
Franklin county, in August, 1873. He 
filed a homestead claim at that date on 
the southeast quarter of section 6, town- 
ship 3, range 14 west. In 1877 he lo- 
cated a timber claim in the same section, 
making him three hundred and twent}' 
acres. He began with a wagon and team, 
his household goods, one pig and a few 
chickens, and, as may well be imagined, 
he had for the first few years a hard time 
of it. He lost a few crops in consequence 
of the grasshopper invasions and drought, 



832 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



but on the whole, did well and lias pros- 
pered in recent years. Pie is regarded 
now as one of the most successful farmers 
of his township, and the order and neat- 
ness of everything on his farm gives evi- 
dence of the industry, system and good 
management that prevail there. 

Mr. Dimmick has from the beginning 
been identified with the best interests of 
his locality, and has taken an active part 
in the affairs of his township, lie has 
been township treasurer two terms, and 
at all times a member of the school board 
in one capacity or another. He belongs 
to the Grange and tiie Alliance and in 
politics is a republican. He is an active 
membei' of tlie Methodist church and a 
strong supporter of all church organiza- 
tions. 

He married Annie E. Hamilton, a 
daughter of James T. and Malinda Hamil- 
ton, natives of Virginia and emigrants 
to Illinois at an early da^^ Mrs. Dim- 
mick's parents are still living, being resi- 
dents of the the newly made State of 
Washington, and Mr. and Mrs. Dimmick 
have seven children, all girls — Nettie J., 
Malinda, Margaret, Enola, Emniarette, 
Theodosia and Mar}' A. 



MICHAEL HUFFMAN, one of the 
most highly respected men of 
Franklin county, Nebr., was 
born in Bourbon county, Ky., February 
10, 1826. His father moved to Brown 
county, 111., in 1833, was a farmer and 
blacksmith by occupation, and died in 
1872. Our subject engaged in farming 
when be became of age, and has stuck to 



it ever since. He came to Franklin 
county, Nebr., in the fall of 1875, took a 
homestead and was one of the first settlers 
in the county. He lived in a sod house 
and shared full}' in the vicissitudes of the 
early pioneers, having had his crops de- 
stroyed by the grasshoppers and laboring 
under other disadvantages common to the 
early settlement of a new country. When 
he came there were plenty of antelope, 
but the buffalo were beginning to disap- 
pear. 

Mr. Huffman was married January 21, 
1847, the lady of his choice being Miss 
Sarah Shelly, a native of Indiana. To 
this happy union there have been born 
nine children, namely — Henr}', born Ma}' 
23, 1848; Elizabeth, born December 26, 
1849; Mary A., born November 19, 1853 
(deceased); Sarah A., born June 3, 1855; 
Eli, born June 23, 1859 ; Harriet A., born 
April 6, 1863; Charles, born April 10, 
1865, and Berdella, born August 8, 1867 
(deceased), and a boy that died unnamed 
when eight days old. 

Mr. Huffman has belonged to the 
Masonic organization since 1859, and is 
also a devoted member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. He has two hundred 
and forty acres of choice land, which is 
well timbered and has plenty of fruit 
growing on it. 

In 1850 Mr. Huffman, with the great 
rush of gold seekers, went to California 
with an ox-team, and in the spring 1852 
returned by the way of Panama, having 
done fairly well. From 1867 to 1872 he 
was engaged in the milling business, with 
his brother Henry, in Schuyler county, 
111., on Crooked creek. His failing health 
was the cause of withdrawal, but he never 
gave up farming. The mill which they 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



833 



erected is still operated by Henry Huff- 
man. In his early Nebraska days Michael 
Huffman's house was a stopping place for 
the homesteaders that freighted their pro- 
duce from the Solomon and Kepublican 
rivers, and countr}' adjacent, to Kearney 
to exchange for the necessities of life, but 
for these accommodations Mr. Huffman 
made no charge whatever, and he is to- 
day noted for his cleverness and genuine 
hospitality. 



SAMUEL H. DOUGLASS, an old 
Nebraskan, and an early settler of 
Franklin county, is a native of the 
state of New York and a descendant of 
York State ancestry, his parents both 
havino' been born and reared there, and 
his grandparents also. His father, Thomas 
Douglass, was a small farmer in New 
York, and spent all his years in the 
peaceful pursuit of agriculture. Mr. 
Douglass' mother, wlio bore the maiden 
name of Chloe Howe, was a frugal house- 
wife, thrift}' and industrious and greatly 
devoted to her family. She was the 
mother of eleven children, only two of 
whom are now living, these being the 
subject of this sketch and an elder sister. 
Samuel H. Douglass was born May 10, 
1819. He was reared on his fathei''s 
farm, received an ordinary common-scliool 
education, and was trained to the habits of 
industry and usefulness common to farm 
life. His father being a man of limited 
means and having a large family to pro- 
vide for, the subject of this notice had 
from necessity to make his own way in 



the world from an early age. He was 
variously engaged alter reaching maturity, 
beginning as a farmer, going from that to 
the brick business and still later to mer- 
cantile pursuits. He inarried, in his native 
state, in 1851, taking, to share his life's 
fortunes. Miss Carrie Delano, a daughter 
of Frederick and Caroline Delano, who, 
as well as their daughter, were born in 
Vermont. The wife of his youth still 
abides with him, having borne him four 
children, three of whom are now living, 
having reached maturity. The full list is 
as follows — Lillie (who died in infancy), 
Thomas F., Sidney H. P. and Miles C. 

Mr. Douglass came to Nebraska in 
March, 1871, making his first stop in 
Richardson county, where he remained 
two years, engaged in farming. Selling 
out there, he moved to Fi-anklin county 
in 1873, and settled on a homestead, 
taking the northwest quarter of section 
28, township 3, range 14 west. After im- 
proving this, he sold it, and taking a 
timber claim in the same vicinitj% it being 
the northeast quarter of section 30, town- 
ship 3, range 1-4 west, located there, and 
has continued to reside there since. Mr. 
Douglass followed farming, exclusively, 
up to 1886, and met with fair success. 
At that date, he opened a store in Macon, 
and has since given his attention mainly 
to that. He has made a reasonably good 
success in the mercantile business, being a 
safe, conservative business man. In 1885 
Mr. Douglass received the apjiointment of 
postmaster, at Macon, and held the office 
till the close of Cleveland's administration. 
He is a democrat in politics, being a 
stanch supporter of the principles of his 
party, and has served his township as 
justice of the peace and has been quite 



834: 



FRAXKLIX COUXTY 



active in school matters, having served 
man}' terms as school director, and now 
serving as treasurer of his school district. 
He is a worthy citizen and highly esteemed 
by all who know him. 



JAMES T. REAMS is a pioneer and a 
commonwealth builder. He comes 
of pioneer ancestry, his parents hav- 
ing been early settlers of Kentucky, 
his grandparents earl}' settlers of Ten- 
nessee and his great-grandparents Virgin- 
ians and Mary landers. He is originally 
of Irish extraction, both Ins fathers and 
motiier's families having come from the 
Emerald Isle some time in the colonial 
days, the tradition as to the Keams side 
being that there were thi'ee sons, who 
lived during the Ilevolutionar\' period, the 
two older ones serving in the war. These 
subsequently became the heads of families 
and started the several branches in this 
country. They intermarried with the 
Harrisons, of Virginia, and in that way 
the name of Benjamin Harrison became 
introduced in the famih^ and has since 
run tlirough it, the mother of the subject 
of this sketch being a cousin of William 
Henry Harrison, better known as " Old 
Tippecanoe." The father of James T. 
Reams was Harrison Reams, who was 
born in Virginia but reared in Tennessee, 
whither his father, John Reams, moved 
at an early da}'. Harrison Reams mar- 
ried Lida Daugherty, then of Tennessee, 
but whose parents, Benjamin and Eliza- 
beth Daugherty, were natives of Mary- 
land, who moved to Tennessee at an early 
day. Benjamin and Lida (Daugherty) 



Reams were the parents of eight children, 
of whom the subject of this notice is the 
second in age. James T. Reams was born 
in Tennessee September 3, 1826. When 
he was three years old, his parents moved 
to Kentucky, and he there grew to man- 
hood.. He married in Kentucky in 1847, 
taking to wife Miss Mary A. Dowis, a 
daughter of Isaac and Betsey Dowis, who 
was a native of Kentucky, but whose par- 
ents were South Carolinians. In 1857, 
Mr. Reams moved to Indiana, a year 
later to Missouri, and in 1863 to Nebraska, 
settlino; in Douglas countv, near Omaha. 
For a while he farmed in Nebraska, but 
afterwards became a contractor on the 
Union Pacific railway, and followed that 
till the completion of the railroad in 1SC9. 
He then returned to Omaha, and after 
making a prospecting tour through the 
southwestern part of the state, he again 
engaged in contracting, grading streets in 
Omaha and railroads running out from 
that place. He gave this up in 1872, 
and, with his family, moved to Franklin 
county and took a homestead, tiling on 
the southwest quarter of section 10, town- 
ship 1, range li west. The same year he 
bought the northwest quarter of the same 
section, wiiich was owned by the railroad, 
and there he located and began his im- 
provements. Having been raised in a 
wooded country, he managed to settle 
where he would have plenty of timber, 
and his first house was a log one with a 
stone chimney. He encountered the usual 
amount of hardships that fall to the lot 
of the first settlers of a country, but, hav- 
ing already been considerably on the fron- 
tier, he was not discouraged by these. 
The chief diflicultv he met with in those 



davs was in 



bread stuffs. Meat 



I 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



835 



was plentiful, the prairies abounding in 
buffalo, antelope and deer; but the grass- 
hoppers and drouth played havoc with 
the crops, and the question, "What shall 
■we do for bread to eat ? " frequently be- 
came one hard to answer. Even when 
corn and wheat could be had, there were 
no mills within reasonable distance, the 
nearest one being at Beatrice, one hun- 
dred and fift}^ miles awa\'. He continued 
on the farm, however, seeing, as he says, 
some good times along with some prett}' 
tough ones, till 1879, when, the Burlington 
& Missouri River RailroadCom pan}' having 
built up the Republican valle}' and a sta- 
tion established where the town of Frank- 
lin now stands, he built a hotel there and 
moved to that place and began to man- 
age the hotel. He was engaged at two 
different times in the hotel business in 
Franklin, but never relinquished his farm- 
ing interest, and finally returned to his 
farm to live the remainder of his life. He 
has a beautiful place, well improved, and 
one that, under his careful management, 
yields him a competence. Mr. Reams is 
recognized as one of the best farmers of 
his community, as well as one of the first 
settlers and most influential citizens. He 
has been identified with the best interest 
of his locality, having served his town- 
ship as supervisor, and having been al- 
most continuously on the school board 
since his school district was organized. In 
politics he is a democrat and a stanch 
supporter of the principles of his party. 
He belongs to the Farmers' Alliance of 
Franklin county, and takes an active in- 
terest in all matters relating to the farm- 
ing interests of his community. He is 
also a member of the Masonic fraternitj'. 
Mr. Reams has had born to him a fam- 



ily of ten children, as follows — Isaac (who 
died at the age of six), Margaret, Benja- 
min H., Sarah, John F., Andrew J., Bart- 
lett, Lucy, Alice and Rosa. 



WILLIAM E. AUSTIN is one 
of the oldest settlers and 
most highly esteemed citizens 
of Logan township, Franklin county. He 
is a native of Massachusetts, and comes 
of old New England stock of great re- 
spectability, and is the fifth of a family 
of ten children born to John and Lodemia 
(Daniels) Austin. His parents were both 
born in Massachusetts, as were also their 
parents, and his father was a successful 
farmer and a man of some local public 
note. The mother was a daughter of 
Dan Daniels, whose father was an Irish- 
man by birth, an immigrant to America 
at an early day ; a man of wealth, a lover 
of liberty, and a stanch supporter of the 
colonial cause against the mother country'. 
He was the commander, under the British, 
of the fort at Boston when the Revolu- 
tionary war began, but deserted and 
joined the Americans. A prize was 
offered for his head b}' England on ac- 
count of the part he took in the Revolu- 
tion, but his head was never obtained. He 
used his great wealth in furthering the 
cause of freedom, cashing colonial script 
and equipping soldiers for the field. 
Mr. Austin's maternal grandfather, Dan 
Daniels, served in the Revolution as a 
courier, was once captured and tried for 
his life, but escaped the death penalty. 
The family name was originally Mc- 



836 



FRANK LI X COUNTY. 



Daniels, but Dan changed it to Daniels. 
Dan Daniels held a commission as justice 
of the peace for sixty years, the longest 
period of any man in Massachusetts, and 
held the office at the time of his death. 

The subject of this notice was born 
June 23, 1815, and was reared in his 
native place, growing up on a farm. He 
lost his father at the age of twelve, and 
he, in consequence, made his way alone 
from that time on. He resided in Massa- 
chusetts till 1863, engaged in farming, but 
sold out then and moved to Iowa, where 
he lived till 1872. That year he came to 
Nebraska, settling in Logan township, 
Franklin county, where he has since re- 
sided. He took a homestead, filing on 
the northwest quarter of section 30, town- 
ship 3, range 14 west, which he began at 
once to improve. He began in a humble 
way, and, as may be supposed, suffered 
many hardships. The first few years he 
lived in a dug-out. He raised a crop or 
two of pretty fair sod corn and then 
came the grasshoppers. Fortunately 
he had some means and thus was 
enabled to tide himself over that season 
of failure and want, but he saw much 
suffering on the part of others. He was 
at that time running a small store in his 
township, and such was the suffering 
among the settlers that he could not witli_ 
stand his charitable impulses, and as a re. 
suit he gave away almost all he had to his 
neighbors. He has been steadily engaged 
in farming at all times since settling in 
the county, and, with the exception of the 
grasshopper years and the dry years of 
1880 and 1881, he has had good crops. He 
has taken an active part in developing the 
country and particularly the locality 
where he lives. When he settled there it 



was all open country, raw prairie anil no 
improvements, but he has made his home- 
stead a handsome place and has rendered 
much assistance to others in doing the 
same for themselves. The next year after 
settling in Logan township he secured a 
postoffice for his community, giving it the 
name of Macon. His son Frank was the 
first postmaster, and he held the office for 
many years. A pleasant, thrifty, village 
has sprung up there, and it has become the 
local market for the vicinity. 

Mr. Austin has been married twice. He 
first married in 1845, taking to wife Miss 
Emaline Clark, a daughter of Alexander 
Clark of Massachusetts. By this mar- 
riage he had born to him four childi-en — 
William H., John Franklin, Edward L. 
and Charles F., the latter dying in infancy. 
Mr. Austin lost his wife in 1862 while still 
residing in Massachusetts. He married 
again in 1867, his second wife having 
borne the maiden name of Fannie Lester, 
being a daughter of Thomas and Abigail 
(Phelps) Lester. No children have been 
born to this union. 

In politics Mr. Austin is independent. 
He believes in judging every man and 
every measure strictly according to merit. 
He is also independent and non-sectarian in 
matters of religion, and established a non- 
sectarian Sunday-school in the township in 
1872, which has continued to grow and 
prosper since, and has been a powerful fac- 
tor in the moral growth and development 
of his community since. Mr. Austin has 
ideas of his own on many subjects, some of 
which do not agree with prevailing notions. 
He believes, for instance, that all land 
titles should be held according to the law 
of Moses, and he opposes, strongly, usuri- 
ous interest. He is prompted to those 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



837 



beliefs by his warm and zealous nature 
and by its uncompromising hatred of 
wrong and over-reaching on the part of 
the strong and wealthy. 



JOHN J. CHITWOOD, the subject of 
this biograpliical sketch, is one of the 
earliest settlers and most prosperous 
farmers of Logan township, Franklin 
county. He was born in Schuyler county, 
111., Febi'uary 20, 1836, and is one of a 
family of six children born to John and 
Sarah (Lamaster) Chitwood. His father 
was a native of Indiana, moved to Illinois 
when a young man and died there in 
1877. 

John J., our subject, was reared on a 
farm, received a good common-school 
education, and made his home with his 
parents until twent3'-five years of age. 
August 12, 18G1, he enlisted in Company 
H, Second Illinois cavalrjr. His command 
served mostly with the armies of the 
Southwest, covering the territory of Ken- 
tucky,Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. 
He served three years, being mustered 
out at Baton Rouge, La. The war being 
over he returned home, and on the twenty- 
third day of March, 1865, he married, tak- 
ing for a life companion Miss Jane Martha 
Jackson, a daughter of Jeremiah and 
Mary Jackson, natives of Indiana. After 
marrying he rented a farm and lived on it 
for eight years. April, 1874r, he came to 
Nebraska, settling in Franklin county. 
He located a homestead and purchased a 
timber claim in section 10, township 3, 
range 15 west, built a sod house and 
began to improve his place. The first 



year he had all his crops destroyed by the 
grasshoppers, but he did not let that dis- 
courage him. He determined to stick to 
his claim and make for himself and family 
a home. He worked hard and managed 
well, and now has one of the finest farms 
in Franklin county, having about three 
hundred acres under cultivation. His 
sod house has given waj' to a substantial 
frame, surrounded by all necessary out- 
buildings, groves and orchards. 

In addition to farming, Mr. Chitwood 
has made stock-raising an important 
branch of business, having on his place 
a herd of well-graded cattle, and gives 
special attention to the improvement of 
horses. Starting out in life without a 
dollar, Mr. Chitwood has achieved a 
marked success, and it is due to his intel- 
ligence, industry and good management. 
Mr. and Mrs. Chitwood have had born to 
them a family of five children, as follows 
— Charles A., James W"., Harriet E., 
Mary E. and Minnie J. In politics, Mr. 
Chitwood is a republican and takes an ac- 
tive interest in his party. He is a mem- 
ber of the Grand Army of the Republic 
and a stanch supporter of the Grange. 
He and his estimable wife are both mem- 
bers of the Methodist church and active 
in all church work. 



LEVI D. HAGER is one of the very 
best farmers and one of the ver}' 
_> earliest pioneer settlers of Frank- 
lin count}', and is one of the men, who, by 
their enterprise and industry have made 
the country what it is to-day. He is one 
of the few whose lives are full of good 



838 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



lessons whicli sliould not be lost, but pre- 
served as an example worthy of imitation 
by the coming generations. He was born 
June 10, 1844-, at "Wallingford, Rutland 
county, Vt., and comes of good old New 
England ancestry, being one of a family 
of twelve children born to Steadman 
and Sylvia (Davis) Hager, both of whom 
were natives of Vermont, the former hav- 
insr been born in the year 1809, the latter 
in 1812. His parents left Vermont and 
moved to Outagamie county, Wis., when 
he was but one year old, and there the 
father pre-empted a quarter section of 
timbiir land on which the family settled. 
On this place our subject resided, attend- 
ing school and choring about his father's 
farm until twelve years old (18r)0), when 
he emigrated with the family still farthei- 
"West and settled in Dodge county, Nebr., 
eight miles west of where the city of Fre- 
mont now stands. His father's claim was 
located near Pawnee Indian village, and 
for a long time the family were troubled 
by the thievishness of the natives. The 
winter of 1850 was one of the severest 
ever experienced within tlie memory of 
the oldest settlers of Nebraska; and it was 
during one of those driving, blinding snow 
storms, known as the Nebraska blizzard, 
that the father of our subject perished. 
It seems that he was some distance from 
home when the storm overtook him, and 
not being able — as any one iiaving expe- 
rienced a Nebraska blizzard well knows — 
to find his way home, he wandered about 
until overcome by the elements and com- 
pelled to lie tlown and die. His remains 
were not found until six months later, 
when his skeleton and pieces of his cloth- 
ing, sufficient for identification, were 
found lying in the forks of a tree, which 



had blown down. A small pile of brush 
near by indicated that he had attempted 
to kindle a fire, but probably owing to 
the driving wind was unable to do so. 
The family being thus depi'ived of the 
father, one on whom it had always de- 
pended for guidance and supjjort, and the 
boys being young and inexperienced and 
the country new and sparsely settled, nat- 
urally were compelled to endure liardshijjs 
and privations which douijtless would 
have otherwise been averted. 

Our subject remained at home doing 
what he could to alleviate the wants of 
the family until twenty-one years of age, 
when, the balance of the family having 
grown well up to maturity, he left home to 
begin life on his own account, lie came to 
Franklin county, June 3, 1871, and pre- 
empted a claim on Centre creek, four 
miles north of where the town of P'rank- 
lin is now located, in section 15, township 
2, range 15 west. But few persons had at- 
tempted to settle in the country up to this 
time, and the few that had taken claims 
were to l)e found along the river and 
creeks. Wood and water were among the 
first essentials to permanent settlement, 
and for this reason Mr. Hager settled on 
Centre creek. His claim was about half 
timber and half prairie, and later, when 
the country became more thickly popu- 
lated, he divided his wood land into small 
lots and disposed of it to other settlers 
having no timber. His first house was a 
ir)xl8foot two-story log house, in which 
he lived for seven years. The country was 
full of wild game — buffalo, deer, antelope 
and wild turkey — and he has killed many 
of the former, dried the meat and carried it 
with him to eat, while on long trips or in the 
field at work. He used to cut up the hides 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



839 



of the buiralo into straps which he used 
to lariiit Ills oxen. It was customary 
among the early pioneers to divide tiie 
meat of a buffalo, killed by one of them, 
with all his neighbors, and in this manner 
the little neighborhood was kept well 
supplied with meat. For the first few 
years Mr. Hager's nearest trading point 
was at Lowell, fifty miles to the north, 
and thither he would go with his 
oxen over the broad prairie, making 
the trip to that jilace and back m four 
davs. There being no water on the vast 
space of prairie lying between the Repub- 
lican and Platte rivers known as the 
"divide," and over which he had to i)ass, 
he carried pumpkins along, on which to 
feed the oxen, tiius quenching, in a meas- 
ure, tlieir tiiirst. In making one of these 
four-day trips to and from Lowell, he was 
oldiged to camp and spend the niglit on 
the open prairie. Let the reader imagine, 
if he can, a night thus spent on the broad 
open prairie, with nothing but the dome 
of heaven for his shelter and the radiance 
of the stars for his light ; with no sound 
to greet his ears save the munching of the 
oxen and the occasional bark of a hungry 
coyote in his swift Might over the prairie 
in search of food. 

Mr. Ilager's entire stock in store when 
he landed in Franklin county consisted 
of one yoke of oxen, a half interest in a 
cow, some provisions, and three dollars m 
money. It will be seen by this, that the 
circumstances under which he began pio- 
neer life in Franklin county were not as 
favorable as might be expected, after con- 
sidering the marvelous success he has 
achieved in the score of years intervening. 
Crops, from various causes — chief among 
which were drought and grasshoppers — 



were almost a total failure the iirsl four 
years; but witii that invincible determi- 
nation characteristic of his people, he 
kept toiling on until prosperity at last 
dawned upon the country and justly re- 
warded his assiduous efforts. In Ma\', 
1879, he disposed of his old pre-emption 
on Centre creek and purchased a quarter 
section of railroad land on the "divide," 
in Macon townsiiip. on which he now 
resides. He also filed a timber claim on 
a (|uarter section across the road from his 
newly ])urchased land, which claim bears 
the distinction of being the first final 
pi'oof filed untler the new act of Congress, 
known as the timber claim act, and en- 
titling settlers to tlieriglitof land under 
its provisions. The first house constructed 
on the new jiurcliase was a 12xl0foot sod 
house, in which he lived six years, and 
then built the present spacious brick man- 
sion, which is oneqf the best residences in 
the county. Mr. Ilager has ilealt largely 
in stock, and from this source he has made 
and accumulated considerable money. 
His farm, of three hundred and sixty 
acres, is one of the best in the county, 
anil is fully equipped with all the modern 
improvements. He has nuide a some- 
what phenomenal success at fruitgrowing, 
and now has apples and peaches bearing 
on his j)lace. 

Mr. Ilager was married March 21, 1872, 
to Miss Lilly B. Thompson, who was born 
in Scott county. 111., December 9,1853. 
Her parents are John and Mary (Chap- 
man) Thompson, the foi'mer being a 
farmer by occupation and a native of 
Kentucky by birth ; the latter was a na- 
tive of Maryland. The congenial union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Hager has resulted in the 
birth of four children, namely— Ida B., 



840 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



Frank E., Mary A. and Ebbert D. Reli- 
giously, Mr. and Mrs. Hager are believers 
in tlie ilethodist Episcopal faith, and are 
active membei's of f lie organization in their 
neighborhood. Politically, Mr. Hager, 
although reared a republican, and for 
many years a believer in its principles, 
has of late years allied himself with the 
prohibition pjirty. lie has held various 
local ollices, serving in the capacity of 
justice of the peace, of Franklin precinct, 
in 1872, and also as county commissioner 
for a term of three years, coninieiu-ing in 
1877. He is a member of the order i;f A. 
F. and A. M., at Bloomingtnn, and a man 
highly respected and esteemed by all who 
know him. 

He has been class-leader in the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church since 1873, and 
director of the school district in his 
neighborhood for ten years past. 



HIPPE YELKEN, one of the most 
extensive farmers in Franklin 
county, Nebraska, was born in 
GeriiKiny, October 19, 1845, and is a son 
of John n. and Jedy Yelken, both of 
whom are natives of Germany. The 
father was quite an extensive farmer in 
his native country. The mother is now 
living in America. There were fourbo^'s 
and three girls in the family. Hipjie 
Yelken, the subject of this sketch, lived in 
Germany until nineteen years of age, 
when he sailed for America. His youth- 
ful ilays were spent in attending school 
and laboring on the farm. May, 1865, 
after a six weeks' voyage, he landed on 
the shores of America, and settled thirty- 



two miles south of Chicago, 111., where he 
lived on a farm a short time, then moved 
to Menard county, same state, where he 
resided on a farm for seven years. He 
came from thereto Franklin county, Nebr., 
May 28, 1872, and was the first settler 
and homesteader on the divide in Frank- 
lin county. The " Divide," as it is called, 
is an elevated tract of land lying between 
the Republican and Platte valleys, and was 
by the first settlers of that section of 
Nebraska considered worthless for farm 
land. It has, however, since proven to be 
the best farm land in Nebraska, and is 
improved far beyond that of any other 
section. His homestead lies in section 20, 
township 3, range 15 west, on which he 
still resides. At the time of his coming to 
the county there was not a house between 
the Republican and Platte rivei's, a dis- 
tance of forty miles, and buffalo, deer, elk 
and antelope were plentiful. He killed 
some buffalo, and for the first few years 
lived principally on buffalo meat. Ante- 
lope, for a number of years after he settled 
there, were often seen strolling over his 
farm. His first dwelling consisted of a 
log house fourteen by eigheeen feet, made 
from the small trees grown along the 
creek bottoms. lie lived in this house six 
years and then built a twelve by twenty- 
six-foot sod house, which he lived in seven 
years, and then built the present fine 
frame house, which is one of the very best 
in the county. When our subject came 
to Franklin county he had only a team 
and one cow and was in debt $450. Dur- 
ing the grasshopper period of 1874—76 he 
lost nearly all his crops. The first few 
years he had to go to Lowell to trade, a 
distance of thirty-seven and a half miles, 
and down to the Republican river for his 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



841 



fuel. During tlie great Easter snow stonn 
in 1873, when the snow blew for three 
daj's and nights so that no one dared 
venture from doors, he lost one colt and 
six head of cattle. Notwithstanding 
all these losses he has been one of the 
most successful farmers in Franklin 
county. By persevering hard work lie 
has got his four hundred acres in a splendid 
state of cultivation, which, with its ex- 
cellent improvements, makes it one of the 
best farms in the county. Mr. Yelken 
devotes his time principally to raising 
good stock, and in this line he has been 
equally successful. 

Our subject was married, February 27, 
1868, to Miss Mana Blank, who was born 
in German3', September 21, 1850. This 
union has resulted in the birth of six chil- 
dren, namely — Katie, Thomas, John, 
Martie, Frank (deceased), Anna. He hag 
also an adopted son, Thomas. Mr. and 
Mrs. Yelken are members of the Lutheran 
church. In politics Mr. Yelken is a demo- 
crat, and has held the offices of road 
overseer and treasurer of Macon township 
since 1888. 



CHARLES SHIELDS, an honored 
and respected citizen of Hildreth, 
Franklin count}^, Nebr., was boi-n 
in Portage county, III., August 19, 1844. 
His father, George II. Shields, was born in 
Susquehanna county. Pa., January 17, 1809, 
where he resided until twent^'-one years of 
age and then moved to Illinois. During the 
early part of his life he worked in a large 
factory and for fifteen years managed a 
carding machine. Later he purchased a 



farm and during the reimiinder of hi.s life 
was engaged in farming. He lived a long 
and useful life, being an honored and 
influential citizen of his community until 
his death, which occurred December 1, 
1883. The mother of our subject, Susan 
(Butchal) Shields, is a native of Ohio, born 
December 12, 1814, and is a woman noted 
for her kind disposition and benevolent 
acts. She is still living in Brown countv, 
111., and is the mother of eight children, 
four boys and four girls, as follows — 
Cyrus, born January 15, 1835, is now liv- 
ing on a farm in Brown county, 111.; 
William F., born July 2, 1837, is now a 
farmer in this (Franklin) county ; Electa 
A., born March 29, 1840, is married to a 
Mr. Wright tind resides in this county; 
Sarah E. (widow Engles), living in Brown 
county. 111.; Mary (deceased); James F., 
born December 15, 1850, died at the ao-e 
of twenty-one years; Amanda, born Octo- 
ber Y, 1853, is married to a Mr. Stofer and 
now living in Brown county, 111. 

The paternal grandfather of our subject 
came from Ireland and the paternal grand- 
mother from Germany. Charles, the sub- 
ject ])roper of this sketch, resided in 
Portage county. III., until about eight 
years of age, when he moved with his 
parents to Brown country. 111., where he 
was reared on a farm and lived until 1875, 
being engaged in many and varied pur- 
suits of life. His early life was occupied 
with attending school, working on the 
farm and serving an apprenticeship at the 
potter's trade. He enlisted in the war of 
the rebellion August 22, 1862, and was 
jn Company E, Sixteenth Illinois infantry, 
2d brigade, 1st division and 14th corps, 
lie served his country faithfully for a 
period of nearly three years and was dis- 



843 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



charged June 12, 1865. The war being 
over, be returned to Brown county and 
worked for five 3' ears at the potter's trade, 
finall}' purchasing a half intei'est in the 
factory and a 3'ear later the entire plant. 
After running the factory one 3^ear he 
sold a half interest to a man by the name 
of McNeal. Under the management of 
the new firm a steam clay crusher costing 
$5,500 was placed in tiie factoiy. Tu'o 
vears later he disposed of his interest and 
that fall, September, 187-4, came West to 
Franklin county, Nebr., and homesteiided 
a claim in section 6. township 4, range 15 
west, and the following spring returned, 
and, March 20, 1875, moved his family 
out. The nearest settler to his claim at 
timt time was on what was known as Walk- 
er's Ranch, which was four and a half 
miles distant. He hurriedly constructed 
a sod house, twelve by sixteen feet in 
dimensions, which, when completed, cost 
but seventy -five cents in actual mone3\ 
In this he lived a 3'ear and a half and 
then built a new one, twelve by twenty-six 
feet, and made use of the old one for 
a stable. Crops, on account of severe 
drought and the grasshoppers, were prac- 
tically a failure for the first few j'ears 
and ever\'tliing tended to discourage the 
pioneer settlers. He experienced all the 
hardships and privations characteristic of 
the time and was barely able to make a 
living for himself and family during the 
first two years. He took a timber claim 
across tlie line in Kearney county and 
afterwards purchased eighty acres of rail- 
road land. He made a marked success at 
farming and three \'ears ago moved into 
Hildreth, where he now owns two resi- 
dences, one hotel, one store building, an 
office building and numerous lots, from all 



which he receives a monthh^ rental of 
$40 and at present manages the hotel 
himself. 

Mr. Shields was married to the lad}' of 
his choice. Miss Geneva Alice Anderson, 
December 31, 1870. She was born in 
Quincy, HI., June 12, 1855. Of this con- 
genial union seven children have been 
born (five of whom are living), as follows 
— George S., born January 19, 1872; 
Otie S., born September 0, 1874, died 
February 6, 1876; Maud, born July 20, 
1877 ; Chester D., born January 27, 1880, 
died July 9, 1888; Lydia M., born No- 
vember 16, 1884 ; Charles L., born July 20, 
1881 ; Earl, born March 20, 1887. 

Politically Mr. Shields affiliates with 
the republican party. He served in the 
capacity of justice of the peace four years, 
that of constable two years and a like 
period as member of the town board. He 
is a member of the G. A. R. order and 
also of the order of Odd Fellows for 
twenty years. 



HEXRY J. NEAD, the subject of 
this biographical notice, is a 
native of Germany and a de- 
scendant of German ancestry from time 
immemorial. His parents, who belong to 
the plain, substantial stock of the Father- 
land, are still living, being residents of 
their native country. The father, Michael 
Nead, is a miller by trade, and has led the 
industrious, useful life common to his call- 
ing all his years. The mother bore the 
maiden name of Elizabeth Zikenburger, 
being an industrious, thrifty, frugal house- 
wife and devoted mother. These are the 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



843 



parents of five children, of whom the 
subject of this notice is the third and only 
boy. He was born in the town of Gross, 
Gottenberg, in September, 1842, and was 
reared in his native country, receiving 
a good common-school education in his 
youth and learning tie trade of a miller 
under his father. He started out at the 
age of seventeen to make his own way in 
the world, coming at that date to America. 
He made his first permanent stop in this 
country in Peoria, 111., and engaged in 
the milling and distilling business at that 
place. He began as an employe of others, 
but by industry and economy he managed 
to save money from his earnings, and in 
time was able to embark in business on 
his own account. His affairs prospered 
from year to year until he finally came to 
be fairly well fixed, but an accidental fire 
swept away all he had made and he was 
forced to start again on the bottom round 
of the ladder. He came to Nebraska in 
1876, settling in Franklin county, where 
the following year he took a claim, it 
being the southeast quarter of section 32, 
township 2, range 14 west, on which he 
filed and began the arduous task of making 
a home out of the rude and inhospitable 
elements of the West. He underwent the 
usual number of hardships and privations 
incident to opening a new country and 
fought the battles of the pioneer hero- 
icallv from the be<jinnino' to the end. 
After the first few years his fortunes be_ 
gan to gradually improve, and each sue. 
ceeding year witnessed a corresponding- 
rise in his worldly affairs, until now he is 
recognized as one of the prosperous men 
of his community. He owns two hundred 
and ninety-six acres of good land lying in 
the Eepublican valley in Franklin county, 



one hundred and ten acres of which he has 
under cultivation and otherwise well im- 
proved. He has plenty of stock and of 
late years has been giving much of his 
time to improving his place. In earlier 
years he had to work a good deal at his 
trade and his time was thus necessarily 
tal<en from his farm. 

Mr. Nead married while residing in 
Beardstown, 111., in 1873, taking to share 
his life's fortunes Miss Mary J. Rice, of 
Beardstown, IlL This union has been 
blessed with two cliildren, both sons — 
Hei'bert E. and Walter II. The former 
of these died in August, 1889, at the age 
of thirteen — a bright, promising boy. His 
loss was a sore bereavement to his parents. 
His mind had already begun to give evi- 
dence of great strength, he being first in 
his classes at school, and he was, besides, 
a kind, dutiful and affectionate son. 

Mr. Nead has exhibited much interest 
in the schools of his community, having 
served as moderator of his school district 
and lent a helping hand to all educational 
enterprises. He is also prominently con- 
nected with the Farmers' Alliance in 
Franklin county and an active worker in 
that organization. In politics he is a re- 
publican, being a stanch supporter of the 
principles of his party. He is a zealous 
member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and of the Metliodist church, and 
a liberal contributor to all charitable pur- 
poses. 



ROBERT A. GLENN. Prominent 
among the few remaining pioneer 
^ settlers who came to Franklin 
county in an early day, and endured the 
many hardships and privations incident to 



844 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



the settlement and development of the 
country, is Robert A. Glenn. He was 
born August 23, 1838, in Brown county, 
111., and comes of a long line of ancestry, 
the source of which originates in Ireland. 
His father, who is still living (1890) at 
the advanced age of seventy-eight years, 
was a native of Kentucky, born in the 
year 1812. Although a farmer by occu- 
pation, he is a man of considerable distinc- 
tion, having served his country faithfully 
during the Black Hawk war, and also the 
war of the rebellion, participating in the 
latter for t\vo_and one-half j'ears, a mem- 
ber of Company H, Fiftieth Illinois regi- 
ment. The mother of the subject bore the 
maiden name of Amanda O'Neal, and was 
a native of Kentucky, born in 1815. She 
was a faithful companion and kind mother, 
ever striving to rear her children in the 
paths of honesty and virtue and to con- 
tribute her share to the betterment of 
mankind. The paternal grandfather, 
Henry Glenn, was a native of the New 
England states and a farmer by occupa- 
tion. He settled in Illinois in an early 
day, and died at Alton, being engaged at 
flat-boating on the Mississippi at the time 
of his death. Of the ancestral histor\' 
beyond this date, little is known, save the 
fact that they came originally from Ire- 
land. 

Robert A. Glenn was reared on a farm 
in Brown and Schuyler counties. 111., 
where he resided the greater part of the 
time until 1866. His early youth was 
spent in attending the district school, the 
building being one of tliose primitive old 
log houses, which were characteristic of 
those times. His school advantages were 
necessarily limited, but being naturally of 
an assiduous disposition he acquired the 



rudiments of an education, which, to- 
gether with that strong element, common- 
sense, formed the basis for his long suc- 
cessful life. In addition to his labor on 
the farm he learned the cooper's trade 
from his father, and followed it to a con- 
siderable extent up to the breaking out of 
the war of the rebellion, at which time 
he nobly responded to his country's call 
for aid, and enlisted May 24, 1861, in 
Company E, Sixteenth Illinois infantry. 
The day following his enlistment he was 
elected sergeant, and was commissioned 
second lieutenant May 22, 1863, at Nash- 
ville, Tenn.; and finally, May 22, 1864, was 
promoted to the rank of captain. He 
served faithfully in this capacity until 
July 8, 1865, on which date he was mus- 
tered out, and returned home. He settled 
down in Schuyler county. III., and for the 
following five j'ears was engaged at the 
peaceful pursuit of farming. Mr. Glenn 
came to Franklin county, Nebr., in Sep- 
tember, 1871, and homesteaded a quarter- 
section in section 6, township 3, range 14 
west. The countiy was new and unde- 
veloped, and wild game was plentiful. 
He killed one buffalo, one elk and one 
antelope. He erected a sod house on his 
claim twelve by fourteen feet, in which he 
lived two years, when he erected one of a 
similar kind, though more commodious, 
having two rooms fourteen by sixteen 
feet each, with a brush roof, which, when 
complete, cost $15. On the divide where 
he settled, water was very scarce and only 
found at a great depth. Not being able 
to dig a well, he hauled water for the first 
two years a distance of six miles. He 
earned considerable monej' the first few 
\'ears by picking up buffalo bones and 
hauling them to Kearney, whei'e he 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



845 



marketed them for $5 per ton. Crops for 
the first two years were nearly a total 
failure, and he at one time became dis- 
couraged and would have left the country 
had it not been for his wife, who persuaded 
him to stay. Mr. Glenn at the present 
time is postmaster of Hildreth, a thrifty 
little village on the north line of the 
county, and is also extensively engaged in 
the wind-mill business. 

Mr. Glenn has been twice married ; his 
first marriage to Charlotte Barton, oc- 
curred February 9, 1864, and resulted in 
the birth of three children, namely — Delia 
May, born December 15, 1867, Edgar 
Barton, born December 8, 1869, and 
Albert Estil, born January 1, 1871. He 
was married a second time, August 31, 
1875, to Harriet A. McLean, who was 
born December 17, ISil, near Prescott, 
Ontario. She came to Franklin county in 
November, 1873, and pre-empted a claim, 
afterwards homesteading the same. This 
congenial union has resulted in the birth 
of five children, as follows — Charlotte 
Maud, born September 25, 1876; Erma 
Floyd, born January 10, 1879 ; Dwiet 
Albertus, born Januar}^ 29, 1881, died July 
24, 1881 ; Ori)ha Luella, born February 
3, 1882; Kay Fielding, born March, 1884. 

Politically, Mr. Glenn affiliates with the 
republican part^', although he has strong 
prohibition proclivities. He represented 
Franklin count\' in the state legislature in 
1885 ; in 1878 he was nominated and came 
within eleven votes of being elected to the 
office of county sheriff. He has filled 
vai'ious other minor offices in his town- 
ship, among which are those of assessor 
and justice of the peace, the former of 
which he held for ten years and the latter 
for twelve years. He is an honored mem- 



ber of the G. A. K. post, at Wilcox, Nebr., 
and a member of the Riverton Lodge of 
A. F. and A. M. 



JOHN SCHEUNEMAN isanoldand 
prospei'ous settler of Marion town- 
ship, Franklin county, Nebr., and is a 
native of Germany, having been born 
near Colberg, in 1840. He was reared on 
a farm a,nd received a good education in 
his 3'outh, and resided in his native place 
until he was twenty-six years of age, com- 
ins: to America in 1866. He was at that 
time married and brought with him to 
this country a wife and two children. He 
stopped first in Quebec, Canada, but re- 
mained there only a short time, coming 
thence to the States and settling in Mil- 
waukee, "Wis. There he was overtaken 
by a great misfortune and one that 
deeply affected him. He lost by death his 
excellent wife and two children, and was 
thus left alone in a sti'ange country with 
nothing, as it seemed to him, in this life 
worth living for. He remained at Mil- 
waukee till 1871, and then he struck for 
the further West. He came to Nebraska 
and settled in Franklin county, taking a 
homestead in Marion township and filing 
on the northeast quarter of section 28, 
township 2, range 14 west. This was 
then raw land, as was most of the land in 
Franklin county. Mr. Scheuneman be- 
gan on the bottom round of the ladder. 
He had no money and iiad to work by the 
day for the means with which to sustain 
life. His first improvements on thisclaim 
were necessarily very rude. He made a 
dug-out and borrowed a horse blanket, 



846 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



got a skillet, and a few clays' provisions, 
and these constituted his house and house- 
hold goods. He had many hardships and 
met with many discouragements, but he 
had pluck and endurance, and he made up 
his mind to stick it out, believing that a 
better time was coming for all who re- 
mained faithful to the end. He was 
right. After the grasshoppers and the 
droughts, came more prosperous seasons, 
and every year since has added to 
his wealth and prosperity. He has 
added to his original homestead until 
he now owns in his home place 
four hundred and forty acres of land, 
nearl}' every acre of which he has under 
cultivation, and all of which yields an 
abundance of grain and other products. 
Besides this, he owns a half interest in a 
farm of three hundred and twenty acres 
in Marion township, which is also in a 
good state of cultivation, and from which 
he gets a fair revenue. He has improved 
and beautified his home place until it is 
one of the handsomest and most desirable 
places in his vicinity, having a large frame 
house, two large barns, an orchard and an 
artificial grove, and is well supplied with 
improved grades of cattle and hogs. Mr. 
Scheunenum never sells any raw material 
off his place. He feeds all he raises, and 
often has to buy. He has been identified 
with the growth and local administration 
of his township ever since settling there, 
having taken a particularly active inter- 
est in school matters in his township. He 
has been treasurer of his school district 
for some years, and the present prospering 
condilion of the affairs of the district are 
due in a large measure to his efficient ma.\\- 
agement. He is also a member of the 
Farmers' Alliance of Franklin county, and 



contributes his share towards building up 
the farming interest of his community, as 
well as a member of the Lutheran church 
and a strong supporter of law, morality 
and good government. In politics he is a 
democrat, but never allows any political 
aspirations to interfere with his duties as 
a citizen, confining his attention strictly 
to his own affairs. 

Mr. Scheuneman has been twice mar- 
ried, inarrying first in his native land, the 
lady whom he took to wife being Miss 
Caroline Grindeman, who accompanied 
him to America, and died, as already 
stated, in Milwaukee in 186(). By this 
marriage there were four children born, 
one of whom died in Germany, two in 
Milwaukee about the same time that the 
mother died, leaving only one, a daughter, 
Bertie, now grown up, the wife of Peter 
Peterson, of Bloomingtun, Franklin coun- 
ty. In 1878, Mr. Scheuneman married 
the wi<low of his deceased brother, Charles 
Scheuneman, and by this nu\rriage has 
had four children, three of whom are liv- 
ing, these being — Louis, Fred and Lillie. 
Mrs. Scheuneman had by her former mar- 
riage five children, all of whom remain 
with her, having received the same care 
and attention at their step-father's hands 
that he bestowed on his own. Mr. Scheu- 
neman is a man of the most benevolent 
impulses, and his whole life has abounded 
in deeds of charity. He has been instru- 
mental in bringing more than ten families 
of his kinfolk from the old country to 
America, furnishing the money in a num- 
ber of instances to pay their way and 
give them a start. In this way he brought 
his mother and stepfather and most of his 
brothers and sisters. He is a trul}' good 
man and a valuable citizen. 



JAMES A. ClIITWOOD is a native 
of Soliuyler county, 111., and was 
born March 8, 1838. His father, 
Joshua Chitwooci, was a native of 
North Carolina, but was reared in Indi- 
ana. He located in Schuyler count}', III, 
when he was a young man, where he mar- 
ried and where he lived until his death, 
which occurred in 1877. The mother 
bore the maiden name of Sarah LaMaster, 
a native of Indiana. She died in 1879 
a devoted member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church antl the mother of eight 
children, seven boys and one girl. 

On August 1, 1861, James A. Chitwood 
enlisted in the Second Illinois cavalrj'. 
He was at the great struggle at Vicksburg 
and on the Eed River expedition, and also 
at the fight at Champion Hills. He was 
mustered out in August, 186-lr. During 
his three years' service he was never 
wounded or captured. After the war he 
returned to Illinois and engaged in farm- 
ing. In 1868 he went to Linn county, 
Ivans., and spent seven years there. He 
came to Franklin county, Nebr., in the 
spring of 1875 and took a homestead in 
Antelope township. There were only a 
few settlers there at that time but ante- 
lope were plentiful. He built a sod house 
in which he passed his early pioneer days. 
He was a great sufferer from the gi'ass- 
hoppers and in 1882 he sold out and pur- 
chased a farm on Center creek in Bloom- 
ington townshij). In 1880 he sold $900 
worth of grain aiul tlien sold his fai'm for 
$800. 

He was married January ,5, 1SG.5, to 
Sarah E. Gillette, of Schuyler county. 111. 
They were old school-mates together. 
Her father was Elijah Gillette, a native of 
Connecticut; her mother was Eliza A. 

50 



Foreman, a native of New Tork. They 
were married at St Charles, Mo., in 1828, 
and about one year afterwards located in 
Illinois. Her fatlier died in 1871 and her 
mother in 1880. Her father was a cooper 
and farmer by occupation and he was the 
father of ten children. 

Mr. and Mrs. Chitwood have three chil- 
dren — Wason A., born October 1, 1865; Or- 
son, born March 3, 1 867, and Arthur J., 
born September 3, 1874 (deceased). Mr. 
Ciiitwood is a stanch republican, and 
while he is no ])olitician he has held some 
local offices and was census-taker in 1880. 
He owns one hundred and sixty acres of 
well improved land. 



JOHN C. WORTH is a prosperous 
farmer and one of the first settlers of 
Franklin county. He was born in 
Luzerne county. Pa., June 25, 1838. 
His father, wiiose christian name he bears, 
was a native of Germany, born in 1805, 
came to America when only eleven years 
old, and was variously engaged through- 
out life, following farming in his later 
years. He died in 1888. The mother of 
our subject, Mary (Walla) Worth, was a 
native of Pennsylvania and was born in 
1800. These were the parents of nine 
children, three boys and six girls. 

The subject of this notice was reared 
mainlj' in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, whither his 
parents moved wlien he was young. His 
early boyliood was spent on his father's 
farm, attending to tiie ordinary duties of 
the farm during the summer and going to 
school during tiie winter. Sei)tember 15, 
1861, he entered the Union army, enlist- 



848 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



ing in Company D, Foui'th Iowa cavalry. 
He served out the term of his enlistment, 
being engaged mostly on detailed duty as 
teamster. He re-eniisted in Februarj^ 
1863, continuing in the same command, 
and saw considerable service towards the 
close of the war. In April, 1805, he was 
with his regiment in Alabama chasing the 
wily cavahy commander, Forrest, and had 
much experience in that service. Later 
he was detailed on parole duty and 
stationed at Washington, Ga. Returning 
to his regiment at Atlanta, Ga., he was 
mustered out tiiere August 15, 1865, and 
went at once to Davenport, Iowa, where 
he Avas discharged. After a short visit to 
his old home he went to Worth county, 
Mo., whither his parents had moved dur- 
ing the war, and there settled and began 
larming. He lived in AYorth count}' till 
I'ebruary, IS'GO, at which time he went to 
Omaha, Nebr., and engaged in teaming 
for three years. Falling in with the tide 
of emigration then spreading over the 
western prairies, he moved to Franklin 
county, this state, in the fall of 1872 and 
took a claim, filing on a quarter in section 
11, township 1, range 15 west, where he 
settled and has since resided. He was 
among the first settlers in the county and 
endured the usual number of hardships 
and privations incident to the early settle- 
ment of the country. When Mr. Worth 
came to Franklin county he had four head 
of horses, two cows, and ten dollars in 
money. With this start he began the 
difficult undertaking of making for him- 
self a home in the rude and inhospitable 
West. The grasshoppers, droughts and 
hail played havoc with his first five or 
six ci'ops, and it was. only with the great- 
'»st difficulty that he managed to live. 



He found employment at freighting from 
Hastings and Lowell to interior points, and 
in this wav earned enough to keep the 
wolf from the door. In the meantime 
he made what progress he could towards 
improving his farm, and with the appear- 
ance of good seasons began to raise good 
crops. He is now one of the well-to-do 
farmers of his community and is enjoying 
some of the fruits of his early toil and 
privations. 

In the labor of building up a home on 
the frontier, Mr. Worth has been ably 
seconded and materially aided by an ex- 
cellent wife. He married April 25, 1866, 
taking as a life-companion Miss Margaret 
E. Eeams, a native of Kentuck}', who was 
born February 5, 1848. This union has 
been blessed with four children, as fol- 
lows — William L. (now deceased), Mary 
A., Cora E. and one that died in infancy. 

Mr. Worth is a democrat in politics 
and a stanch supporter of his party. He 
has filled the office of supervisor of his 
township for the past three years and has 
made an efficient officer. He is an active 
member of Ben. Franklin Post, No. 136, 
G. A. R, and has filled every office in the 
post except quartermaster and adjutant. 
He and his wife are both members of the 
Christian church at Franklin, and Mr. 
Worth has filled the office of elder in the 
church for the past seven years. 



CHARLES H. DOUGLAS, an early 
settler and a thrifty farmer of 
Franklin county, was born in 
Oswego county, N. Y., March 13, 1839, 
and is one of a family of six children — 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



849 



four boj's and two girls — born to Ossian 
and Harriet (Calkins) Douglas, both of 
whom were natives of New York State, 
the former having been born in 1814 and 
the latter in 1820. The paternal grand- 
father of our subject, Sanford Douglas, 
was also a native of New York and was a 
volunteer soldier in the War of 1812, and 
the paternal great-grandfather was a 
soldier in the Kevolutionary war. The 
maternal grandfather, Russell Calkins, 
is still living, and, although nearly one 
hundred years of age, is enjoying good 
health. 

Our subject, Charles H., was reared on 
a farm in Oswego county, N. Y., until 
twenty-one years of age, when he moved 
to Lake county. III, settled on a farm and 
remained there one year. Then came the 
Civil war, and the demand for reinforce- 
ments being urgent, he responded 
promjjtly to the call, enlisting September 
25, 1861, in Company H, Sixty-sixth Illi- 
nois regiment. His first battle, which 
was a good initiation, was that of Fort 
Donelson. He next participated in the 
battle of rittsburg Landing, and later on 
was in the siege of Corinth, at which 
place he was under fire every day for 
nearly the entire summer. He was fin- 
ally taken prisoner while on garrison duty 
near Corinth, and was taken to Atlanta, 
whei-e he was confined a short time, and 
then taken to Libby prison and later to 
Belle Isle, where he spent the entire win- 
ter. The following spring he was re- 
moved to Andersonville, and there spent 
the summer, and was transferred there- 
after at short intervals, to Savannah and 
to Millen, sixty miles in the woods. He 
was finally sent back to Savannah, and 
November 24, 1864, paroled and sent to 



the hospital at Annapolis, Md. When the 
war was over, he settled down to farming 
in Lake county. 111., where he resided till 
1879, and in November of that year, he 
came West and settled in Franklin county, 
taking a homestead claim on section 15, 
township 1, range 16 west, now known 
as Turkey Creek township. He also 
bought a quarter of railroad land in sec- 
tion 13, and the right to a timber claim 
in section 22. same town and range. He 
lived in a 12x16 dug-out on his homestead 
claim, long enough to prove up on it. 
The first few years' experience he had at 
farming was similar to that of other old 
settlers at that time. The grasshoppers 
and drought played havoc with his crops 
and he found it difficult to get along; but 
time, which is said to right all things, 
brought Mr. Douglas the reward he well 
merited for his patient industry and self 
denial. Better seasons brought better 
crops, and as he toiled along from year 
to year, he witnessed a gradual rise in his 
worldly affairs. He has come to be one 
of the most prosperous farmers in his 
county, owning a splendid place near 
Bloomington, which he has in a good state 
of cultivation, well stocked and orna- 
mented with handsome groves, all the 
result of his own persevering industry and 
foresight. 

Mr. Douglas married August 25, 1861, 
taking to share his life's fortunes Miss 
Charlotte Stebbins, a lady who was in 
every way fitted to bear him the compan- 
ionship he sought with her hand. She 
was born in Lake county, 111., September 
26, 1839. This union has been blessed 
with six children, four of whom are now 
living, these being— Albert, Ralph, Mar- 
shall and Willis. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas 



850 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



are both active and consistent members of 
the Methodist church at Bloomington. 

In politics Mr. Douglas is a republican, 
being a stanch supporter of the principles 
of his part}' and well posted in the polit- 
ical history of the country. He has held 
a number of local offices, such as clerk of 
his township and justice of the peace. 
Being an old soldier, he natural!}' takes 
much interest in all matters relating to his 
old comrades. He is a member of An- 
tietam Post, No. 131, G. A. R., at Bloom- 
ington, and at present is filling the office 
of senior vice-commander. 



JOHN HUTCHISON, the subject of 
this biographical memoir, is a pros- 
perous farmer on Center creek and 
one of the earliest settlers of Frank- 
lin county. He was born in Casey county, 
Ky., August 11, 1820, and is one of a 
family of nine children born to Thomas 
and Polly Hutchison, both of whom were 
natives of Virginia, the former having 
been born February 26, 1800, is still living, 
and the latter born in the year 1798, died 
at the age of eighty-six. 

Our subject spent his boyhood days 
attending school and laboring on the 
farm in Casey county, Ky. At the age of 
twenty-one he moved to Livingston 
county. Mo., where he engaged in farming 
until the war broke out. In October, 
1862, he enlisted in the Confederate army, 
entering Company H, Third Missouri 
volunteers, but soon after entering the 
field he was taken prisoner and sent to 
St. Louis, where he was held in custody 
for a short time and then exchanged. He 



rejoined his regiment at the siege of 
Vicksburg and for forty-eight days and 
nights participated in the battle, being 
captured by the Union forces in May. 
He was held in Reading camp until the 
following fall and then exchanged. He 
rejoined the regiment while on the 
Georgia raid and participated in all the 
skirmishes from Atlanta to Mobile, Ala. 
At the fall of Fort Blakesly, he was again 
taken prisoner and sent to Ship Island, 
where he, with others, was guarded for 
eleven days by negroes, when he was 
sent to Vicksburg, and a little later, while 
being taken to Jackson, Miss., he heard of 
Lee's surrender and sixteen days after he 
was paroled. 

The war being over, he footed it to 
Chattanooga and from there home. He 
remained in Livingston county but a few 
days and then moved to Glenwood, Iowa, 
and a short time later to Rock Blutf, Cass 
county, Nebr., where he lived on a rented 
place for five years. He came to Frank- 
lin county in October, 1870, and in April 
of the following spring moved his family. 
He filed homestead papers on his present 
land in section 26, township 2, range 15 
west, being one hundred antl sixty acres, 
October 11, 1870. At that early day 
there were no houses between his place 
and Red Cloud, and only two shanties 
where that thriving city now stands. The 
country was one vast prairie, and buffalo, 
elk, deer and antelope roamed about in 
herds. He used to be fond of hunting, 
and remembers distinctly of having as 
high as three buffalo, five elk and eighteen 
turkeys lying in his yard at one time. 
His first house was a dug-out, fourteen 
by eighteen feet, in which he lived the 
first four years. At that time the nearest 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



851 



trading point was Beatrice, from which 
place he hauled his provisions, it requiring 
one weelc to make tlie trip. There being 
no bridges, he was often compelled to 
swim the streams. The first year he was 
well remunerated for his toil by a good 
crop of corn, but for several years there- 
after raised but little, on account of the 
drouglit and grasshoppers. Although hav- 
ing seen some of the hardest and most 
discouraging days of pioneer life, he stuck 
close to his claim and withstood the storms 
of adversity until, at the present, he has 
one of the finest and best improved farms 
in Franklin county. He was married 
March 26, 1S61, to Miss Mary Davis, a 
native of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Hutch- 
ison are both active members of the Chris- 
tian church in Franklin. In politics Mr. 
Hutchison is a democrat, and held the 
otBce of county commissioner in 1872-3. 
He was also treasurer of the county 
agricultural society from the date of its 
organization to a few years ago. He is a 
zealous member of the Masonic fraternity, 
belonging to Joppa Lodge, No. 76, at 
Frankhn. 



JW. STINSON is one of Franklin 
county's earliest settlers and most 
prosperous farmers. He was born 
in Wayne county, near Richmond, 
lud., September 8, 1829. His parents 
dying when he was a mere youth, leaving 
him to his own resources, he went to 
Ohio at the age of sixteen years, and 
served an apprenticeship at the blacksmith 
trade, which he followed three years, mov- 
ing then to Butler county, Ohio, where he 



resided until 1851. In March, 1852, he 
moved to and located on a farm in 
Brown county. III, where he resided 
until the breaking out of the war. He 
enlisted August 6, 1861, in the Third Illi- 
nois cavalry, and participated in a great 
many skirmishes, and was severely 
wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge. His 
right hand was badly injured, and his 
hearing badly affected by the tiring of 
the artillery, so that he was incapacitated 
for duty and was placed in the invalid 
corps, where he remained from July 3, 
1863, to January 15, 186i, when he was 
discharged from the regular service, and 
went into the quartermaster's department, 
where he acted as steward until the close 
of the war, in June, 1865. In December, 
1865, he moved to Shelby county. Mo., 
where he farmed until 1872, and then, in 
May, he came to Franklin county, Nebr., 
being one of the first settlers of the 
coun°ty. He homesteaded a claim, on 
which he constructed a dugout 22 by 28 
feet. There were plenty of deer, antelope 
and some buffalo, he having killed some 
of all kinds. He brought fourteen head 
of cattle and fourteen head of horses and 
mules from Missouri and raised enough 
corn the first year to winter them all. In 
1873 he raised twenty-five hundred bush- 
els of corn, twelve hundred bushels of 
oats and about one hundred tons of hay, 
and made eighteen hundred rails, all of 
which were destroyed on October 12 of 
that year by fire started by the Pawnee 
Indians across the line in Kansas. 

Mr. Stinson now has a fine farm of four 
hundred and eighty acres, two hundred 
and forty of which are now under culti- 
vation. He has extensive improvements 
on his place; also a stone quarry, with 



852 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



stone from six to ten inclies thick and of 
fine building quality. Mr. Slinson had 
held various pul)lic offices before coming- 
to Nebraska, and, since coming, has served 
as deputy sheriff under D. K. Calkins, 
who n'as one of the first sheriffs of Frank- 
lin county. He has been justice of the 
peace for eight years, and has held other 
minor offices. He is republican in politics, 
and has been a member of the United 
Brethren church since 1854. 

Mr. Stinson was married, January 26, 
1S51, to Miss Martha J. Kay, a native of 
Ohio. Their union has resulted in the 
birth of seven children, namely — William 
W., Martha H., Frank, Fred D., Laura J., 
Gilbert A., and Lydia (deceased). 



RITFUS M. STARK, merchant of Riv- 
erton, Nebr., was born in Green 
^ county, HI., in 1854, and is a son 
of J. P. Stark, who is also a native of Hli- 
nois, but moved to Edgar, N"ebr., in 1877, 
and is a prosperous mechanic ; he is a 
member of the Masonic fraternitj' and 
also of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
in which he is a trustee, steward and class- 
leader. His mother, Ann E. (DeMotte) 
Stark, is a native of Indiana. Kufus M. 
Stark is the eldest of three children, the 
other two being — John A. and Harry L. 
He was educated in the public schools of 
Bloomington, 111., and the Illinois Wes- 
leyan University. In 1874 he went to St. 
Joe, Mo., arriving there August 28, and 
worked in a restaurant until March, 1875, 
when he went to Tro}', Kans., and worked 
on a farm until September of the same year, 
when he returned to St. Joe and took a 



course in Bryant's business college, from 
which he graduated, but did not get his 
diploma for want of $5 to pay for it. He 
then returned to Troy, Kans., and began 
working in the general store of John F. 
Wilson, as bookkeeper and salesman, con- 
tinuing with him until August, 1877, when 
he went to Florence, Kans., entering the 
emi)loy of Tucker & Co., dealers in gen- 
eral merchandise. Thence he went again 
to St. Joe, Mo., and engaged with Town- 
send & AVyatt, dry goods merchants. 
November 1, 1878, he came to Riverton, 
Nebr., and began clerking in the Franklin 
house. He afterwards was employed by 
Douglas & Brandon, and was with them 
until they failed. May 1, 1880. 

March 21, 1880, Mr. Stark was married 
to Miss Sarah Weeks, a native of Illinois. 
Four children were born to this union, 
namely — Lena E., who died when nine 
years old, of diphtheria, after an illness of 
eleven and a half days : she was a bright, 
amiable child, beloved by all who knew 
her, and in intelligence was in advance of 
her years; Rufus J. died when onl\' a 
month old ; Stella A. was born May 3, 
1885 ; Jessie V. was born October 27, 1887. 
About a month after his marriage, Mr. 
Stark was thrown out of work, by the 
failure of the firm with which he was em- 
ployed, with only $30 in money. He 
then engaged with P. A. Williams & Co., 
and was with them until they were burnt 
out, on November 12, 1882. He then 
went to work with E. M. Razee in a gro- 
cery and drug store, and was with him 
until March 1, 1883; then was with 
Chapin & Hager until August 27th, and 
then with Anthon & Young for two years. 
In 1885 he determined to engage in mer- 
cantile business on his own account, and 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



853 



boucrht out M. B. Kelly & Son, August 
13, 1885, paving $100 clown and giving 
his-note for the balance. He has been a 
successful merchant, increasing his trade 
and building up his stock until it will 
now invoice between $7,000 and $8,000. 
Mr. and Mrs. Stark are both active mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
of which Mr. Stark is trustee and Sunday- 
school superintendent. He is a member 
of the Masonic order, and has passed 
through the Royal Arch degree. In poli- 
tics he is a republican-prohibitionist. He 
is city treasurer and member of the school 
board of Riverton, and Mrs. Stark is an 
active member of the W. C T. U. of Riv- 
erton. Mr. Stark is not only one of the 
leading business men of Riverton, but is 
an active and leading spirit in all moral 
and elevating enterprises, in which he has 
the willing co-operation of his wife. Mr. 
Stark says his success in business is due to 
the liberal use of printer's ink. 



THOMAS J. PICKETT^was born 
in Louisville, Kentucky, March 
17, 1821, and is a son of William 
and Mildred (Johnson) Pickett. Both of 
the parents are natives of Virginia, and 
the father served in the War of 1812. 
Thomas J. is the third in a family of eight 
children, namely— William, Mary, Thomas 
J., Mildred, Martha, and three who died 
in infancy. In 1834 our subject left Lou- 
isville, Ky., the place of his birth, and 
went to Peoria, HI., to learn the printer's 
trade, but returned in a few months to 
Louisville and was engaged as a clerk in a 
shoe store for one year, and then returned 
to Peoria, HI., and resumed the printer's 



trade. In the spring of 1837 he joined a 
company of men going to Oregon, but 
finding them uncongenial associates, he 
left them in the Indian Territory and 
returned to Peoria, III, again took up his 
trade as a printer, and leased the Tazewell 
licporter office and edited The Reporter, 
a whig paper, during the campaign of 

1840. 

In the fall of 1840 he married Miss 
Louisa Bailey, a native of Maryland. 
This union was blessed with five children, 
j,amely— Horace, editor of the Akron 
Pioneer Press, of Akron, Col.; George B., 
editor of the ^VlCs, of Fort Morgan,^ Col.; 
Charles, a compositor on the Catholic Tel- 
e(/raj)h, St. Joe, Mo.; Thomas J., Jr., edi- 
tor of the Gazette, of Ashland, Nebr., and 
State senator from that district ; and Mil- 
dred, wife of Mr, Terrell, a prosperous 
merchant of Paducah, Ky. His first wife 
•died in Chester county. Pa., in 1854, and 
in 1855 Mr. Pickett married Miss Eliza- 
beth Hoyt, of Batavia, N. Y., antl by this 
union has had three children, namely— 
Harriet, now Mrs. Guthrie, of Lincoln, 
Nebr.; Mary B., now Mrs. Boswell, of 
Kentucky, and William L., chief clerk in 
the freight office of the B. & M. R. R., in 
Lincoln, Nebr. 

In 1850 Mr. Pickett started the first 
daily paper in Peoria, 111., which came to 
a sudden termination by the office being 
destroyed by fire the same year. He af- 
terwards owned and published a number 
of papers. At the breaking out of the 
war he was editing The Pock Island Pey- 
ister. He gave his time to the cause of 
the Union and raised a company for the 
Sixty -ninth regiment and was appointed 
its lieutenant-colonel. After they were 
mustered out he recruited for the Six- 



854 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



teentli Illinois cavalry. He was then au- 
thorized to raise a regiment which became 
the One Hundred and Thirty-second Illi- 
nois, and was appointed colonel of the 
same. At the close of the war he received 
a certificate of thanlvs and honorable dis- 
charge, signed bv President Lincoln and 
Secretary Stanton. Returning from the 
war he located in Paducah, Ky., and es- 
tablished a newspaper there which he 
named The Register. While in Paducah 
he was clerk of the United States district 
court and postmaster at two different 
times. In 1S7S he went to Nebraska 
City, Nebr., and in connection with his 
three sons established The Stm, a daily 
paper. From Nebraska Cit}' lie moved to 
Lincoln and leased the office of the Globe 
and there published a daily paper called 
The Capital. In 1SS2 he moved to Bloom- 
ington, Nebr., and there published The 
Guard, until the office was destroyed 
by fire in 1890. He then moved to River- 
ton in he same count}' and purchased the 
Enterprise, which he published under the 
name of The Guard. 

He has been a Mason for forty-three 
years and during that time has served as 
master of lodges at Peoria and Rock Isl- 
and, 111., and Paducah, Ky. He was also 
elected grand master in Illinois in 1851 
and 1852, and grand master of Masons in 
Kentucky in 1ST2. He has filled man\' 
honorable positions during his life, having 
been state senator from Rock Island, 
111., from 1860 to 1S6-I:. He was a tlelegate 
to the national convention that nominated 
Fremont and was also a delegate to the 
national convention that nominated 
Grant. He was the first president of the 
Illinois Press Association and served three 
terms as president of the Republican Yal- 
lev Press Association. 



As will be seen froni his ancestral rec- 
ord. Col. Pickett is a Virginian, and as 
such possesses all the genial and hospitable 
characteristics of his ancestry. His love 
of the union called him to assist in sup- 
pressing the rebellion, and he, with his 
two sons, Horace and George, were 
" Patriots to the manner born.'' His 
sons, Horace and George, were both 
members of Company H, Thirty-seventh 
Illinois volunteer inanftrv. 



GEORGE W. CLAPP is the old- 
est settler now living on Re- 
becca creek, Franklin county, 
Nebr. He was born September 27, 
1847, in Bradford county. Pa. His father, 
Benjamin Clapp, was a native of New 
York, born February 18, 1809, and was a 
farmer by occupation. 

The mother of our subject was a native 
of New York State, born July 31, 1813. 
The families on both sides have been noted 
for their long life. The father has one 
brother aiul three sisters now living, the 
youngest of which is over sixty years of 
age. The mother has now living three 
brothers and one sister, the youngest of 
which is over sixty years. 

George W. Clapp, the subject of this 
notice, lived in Pennsylvania until ten 
years old, and in 1857 moved with 
his parents to "Wolworth county. Wis., 
where he resided on a farm for two j'ears. 
The family then moved to Linn county, 
Iowa, and settled on a farm where they 
remained eighteen months and then 
moved to Delaware coimty, Iowa, where 
he resided seventeen years on a farm. 



FRA NKLIN CO UNTY. 



855 



He enlisted in the war of the rebellion 
February 25, 1864, in Company B, Fourth 
Iowa cavalry, and participated in the 
raids near Meniphis, Tenn., during the 
summer of IStU, and was in the battle of 
Tupelo, lusting four days. December li, 
1864, while on picket duty, he was cap- 
tured and sent to Andersonville prison, 
where he was confined four months and 
fourteen days. He experienced all the 
harrowing distresses common to the 
inmates of that place, and when released 
weighed but seventy-five pounds, having 
lost sixty-five pounds during his confine- 
ment. He was mustered out June 9. 1865, 
and returned to Iowa, and, after recuper- 
ating about one year, engaged in farming. 
He came to Franklin county, Nebr., 
December 14, 1870, and homesteaded his 
present claim at the mouth of Rebecca 
creek. His family came the following 
spring. He was among the first settlers 
in the county, and wild game was plenti- 
ful. He has experienced all the hard- 
ships and vicissitudes of pioneer life, but 
his theory has always been, " Stick to it 
and all will be right in time," which his 
prosperity of later years has fully verified. 
He was married December 21, 1869, to 
Serilda Akers, who was born July 16, 
1844, in Hendricks county, Ind. The 
union has resulted in the birth of six chil- 
dren— Charlotta L., Fred E., Frank (de- 
ceased), Autlie, John (deceased) and Acie. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Clapp are members 
of the Methodist church in good standing 
at Naponee, Nebr. Politically he affili- 
ates with the republican party. He 
served as constable of the township from 
l878 to 1885; is a member of the G. A. 
R. and has tilled the ofiice of quarter- 
master and chaplain in his post. 



EUGENE HUNTER, of Washing- 
ton township, Franklin county, 
f Nebr., was born in Ashtabula 
county, Ohio, 1852. His father, John 
Hunter, was born in the same county and 
state in 1822, and remained there until 
1860, when he moved to Lafayette coun- 
ty. Wis., where, in 1861, he enlisted in 
Company E, Eleventh Wisconsin infantry. 
He was "wounded in a battle in Arkansas 
and was also under Sherman for a time. 
At the end of his three years' term of 
service he accepted a bounty of $900 
from a drafted man and was sent to 
Leavenworth, and thence to Fort Kear- 
ney, but when about seven miles from 
the former place his regiment was 
ordered to return, and was mustered out 
at Springfield, 111. He then returned to 
his.home in Wisconsin, and was awarded 
a small pension. After a residence in 
Wisconsin for a number of years he 
moved to Caldwell county. Mo., and 
thence to Norton county, Kans. He is a 
very prosperous farmer ; is a member of 
the' Methodist Episcopal church, and of 
the G. A. R., and is temperate in all 
things. Alexander Hunter, the father of 
John Hunter, was a son of an Irish 
landlord and was born in the north of 
Ireland. At the age of sixteen he came 
to America, and settled in New York, 
where he became a school teacher. 

John Hunter, in 1850, inari-ied Miss 
Lydia Moulton, who was born in Mary- 
land, in 1827, and at the age of seventeen 
moved with her parents to Ashtabula 
county, Ohio, where she was married. 
She bore her husband four children, 
named as follows— Charles, in Inavale, 
Nebr., where he is engaged in the live 
stock and hardware business, having set- 



85G 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



tied there in 1872; Eugene, the subject of 
this sketch ; Flora, married to Mr. Van 
Note, a well-to-do farmer of Hamilton 
Mo., and Ursula, now Mrs. Baker, of 
Washington. Mrs. Lydia Hunter died in 
1888 at the home of our subject in River- 
ton. She was an active member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, was very 
quiet, but was a hard worker ; was kind 
to persons in need, was a good nurse and 
was beloved by all who knew her. The 
father of Mrs. Lydia Hunter was Alonzo 
Moulton, a native of Canada, who came 
to the United States about 1824, and first 
located in Maine. He was a teacher, and 
later a contractor and builder; was well 
informed, was prosperous in his business, 
and died in 1887, at the age of eighty- 
four. His widow, Mrs. Priscilla (Pres- 
cott) Moulton, a native of Maryland, is 
.still in good health at the age of eighty- 
one years. 

Eugene Hunter removed from his na- 
tive county to Caldwell county, Mo., 
with his parents, and in 1879 moved 
thence to Webster county, Nebr., where 
he took up a homestead on section 20, 
township 2, range 12, and this place he 
still owns. In 1886 he moved with his 
family to Eiverton, Washington township, 
Franklin count}'; for the previous three 
years, however, he had been in busi- 
ness with a brother-in-law as* a stock- 
buyer and agricultural implement dealer, 
which he still continues, and has, besides, 
about $4,000 invested in other business. 
He began his business life at the age of 
twenty-seven with no capital, and when 
he came to Nebraska possessed about 
$500 only. He now owns a quarter sec- 
tion of land, besides his home in town and 
a number of town lots and his business 



capital — thus affording another example 
to the young of what enterprise and in- 
dustry will accomplish. He is a Master 
Mason, and, in politics, is a republican, 
having served under the auspices of 
that party a second term as supervisor, 
and also as township clerk and as mem- 
ber of the school board. 



JOHN M. PATTERSON was born in 
1838, in Mount Joy, Lancaster coun- 
ty. Pa., and there his boyhood daj's 
were passed in attending school and 
assisting his father in business. John 
Patterson, the father of the subject of 
this sketch, was boi'n in Lancaster county, 
as above, in 1809 ; was a farmer at first, 
but later engaged in dealing in coal, lum- 
ber and grain. He was a hard worker 
and a good financier, and at the time of 
his death, which occurred in May, 1872, 
he had, by his own exertions, accumu- 
lated $60,000. He married Barbara Coff- 
man, in 1836. She was born in Chester 
county. Pa., in 1817, and bore her hus- 
band six children, of whom two died in 
infancy. The others are — Mary Ann, now 
Mrs. Shock, of Mount Joy, in Lancas- 
ter county. Pa. ; Samuel, a shipping clerk 
in Baltimore, Md.; Phebe (deceased), wife 
of George R. Moore, a Presbyterian min- 
ister; John M., the subject proper of this 
sketch. In politics, the elder Mr. Patter- 
son was first a whig, but later became a 
republican. At the death-bed of his 
daughter Phebe, who was his favorite 
child, he was induced by her to unite with 
Christ, and thenceforward he was an 
ardent and liberal supporter of the Pres 
byterian church. 



John M. Paltei'son tinished his education 
at Freehold (N. J.) academy, and then 
resumed work for his father in the office, 
where he was emploj'ed until 1862, when 
he enlisted in Company F, Fifteenth 
Pennsylvania infantry, for three months. 
At the close of his term he enlisted in 
Company G, Ninth Pennsylvania cavalry, 
for three years, served out his time, and 
was honorably discharged at New Berne, 
N. C, in August. 1865. He iiarticipated 
in the engagement at Altoona, Lookout 
mountain, Franklin, Tenn., Murfreesboro, 
Chickamauga and Triune, Tenn. At the 
last-named battle he was shot in the right 
thigh and the right hand, and still carries 
a ball in the latter member. On his 
return to Mount Joy he re-entered the 
employ of his father, with whom he 
remained until 1870. Fie was then for 
some time employed as night baggageman 
in the Union depot at Erie, Pa., and from 
there he went to Mount Pleasant, Ohio, 
whence he came to Nebraska, in 1877, lo- 
cating onsection Si, township 1, range 13, 
Franklin county, remaining on that place 
two years, when he moved to his present 
farm, on section 17, township 1, range 13. 
Tl)e marriage of Mr.Patterson took place 
in 1866, to Miss Elizabeth E. McDannel, 
who was born February 5, 1846. One 
child, Ada, has been sent to brighten their 
home. Miss Ada Patterson has been a 
teacher for four years, and is now em- 
ployed in that capacity in the public 
schools of Lincoln. She graduated from the 
Franklin academy, and also took the Chau- 
tauqua course, securing her diploma when 
but fifteen years old. In politics Mr. Pat- 
terson is a republican ; his wife is a 
member of the Presbyterian church, as is 
also his daughter. 



ROBERT D. PtEADY, one of the 
most prosperous agriculturists of 
k^ Washington township, Franklin 
county, Nebr., was born in Virginia, in 
1833, and is the youngest of the six chil- 
dren born to James and Lucinda (McLar- 
ens) Ready. James Ready was born in 
Virs'inia in 1800, was married in 1822, and 
in 1835 moved to Ohio, where his wife 
died in 1838, and thence moved to Bureau 
county. 111., where he still superintends 
his farm. Mrs. Luoinda Ready was born 
in Virginia in 1804, her father having been 
captured with the troops of Lord Corn- 
wallis at Yorktown. She died in 1838, 
the mother of the following children— 
Armistead, a lawyer of New Philadelphia, 
Ohio, who has been in practice since 1851, 
and has served as state senator; John 
W., in DeWitt county. 111.; Epenetus, who 
died in 1878 ; Martha, who died in 1852 ; 
Mary, who departed in 1864, and Robert 
D., the gentleman whose name stands at 
the head of this sketch. The parents 
were members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, and in politics James Ready was 
an old line whig. 

Robert D. Ready came from Virginia 
to Ohio with his parents ; thence moved 
to Illinois, where he remained until 1882, 
and then came to Nebraska, where he 
settled on section 19, township 1, range 
13 west, Franklin county. At the early 
age of fifteen years he had begun business 
for himself witli nothing, but is now in 
very comfortable circumstances, owning 
five hundred and sixty acres of excellent 
and well-stocked land. He has since his 
majority been a factor in the republican 
party, having, while in Illinois, held sev- 
eral important offices, and, since his 
residence in Nebraska, on the adoption of 



858 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



township organization, was elected one of 
the Hrst supervisors of Washingtoa town- 
ship and was elected chairman of the 
board for two terms. 

In 1854, Mr. Read}^ married Miss Jane 
Day, who was born in Indiana in 1838, 
but who was, at the time of her marriage, 
a resident of Illinois. To this union nine 
children have been born, as follows — 
Laura (deceased), William (deceased), El- 
mer and John (twins), Charles L., a 
lawyer at Hayes Center, admitted to the 
bar in 1887; Jennie, Armistead, James and 
Robert D., Jr. (all four at home). Both 
parents are member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, and are active and con- 
sistent in their faith. 



GEORGE ROMERO Y, a wealthy 
farmer and stock-grower of 
Washington township, Franklin 
county, Nebr., was born in Lee county, 
Iowa, in 1849, and is a son of George and 
Rose Anna (Throush) Pomeroy, the former 
of whom was born in Ohio and moved 
thence to Lee county, Iowa, and then to 
Wapello, where he died in 1883, having 
followed the most of his life the business 
of carder and cloth-dresser. In 183.5 he 
married Rose Anna Throush, who was born 
in Pennsylvania in 1815, and from that 
state was taken by her parents to Oliio. 
She became the mother of eleven children, 
three of whom died in infancy, the livino- 
eight being— Mrs. Hannah Margaret Kel- 
low, of Oregon; Thomas M., of Muscatine 
county, Iowa; Mrs.Ann Stretch, of Taylor, 
Iowa; Mrs. Ellen Jane Clo3'd,of Ottumwa, 
Iowa; Mrs. Rose Ann Harsh, of Riverton, 



Nebr.; George, the subject of this sketch; 
Mrs. Emma Hawkins, of Muscatine coun- 
tj, Iowa, and Grimes, in Ottumwa, Iowa. 

George Pomeroy, the subject of this 
sketch, when eight years of age was taken 
from Lee count}', Iowa, to Wapello, b}' his 
parents, and thence to Muscatine county; 
from there he returned to Wapello, where 
he resided until 1874, when he came to 
Nebraska and settled on his present farm 
on section 30, township 1, range 13 west, 
in Franklin county. He began his busi- 
siness life in 1872 with comparatively no 
capital; he now owns about five hundred 
acres of good land, one hundred head of 
cattle and a numberof horses, all gained 
b}^ hard work and good judgment and 
management. 

The marriage of Mr. Pomero\' took 
place in 1872, in Iowa, to Miss Margaret 
Harsh, who was born in 1S53 in Ohio. To 
this union have been born four children, 
namely — Daniel W., Laura, who died in 
1879; an unnamed child who died in in- 
fancy, and Rose, at home. In politics 
Mr. Pomeroy is a republican, but he has 
never been a seeker after public office. 



K 



LBERT AVERHOFF, one of the 
most substantial residents of 
AVashington township. Franklin 
county, Nebr., was born in German\' in 
1855, and came to America in 18G9, and 
here, at the age of fourteen, began the 
battle of life without capital. His first 
stopping place in this country' was at 
Clarence, Cedar county, Iowa, where he 
attended school for one year, and hired 
out as a farm hand until 1876, when he 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



859 



came to Nebraska and settled on section 
18, township 1, range 13 west, in Franklin 
county, his present home. He now owns 
a half-section of excellent land, and bears 
the reputation of being one of the most 
reliable men and skillful farmers in the 
county." 

In 1885 Mr. Averhoff married Miss 
Maggie Bauman, a native of Aurora, 111., 
born in 1858, and a devoted Christian 
lady. One child, Alice, born December 
29, 1889, has come to bless the union. The 
father of this lady is a native of Bavaria, 
Germany, and met and married Miss 
Maria Stack at Aurora, 111., in 1856. 
Mrs. Maria Bauman, also a native of Ger- 
many, was born in Wurtemburg, but early 
came to America. She bore her husband 
eight cbildren as follows — Maggie ; 
George, an artist at Galesburg, 111. . 
Lena, now Mrs. Santer, wife of an engi- 
neer at Galesburg ; Clara, a senior at 
Galesburg high school; Henry, married, 
and a farmer at Kushville, Nebr ; 
Freddie, still with his parents ; Jessie, 
now Mrs. W. H. K. Lewis, and for a few 
terms a teacher in one of the district 
schools, her husband bemg a farmer ; 
Eosa Helen, who died in infancy. Mr. 
Bauman is a carriage-maker by trade and 
was for a number of years in business at 
Clarence, Iowa. He is a christia^n man 
and was one of the main founders of the 
German Methodist Episcopal church at 
Aurora, 111., erected in 1861. 

Louis Averhoff, the father of our sub- 
ject, was born in Germany in 1808, and is 
by occupation a stone-mason. In 1839 he 
married Mary Schusler, who was born in 
1813. She is the mother of six children, 
who were named as follows — Henrietta, 
now Mrs. Katvant ; Henry, in Iowa ; 



Minnie ; William, in Franklin county, 
Kebr. ; Augusta, the late Mrs. Rank- 
ing, and the subject of this sketch. Louis 
Averhoff is a good christian man, being a 
member of the Lutheran church. 



HUGH CRILLY, an enterprising 
young farmer of Washington 
township, Franklin county, 
Nebr., was born in Ireland in 1856. His 
father, also named Hugh, was born in the 
same country in 1813, was a farmer by 
vocation and came to America in 1877, 
locating in Franklin county, Nebr., where 
he became quite prosperous. He w\as a 
man of good habits, was strictly honest 
and a member of the Presbyterian church. 
In 1837 he married Sarah McKee, also a 
native of Ireland, born in 1813. She was 
a daughter of Patrick McKee, who was 
born in 1775, was educated at Queen's 
college, Belfast, and subsequently gradu- 
ated from one of the standard colleges of 
Scotland. He was a lawyer by profession 
and died in 1850. To Hugh Crilly, Sr., 
and his wife, Sarah, were born seven 
children, viz.— Mary, now Mrs. John John- 
son, of Ptiverton, Nebr.; Mrs. Sarah Shell, 
in Denver, Colo.; McKee, in Grant town- 
ship, Franklin county ; Margaret J., at 
home; James, at home; Hugh and Samuel, 
in the public schools at Denver, Colo. The 
paternal grandfather of these children was 
James Crilly and the maternal grand- 
mother was Hannah (McElwrath) McKee. 
Hugh Crilly, the father, died in 1883, 
universally lamented. 

Hugh Crilly, the subject proper of this 
sketch, came to America with his parents 



860 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



in 1877, and located on section 28, town- 
ship 1, range 14, Franklin county, Nebr. 
Being a single man, however, he made his 
iieadquarters with his father until the lat- 
ter's death, until which time everything 
had been held in common. Since that 
event he has managed his individual 
affairs, and has also superintended his 
mother's interests and the progress of the 
family has been more than usually great, 
although, on coming to Nebraska, they 
were comparatively poor. To-day they 
own six hundred and sixty acres of land, 
one hundred and twenty head of cattle 
and one hundred hogs, together with all 
necessary farm improvements. 

Mr. Crilly was married in 1887 to Miss 
Carrie Marriott, a native of Illinois, born 
in 1860. She was a professional teacher 
and came to Nebraska in 1885. Two 
children have been born to this marriage, 
viz.— Ethel C, in 1888, and George Guy, 
December 25, 1889. 

Mr. Crilly is a Master Mason, a deacon 
in the Congregational church, and in poli- 
tics is a republican, with strong prohibi- 
tionist proclivities. 



JESSE D. ELLIS, farmer and stock 
raiser of Washington township, 
Franklin county, Nebr., is a son of 
Zachariah and Delilah (Ball) Ellis. 
Zachariah Avas born in Virginia in 1823, 
from that state he moved to Ohio; and 
thence to Illinois, and in 1886 to Nebraska, 



locating in Franklin county. Delilah 
(Ball) Ellis was born in Maryland in 1817, 
and when six years of age was taken by 
her parents to Ohio, whence she removed 
to Illinois, in which state she was married 
in 1845. She became the mother of nine 
children, who were named Elizabeth Jane 
(deceased), Joseph (in Nebraska), Esther 
(deceased), Daniel and William (who died 
in infancy), Sarah (Mrs. Elliot, of Illinois), 
Jesse D. (our subject), Mary S. (Mrs. Gar- 
vin, of Kansas) and Eflie E. (who died 
when eighteen years old). 

Jesse D. Ellis was born in Bureau 
count}'. 111., in 1856, and there made his 
home until 1886. He did not attend 
school after fourteen years of age, as he 
was considered to be the main support of 
his family, whose affairs he managed until 
about four years ago. His means were 
then quite limited, but he now owns a 
quarter-section of land, seventy-five hogs, 
tliirteen horses and a half-interest in about 
one hundred head of cattle. Mr. Ellis is 
highly respected in his community and 
quite popular. In politics he is an Alli- 
ance man and is president of the local 
organization ; he is also president of the 
Riverton Cooperative Business Associa- 
tion. In Illinois he had likewise been 
intrusted with a number of important 
offices. 

In 1883 Mr. Ellis married Miss Jennie 
C. Rolls, who was boi-n in Scotland in 1862 
and when six \'ears old came to America 
with her parents. To this marriage two 
children have been born, as follows — Har 
old, in 1884, and Roy, in 1886. 



INDEX 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



PRESIDENTS. 

Adaras.J 23 

Adams. J.Q 39 

Arthur, C.A 99 

Buclianan, J ,.. 75 

Cleveland, S. G 103 

Fillmore, M 67 

Garfield, J. A 95 

(Sruiit, U. S 87 

Harrison, W.H 51 

Harrison, B 107 

Hayes, R. B 91 

Jackson, A W 

Jefferson, T 27 

Jolnison, A 83 

Lincoln, A 79 

Madison, J 31 

Monroe, J 35 

Pierce, F 71 

Polk, J. K .59 

Taylor, Z 63 

Tyler, J 55 

Van Buren, M 47 

Washington, G 19 

GOVERNORS. 

Butler, D Ill 

Dawes, J. \V 137 

Furnas, R. W 115 

Garber.S 119 

Nance, A 123 

Thayer. J. M 131 

BUFFALO COUNTY. 

Allen, H.J 408 

Anderson, W. H 154 

Andrews, E. H 461 

Armstrong, A. L 446 

Arendt, J. P 183 

Ashburn, D. P 231 

Ashton, B 303 

Aspinwall, G. D 174 

Austin, W. H 494 

Ayers, C. D 401 

Babcock, L.J 475 

Bailey, C. S 3ti4 

Baker, N. A 382 

Baker, G, H 483 

Barnd, J 334 

Barron, Mrs. M 186 

Basaett, S. C 413 



Bayley, J.M 477 

Bcecher. R 395 

Bentley, M. A 271 

Berry, J. W 482 

Blair, J. W 338 

Bliss, N.T 168 

Blue, J. L 201 

Bowie, H. H 494 

Boyd, J 199 

Urigham, L. M 281 

Brown, C. B.. .• 333 

Brown, D. 1 183 

Bruker, A 177 

Burks, E. W 486 

Burt,A.F 146 

Carlton, G.W 378 

Carpenter, B. W 149 

Cass, C. B 474 

Chapman, M. V 236 

Clancy, J. W 387 

Clark, D. B 274 

Clayton, J 151 

Connor, A. H. 473 

Cook, W. L 4:;8 

Cornelius, T 300 

Cornell, G. W 462 

Craven, W. M 141 

Cunningham, L. B 277 

Daniels.J.F 299 

Darbyshire, R 143 

Daiil, F 187 

Davidson, J. K 343 

Davis,J.H 260 

Dempster, W. H 200 

Demuth, J 189 

Devall,J. M BOO 

Dooley.P 430 

Dow.C.H 434 

Drury,J.D 251 

Eaton. R. H 287 

Eddy.A 238 

Edwards, A. H 282 

Eldred, T. W 263 

Esler,M. V 259 

Farr, R. W 463 

Fellows, A 484 

Fieldgrove, H 327 

Fish, J 349 

Fitz,J 170 

Fitzgerald, E 468 

8C3 



Flcharty, G 

Forney, S. M 

Forrest, J. W 

Forrester, G 

Fo.\worthy, P. E 

Frantz, J. M 

Freeze, A. J 

Gabriel, J 

Gamble, R 

(jass, J 

George, A. D 

Gibson, A. F 

Gibson, W. W 

Godbcy, W. D 

Graves, S. H 

Green, H. C 

Greer, R. K 

Gresham, C. E 

Guffey, O. P 

Haag, A 

Hamcr, F. G 

Hamilton. O. F .. 
Harbaugh, B. P.. 

Harrel, J. W 

Harrington, J. S 

Harse, J 

Hatten, J 

Hayden, A. K 

Hedges, A 

Hedges, J. S 

Hendrickson, J. , . 
Henninger, S. F.. 

Herrick, A. J 

Higgings, S 

Hill, C. S 

Hill.S. S 

HoUnway, C. C... 
Hormel, W.S.. .. 
Hoover, M. A... 
Hostetter, D. C... 

Houston, CM 

Huggins.W. C... 

Hull.H 

Hull, J. C 

Hutchison, D. H 

Inman, D 

Jackson, W. N... 

Jaco, N 

Jenkins, J 

Jones, B. F 



402 
.173 
.257 

.263 

.219 
.443 
, 447 
, 437 

192 

439 
. 313 
. 435 
, 226 
. 166 
. 368 

445 
. 459 
. 321 
. 381 
. 363 
. 159 
. 440 
. 443 
. 209 
. 436 
. 370 
. 331 
. 329 
. 466 
. 371 
. 411 
. 503 
. 341 

150 
. 491 
. 487 
. 240 
. 156 
. 210 
. 4!M 
. 147 
. 352 
. 379 
. 429 
. 304 
. 169 
. 318 
. 413 

398 
. 415 



8fi4 



INDEX. 



Jones, D. B U5 

Juiik, D. P 374 

Karn, J 489 

Keens, K. SI" 

Keep, W. C 1S4 

Kesler,M. 301 

Killgore, W. H 15:t 

Kintf, J. W 103 

Kinney, H. W £89 

Knapp, Family 309 

Knox, W. E 3;n 

Layton, Mrs. S. L 138 

Learn, W.K «4 

LaBarre,I.D 23:; 

Let)hart,F *90 

Lelanil,J.W 4"9 

Lippincott, J. F 320 

Loewen tein, J. D 16* 

UiccJ «9 

Lund,.!. E 165 

McComb, D 190 

McCreary, J .,.-.■ 42; 



McDonald, N. P. 



432 



McLellan, W 464 

Magee, F. W 38.S 

Mahon, J 444 

MaUalieu,J.T 4.54 

Meisner, G 344 

Morcer,J 145 

Mercer, V. T 215 

Milbourn, G 1T9 

Miller, G 505 

Miller, G. E 181 

Miller, J 300 

Mills, Mrs. E. B 455 

Mills, G. M 454 

Mills, J. H 353 

Moore, J 168 

More,L. R 32;S 



Morse, Miss E. R. 

Moree, H. \V 

Nantkcr, H 



400 
167 
206 

Nash, J 448 

Noal, J. B 300 

Neely.W. J 453 

Noble, M. H 243 

Norris, G. E 354 

Nutter, W 385 

Osterhtil, C. G 284 

Owen, J 451 

Parker, R. G a51 

Parrotte, J. L 304 

Patterson, C. F 144 

Patterson, W. G 465 

Patterson, W. W 297 

Pease, B. F 144 

Peck, E 322 

Peck, T. J 318 

Pettett, W. C 191 

Peters, H 499 

Pierce,P 498 

Plumb, L 361 

Pool, W. W 206 

Potter, R. K 181 

Post, G.S 416 



Putnam, C. W 431 

Randall, W.L 242 

Reed Bros ;>87 

Rice, F 171 

Roach, W 237 

Rog<:rs,H.P 2.58 

St. .John, S. S 264 

St. Peters, A .....1.54 

Salsbury, J. S 204 

Salisbury, W. H 456 

Schars, P. F. H 397 

Sckeihing, G 418 

Rchieck, K. B 3!)8 

Shreeve, W 185 

Shovel, A 166 

Short, N.W 2.55 

Silvernail, G. H 335 

Silverthorn, A. F 419 

Smalley,O.H 201 

Smith, E 208 

Smith, E. L 376 

Smith, G.N 417 

Smith, H. K 360 

Smith, H. P 216 

Smith. J < 467 

Smith, J. K 441 

Smith, ,T. M 433 

Smith, M.H 197 

Smythe, VV. E 288 

Snyder, G. W 189 

Springer, B. N 410 

Spry, M. J '. 343 

Stark, P 200 

Stedwell, A 273 

Steele, H. S 180 

Steven.J 379 

Steven,W.J 362 

Stimpson, C. R 4.58 

Stonebarger, H. H 450 

Swenson, J 497 

Tawney, J 423 

Thatcher, T. D 504 

Thomas, A. E 420 

Tbomas, E. W 269 

Thomas, J 435 

Thompson, O.E 222 

Thompson, S 488 

Thornton, S. W 390 

Towers, H.S 340 

Tracy,G.R 453 

Traut, S, R 481 

Turner, B 393 

Tyler.J 468 

Ulrich, J. 1 188 

(Jpton,S 198 

Urwiller, F. 409 

Van Alstine, C. W 407 

Volk.R.N 178 

Waldron.S.J ... 155 

Walsh, P 290 

Waters.C.R 153 

Waters, J. A 164 

Waters, R.F 495 

Weibel,S 492 

Welch,A.G 470 



Wheeler, J. B 253 

Wheeler, W. R 501 

Willard, 1 359 

Williams, A 496 

Willis, C. A 493 

Wilson, J 405 

Wilson, J. H 143 

Winchester, H. H 332 

Winslow. J 457 

Witmer, G. W 187 

Wolf, J 433 

Woodworth, L. P 314 

Wright, I. K 353 

Yelinck, J 500 

Young, J. P 172 

Young, M. A 148 

KEARNEY COUNTY. 

Ackerman, W. P 584 

Adams, E. L 593 

Ander.son, J 331 



Anderson, A. E. 

Anderson, N 

Andrews, A. B. . 
.\twater, S 



543 

546 

,543 

517 

Bang, M. C 515 

Bayer, T .567 

Bingham, J 586 

Bloodgood, JF 576 

Bloomfleld,A. G 553 

Boasen, P. C 580 

Bogert, M.D 509 

Brauu,J 564 

Brothe, C 554 

Broman, C. G 599 

Brown, L. R 573 

()ooper,H.T 578 

Cope, H. M 616 

Copeland, jj. M 505 

Coutant.G.D 606 

Davidson, J 526 

Dickman, S. G 604 

DriscoU, M 621 

Dunn, F. 596 

Etzelmiller, J 5,50 

Fiero, M .525 

Fleming, ,1.0 569 

Frank, J. S 618 

Franklin, J. F 534 

Glenn. S. R 636 

Gormly, W.W 555 

Hague,L.W .589 

Hart, W. D 559 

Hammerstrora, J 598 

Hansen, C. A 517 

Harland, A. H .583 

Hartsough, G. H 588 

Hawkins,J.W 551 

HoUister, A. P 606 

Holmes, A. H 584 

Householder, J. M 6t0 

Hull, J .520 

Inglis, G 614 

Iverson, J 516 

Jensen, C 634 



INDEX. 



865 



Jensen, J. H 

Johnson, A 

Johnson, S. J 

Jones, D 

Kennedy, P. I 

Kent, L. A 

Kingsley, G. P., Jr.... 

Krick, E 

Larson, S. C 

Layton, W 

Leasure, W. H - 

Lewis, A. R 

Lewis, J. M 

Lienhartlr, J 

Lindbeek, A. J 

Lindsay, E. L 

Lorain, L. J 

Lyden, C 

McDonald, A 

Martin, J. A 

Mathers, J. A 

Matsen, .T 

Meyer, L. T 

Nilson, N. E., Jr 

Nyciuist, P 

Newbold. D. S 

Oline, N. 

Orcutt, R. H 

Paulson, O 

Peterson, A. P 

Peterson, C 

Peterson, J. B 

Peterson, L 

Peterson, O 

Pinkham, J 

Price, J 

Rohder, C. H . . . . 

Scramlin, D 

Seckman, J. K 

Shelden, C. E 

Shotf,F 

Shue, W 

Smith, C. A 

Smith, T 

Spence.C. W 

Stewart, S.C 

Strand, G. A 

Sutton, O 

Swanson, A 

Thompson, J 

Thorn, W. T 

Tipton, J. W 

Travis, W. F 

Van Duzer, T 

VVallean, E 

Warp, J.N 

Washburn, G. W 

Weber, C 

Weedlun, C 

Webster, C. A 

Whitlock, Mrs. M. A 

Wier, K 

Wilcox, H 

Wilson, J 

Witters, G 

Yensen, H.J 



57U 
537 
.568 
519 
60S 
590 
581 
549 
531 
. B15 
. 605 
. 60T 
. 536 
. 562 
. 603 
. 613 
. 533 
. 630 
. 573 
. 596 
. 587 
. 533 
. 539 
547 
. 511 
. 548 
. 635 
. 571 
. 512 
. 527 
. 563 
. 617 
. 537 
. 545 
. 560 
. 530 
. 535 
. 524 
. 619 
. 560 
. 600 
. 513 
. 555 
. 544 
. 598 
. 538 
. 535 
. 565 
. 582 
. .528 
. 687 
566 
. 618 
. 576 
. 622 
. 514 
. 685 
. 579 
. 545 
. 510 
. 582 
. 575 
. 611 
. 5.52 
. 623 
. 580 



PHELPS COUNTY. 

Anderson, N 641 

Armstrong, J. V 650 

Balyeat, O. B 706 

Bannins?, H. P 671 

Banta, L 692 

Barnura, E 670 

Beem, V. B 656 

Berkman, A 647 

Black, R. S 661 

BoelU, C. A 681 

Bonsor, T. W 665 

Bradley.C.S 663 

Bradley, M. C 675 

Brandt, H. L 659 

Carlson, A. J 682 

Crandall, G 684 

Dahlstrom, J. M 711 

Danielson,J 699 

Einsel, B. D 693 

Einsel, L 691 

Erickson, A. P 687 

Erickson, P 648 

Frank, J. W 636 

Frank, W. H., Sr 634 

Fiaser, J 638 

Fry, D. F 660 

Funk, P. C 640 

Gamel, O. J 664 

Greenarayer, J. W 710 

Hall, W. P 677 

Hallgren, F 678 

Harpster, C. L 701 

Hazlett, W. 1 659 

Hedlund, 696 

Hedlund, P. 689 

Hill, G. W 701 

Hollenbeck,A 665 

Hoog:, O. M 632 

Hopwood, T. M 697 

Horn.J.A 637 

Hymer, W. E 642 

Johnson, A 698 

,Tohnsou, E ...674 

Johnson, F 695 

Johnson, J 710 

Johnson, J. S 641 

Kennedy, G. W 658 

Kcoppel, J 652 

Kiplinger, F. W 669 

Latta, S 655 

Lewelling, A 633 

Lindblom, J 700 

Lindsay, W. T 676 

Lucas, M 638 

Lukecart, J 668 



McGrew, R. T.. 
Maberiy, E. H. 
Marshall, T. H 
Masters, J. A. 

Melin, J. J 

Moon, H.S 

Moon, P.J... . 
Mullen, L.D . 
Nelson, A. J... 



686 



702 
649 



683 
707 



Nelson, J. P 680 

Norberg, G 682 

Oleson, A 646 

Olson, L. 666 

Patrick, J. R $90 

Peterson, N. P 639 

Racine, G. F 672 

Read, E 668 

Reed,S 671 

Richards, R 704 

Richardson, O. A J09 

Roberts, E. W 687 

Roberts. O. F 654 

Rowland, G. D 653 

Sandstead, E 662 

Sanders, S. F 679 

Singleterry, J 646 

Skiles, J. M 673 

Smyth, W. A 651 

Stennett, G 696 

Swanson, J. E 632 

Swanson, J. P 631 

Travis, F. D 680 

Vaughan, A. J 703 

Whitcomb, A. E 658 

Wolfe, W.S 708 

HARLAN COUNTY. 

Allen, L. E 724 

Banwell, W. H 750 

Beeman, J 741 

BeU, G. A 792 

Bergquist, P 715 

Bloom, C 716 

Brown, G. McC 728 

Burtchet, J 793 

Burton, G. W 744 

Carroll, J. H 734 

Chrisler, B. H 762 

Cobeldick, J 768 

Coe, W. O 806 

Cole,A.H 739 

Cook, G. W 751 

Cre8s,M.J 790 

Daniels, S. W 791 

David, J. F 802 

Doak.J.Y 776 

Downs, W 718 

Elliott, A 737 

EversoD, J. L 723 

Ferguson, H. T 763 

Field, E 731 

Frear, E 748 

Gehlev.G.F 755 

Gipe. O. W 767 

Gould, A.H 774 

Gould, G. H 777 

Harvey,A.E 799 

Hawkinson, M 739 

Hawksby, J 736 

Herndon, J. H 731 

Hooper, M. G 757 

Houk, J 770 

j Johnson, J. M 786 

I Kent, L. H 754 



866 



INDEX. 



Lee.J.M .^ 756 

Luce.C.A 775 

McNees.S 'i'94 

McNew, J. B "92 

Maloy, T. J 784 

Mitchell, J. C ''I 

Mock, E. J 729 

Morgan, Mrs. M. R 717 

Morgan, S 795 

Newman, A 773 

Nielsen, N •• ■ -787 

Palmer, J. A 788 

Parish, G. K 763 

Passmore, G. W 788 

Pate,R.R 748 

Pease, E.J 759 

Petteys,J.T 730 

Piper, .7. A 781 

Pond, L.J 769 

Reneau, J. D 740 

Reichardt, E. P 761 

Riesenberg, W 808 

Bifenburgh.L .■ 743 

Rinehart, J.T 805 

Robbins, A. C 786 

Rosa,C. W 783 

Ruben, A 796 

Russell, T 742 

Sandated, M 789 

Seick,F.L 803 

Shelburn,G.F 715 

Shipman, W. 717 

Snyder, J 722 

Teeter, A 766 



Ternahan, J 735 

Tillotson. E. R 720 

Uphnger, J 807 

Vandike, G 804 

Vaughan, J. M 801 

Vaughan, G.C 734 

Walker, R. T 7:13 

Wilcox, M. V 738 

Wiley, J. H 721 

Willits, E. L 726 

WoIf.J 757 

Ziegler, J. F 772 

FRANKLIN COUNTY. 

Austin, W. E 835 

Averhoflf, A 858 

Blomington, Argus 817 

Brebner, W 817 

Brunk, J 828 

Bush, A. H 827 

Campbell, Press 824 

Chitwood,J. A 847 

Chitwood.J.J 837 

Clapp, G. W 854 

Crilly,H 859 

Crilly,McK 825 

Croley, 1 828 

Dimmick, J. M 831 

Douglas, C. H 848 

Douglass, S. H 833 

Elliott,J 826 

Ellis, J. D 860 

Flitcroft, P. S 830 

Glenn, R. A 843 



Griswold, C. A 813 

Hager. L. D 837 

Hendricks, H. O 822 

Hildreth,C 817 

Hutchison, J 850 

Hutrman,M 832 

Hunter, E 855 

Johnson, A. M 826 

Kelly, J.E 818 

Nead,H. J 842 

Nelson. W. F 815 

Parker, P 816 

Patterson, J. M 856 

Peterson, J.E 823 

Phelps, E.S 816 

Pickett, T.J 853 

Pomeroy, G 858 

Ready,R.D 857 

Reams, B.H 819 

Reams, J.T 834 

Rowley, R. B 829 

Shadduck, L '. 829 

Sheuneman, J 845 

Shields, C... 841 

Smith, 1 820 

Stark, R.M 852 

Stinson, J. W 8.51 

Sturgeon, T 821 

Waldo, H,H 821 

Weston, W 814 

Worth, J. C 847 

Yelken, H 840 



PRESIDENTS. 

Adams, J 22 

Adams, J. Q 38 

Arthur, C.A 98 

Buchanan, J 74 

Cleveland, S. Q.. 102 

Fillmore, M 66 

Garfield.J.A 94 

Grant, U. S 86 

Harrison, W.H 50 

Harrison, B 106 

Hayes, R.B 90 

Jackson, A 42 

Jefferson, T 26 

Johnson, A .". .. 83 

Lincoln, A 78 

Madison, J 30 

Monroe, J 34 

Pierce, F 70 

Polk, J. K 58 

Taylor.Z 62 

Tyler, J 54 

Van Buren, M 46 

Washington, G 18 



PORTRAITS. 

GOVERNORS. 

Butler, D 110 

Dawes, J. W 126 

Furnas, R. W 114 

Garber, S 118 

Nanpe, A 122 

Thayer, J. M 130 

BUFFALO COUNTY. 

Ashburn, D. P 230 

Aspinwall, G. D 175 

Bailey, C. S 365 

Baker N. A 383 

Barnd, J 335 

Beecher, R 394 

Clark, D.B 275 

Connor, A. H 472 

Eaton, R. H 288 

Fieldgrove, H 326 

Fleharty, G 403 

Gamble, R 193 

Hamer, F. G 158 

Harrington, J. S 437 

Hoover, M. A 211 



Keens, F. G 248 

Meisner, G 345 

Norris, G. E 355 

Parrotte, J. L 305 

Patterson, W. W 296 

St. John, S. S 265 

Woodworth, L. P 315 

KEARNEY COUNTY. 

Hart, W. D 558 

Hull, J 521 

Kent, L. A .'i91 

Stewart,S.C 539 

Wilco.x, H 610 

PHELPS COUNTY. 
Hymer, W. E 643 

HARLAN COUNTY. 

Burton, G. W 745 

Harvey, A. E 798 

Piper, J. A 780 



8950 




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